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INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — Communication gaps between the school district and frustrated community members will not slow down the implementation of a new honors program at Incline's public institutions, an official said.
“I'm very supportive of this; it's sort of a situation where you either run with the stampede, or you get run over by the stampede,” said Washoe County School District Deputy Superintendent Rick Borba.
Borba's announcement ensures International Baccalaureate — an advanced, global curriculum in place at about 680 schools nationwide — will begin at the start of the 2011-12 school year at Incline High School, with the entire program getting under way at Incline Elementary and Middle schools by 2012-13.
The announcement comes amid public concern from parents and teachers that things are moving too quickly, something of which the school district is aware, Borba said.
“We need to do a better job of answering questions and concerns coming from the Incline Village community,” he said. “There are some perceptions out there that are just not true, and there are legitimate concerns, and we need to address those.”
Some teachers at Incline High School spoke of those concerns at a Dec. 2 community meeting about IB's Diploma Programme, which is for 11th- and 12th-grade students and set to begin in 2011. Among the loudest concerns were IB's ability to co-exist with the school's Advanced Placement program, the amount of money the community must raise to keep IB afloat and the timeline in place to implement it.
At the meeting, IHS teacher Aaron Parsons revealed results of a private poll in which 19 of the school's 26 teachers participated. Two chose to keep the current implementation plan on the same track, 10 voted to slow down the plan to allow for additional research and seven were in favor of stopping the program altogether.
“At this point, there is some major concern among the teachers at Incline High School,” Parsons said. “I think the staff needs to hear more on this, both the promotional and the opposing views. We need to know all the info before we can get teacher buy-in.”
Ann Clark, who teaches AP art at the school and already has gone through IB training, was one who voted to take more time.
“I think the teachers liked this enough to look into it more, but in a way it was thrust at us so quickly that we weren't ready,” said Clark, who has taught for 23 years at the high school. “I think we need to find out more information to make it work in our small school ... but I'm definitely in favor of it. I love everything about the IB program.”
Incline High School is working through an accreditation process, and it recently learned earlier this year that principal John Clark will retire at the end of the school year. Processing that information while being asked to prepare for a new curriculum probably came as a shock to the teaching staff, Borba said.
“There are a lot of immediate needs to take care of, and I think some of the staff feels kind of overwhelmed; it's the perfect storm, so to speak,” Borba said. “I think a lot of folks said, ‘Why so fast?'”
Borba added that he will conduct one-on-one meetings with teachers on Jan. 6 at the school to help answer any questions.
John Eppolito is an Incline parent of four who attended the Dec. 2 meeting. Since, he has stressed the need for the schools and school district to take more time to answer the concerns addressed earlier this month.
“I'm not saying I'm against it, but I don't think we've fully investigated all the implications of the program,” Eppolito said.
Jeni Cross, who teaches AP French, took on the role of Diploma Programme coordinator once the Incline Schools Reflective Task Force announced in May that IB was the proper route for Incline to pursue to shore up a decade of declining enrollment.
Once the decision was made, Cross said the next step was to get buy-in from teachers to pursue the idea further.
“The question we asked the teachers was, ‘are you interested in learning more,' and there was definite initial interest there,” Cross said. “And then the community got excited about it and we moved ahead.”
The timeline in place gives her and school administrators about a year and a half before the program begins in August 2011. With research taking place the next few months and a March 2010 deadline in place for would-be IB teachers to submit course schedules, things should be on schedule to submit the second application in Spring 2010 for the Diploma Programme, Cross said.
“Teachers are under a lot of stress, and there have been concerns raised that there isn't enough allotted time and that we don't have the schedule known yet,” Cross said. “But that doesn't mean they are against it; in fact, many are very positive about it — they just need more information. I feel the majority of people are for it.
“We have a lot of time to make this work the right way — I don't think the concept of a year and a half has been fully appreciated yet.”
Janette Holman, who instructs varying levels of Spanish, including AP Spanish and AP Spanish literature, shared a similar view.
“I was not at the meeting when the staff voted, but I think that it needs to be implemented, so the number would increase to 3 to see the implementation on the current timeline,” said Holman, who has taught for 19 years and was trained earlier this year in Atlanta to teach IB. “My stance has never changed. We still have 1.5 years to get our staff trained, and applications written, and then we can start in 2011.”
Others disagree, including Incline resident and parent Kathie Goldberg, whose daughter Kayla is a current freshman at IHS, and this among the first group of students who could enroll in the Diploma Programme in 2011.
“I'm a cautious supporter of this,” she said at the Dec. 2 meeting. “I'm concerned about the timeline, a rather aggressive schedule I think that might put us at a disadvantage.”
“I'm very supportive of this; it's sort of a situation where you either run with the stampede, or you get run over by the stampede,” said Washoe County School District Deputy Superintendent Rick Borba.
Borba's announcement ensures International Baccalaureate — an advanced, global curriculum in place at about 680 schools nationwide — will begin at the start of the 2011-12 school year at Incline High School, with the entire program getting under way at Incline Elementary and Middle schools by 2012-13.
The announcement comes amid public concern from parents and teachers that things are moving too quickly, something of which the school district is aware, Borba said.
“We need to do a better job of answering questions and concerns coming from the Incline Village community,” he said. “There are some perceptions out there that are just not true, and there are legitimate concerns, and we need to address those.”
Some teachers at Incline High School spoke of those concerns at a Dec. 2 community meeting about IB's Diploma Programme, which is for 11th- and 12th-grade students and set to begin in 2011. Among the loudest concerns were IB's ability to co-exist with the school's Advanced Placement program, the amount of money the community must raise to keep IB afloat and the timeline in place to implement it.
At the meeting, IHS teacher Aaron Parsons revealed results of a private poll in which 19 of the school's 26 teachers participated. Two chose to keep the current implementation plan on the same track, 10 voted to slow down the plan to allow for additional research and seven were in favor of stopping the program altogether.
“At this point, there is some major concern among the teachers at Incline High School,” Parsons said. “I think the staff needs to hear more on this, both the promotional and the opposing views. We need to know all the info before we can get teacher buy-in.”
Ann Clark, who teaches AP art at the school and already has gone through IB training, was one who voted to take more time.
“I think the teachers liked this enough to look into it more, but in a way it was thrust at us so quickly that we weren't ready,” said Clark, who has taught for 23 years at the high school. “I think we need to find out more information to make it work in our small school ... but I'm definitely in favor of it. I love everything about the IB program.”
Incline High School is working through an accreditation process, and it recently learned earlier this year that principal John Clark will retire at the end of the school year. Processing that information while being asked to prepare for a new curriculum probably came as a shock to the teaching staff, Borba said.
“There are a lot of immediate needs to take care of, and I think some of the staff feels kind of overwhelmed; it's the perfect storm, so to speak,” Borba said. “I think a lot of folks said, ‘Why so fast?'”
Borba added that he will conduct one-on-one meetings with teachers on Jan. 6 at the school to help answer any questions.
John Eppolito is an Incline parent of four who attended the Dec. 2 meeting. Since, he has stressed the need for the schools and school district to take more time to answer the concerns addressed earlier this month.
“I'm not saying I'm against it, but I don't think we've fully investigated all the implications of the program,” Eppolito said.
Jeni Cross, who teaches AP French, took on the role of Diploma Programme coordinator once the Incline Schools Reflective Task Force announced in May that IB was the proper route for Incline to pursue to shore up a decade of declining enrollment.
Once the decision was made, Cross said the next step was to get buy-in from teachers to pursue the idea further.
“The question we asked the teachers was, ‘are you interested in learning more,' and there was definite initial interest there,” Cross said. “And then the community got excited about it and we moved ahead.”
The timeline in place gives her and school administrators about a year and a half before the program begins in August 2011. With research taking place the next few months and a March 2010 deadline in place for would-be IB teachers to submit course schedules, things should be on schedule to submit the second application in Spring 2010 for the Diploma Programme, Cross said.
“Teachers are under a lot of stress, and there have been concerns raised that there isn't enough allotted time and that we don't have the schedule known yet,” Cross said. “But that doesn't mean they are against it; in fact, many are very positive about it — they just need more information. I feel the majority of people are for it.
“We have a lot of time to make this work the right way — I don't think the concept of a year and a half has been fully appreciated yet.”
Janette Holman, who instructs varying levels of Spanish, including AP Spanish and AP Spanish literature, shared a similar view.
“I was not at the meeting when the staff voted, but I think that it needs to be implemented, so the number would increase to 3 to see the implementation on the current timeline,” said Holman, who has taught for 19 years and was trained earlier this year in Atlanta to teach IB. “My stance has never changed. We still have 1.5 years to get our staff trained, and applications written, and then we can start in 2011.”
Others disagree, including Incline resident and parent Kathie Goldberg, whose daughter Kayla is a current freshman at IHS, and this among the first group of students who could enroll in the Diploma Programme in 2011.
“I'm a cautious supporter of this,” she said at the Dec. 2 meeting. “I'm concerned about the timeline, a rather aggressive schedule I think that might put us at a disadvantage.”
