Culture

Express Fluency language school launches this week with a free intro class in Brattleboro.

Express Fluency (formerly Escuelita Spanish School) teaches Spanish (other languages coming soon) in the way our brains are designed to acquire language. Their classes are lively and engaging, and 100% comprehensible– allowing students to acquire Spanish naturally and effortlessly. Their methods resemble the way in which we call learned our first language. There will be a free intro class in Brattleboro this Thursday, January 30th at 5:30 pm at the Neighborhood Schoolhouse. A new beginner session begins the following Thursday, Feb 6th and runs for 7 weeks from 5:30-7:30.

Over 40 people showed up for the Town School Board Public Forum ‘Learning in the 21st Century’ to participate in discussion and contribute ideas.  When all was said and done, the list of improvements alone, if enacted, would make the Brattleboro Public Schools cooler than most, and probably more effective, which says something about the ideals of those involved.  But as was reflected in the discussion, this is an era of standardization and assessment, data and budgets.

Attendees included members of the Town School Board; Principals Paciulli and Reid, of Academy and Green Street Schools respectively; an assistant principal; Lyle Holiday and Ron Stahley of WSESU; a number of teachers, including high school teachers; some parents; and members of the public and press.

The Brattleboro Town School Board recently sent surveys to parents, staff, and students as part of their community outreach effort. Below are the questions that were asked of each group. I thought the surveys might be of interest to those who don’t have children attending any of these three schools, but are interested in education.

Recently, I submitted a list of questions to the Brattleboro Town School Board with regard to standardized testing, federal education programs, teachers’ concerns,  and a range of other topics.  I received a response from Town School Board Chair Margaret Atkinson today, with answers to most of them.  

Margaret Atkinson explained that she “worked with [WSESU Superintendent of Schools] Ron Stahley and District Curriculum Coordinator Lyle Holiday” in preparing the answers.

She stressed that the answers were not intended to represent the views of the Town School Board, who, she said, have not voted on it and have no declared position on most of these issues.  

As many in town grapple with the sense of cognitive dissonance that comes from hearing multiple conflicting views about our schools, it’s helpful to have concrete statements of position to evaluate.  The questions and answers below shed light on the administration’s view of the issues, and provide important background into how our school administrators see education today.

Here’s a link to a that challenges the benefits and virtues of testing.

“I happen to believe that efforts to raise test scores dramatically and in mass, such as is called for by NCLB, is a fool’s errand that can only end in failure or (more likely) fraud.” 

As a parent who has sent two kids through the system, and former educator myself, I submit this article as one who no longer has ‘skin in the game’. However, I believe all of us have a flesh and blood investment in this issue, because the corporate mindset and methods that now so heavily dominate education, inform almost every aspect of our lives.