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Opinion
ENLARGE
INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — A school district official this week denied an accusation that he threatened teachers at Incline High School with transfers if they did not “ride with the stampede” in regard to the school's upcoming International Baccalaureate program.
According to an e-mail from Steve Brown, who teaches biology at Incline High School, to another community member and obtained by the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza, Washoe County School District officials — namely Chief School Performance Officer Rick Borba — put pressure on teachers to accept IB without providing enough information about how the impact will affect teachers' workload.
“Last year, at one faculty meeting, (teachers) were told that (officials) were going to investigate the feasibility of an IB program at IHS,” Brown said in the e-mail. “At the next meeting we were told that the community had made the decision to go ahead with the program. When (faculty) began questioning the process, (Rick) Borba told us we either had to ‘ride with the stampede' or we could easily be transferred to another school.”
On Wednesday, Borba said while he did characterize the movement to implement the IB as a stampede, he did not threaten teachers with transfers.
“I never mentioned a transfer or any threats over job security,” Borba said. “I was trying to give the teachers a feel for what was going on in the community.”
Borba and WCSD Deputy Superintendent Pedro Martinez met with teachers at Incline High School on Wednesday to talk about concerns staff had about IB's schedule, which is to install the Diploma Programme — a high-level curriculum for grades 11-12 — for the 2011-12 school year, and the Middle Years and Primary Years programs, thus completing the K-12 curriculum, for the 2012-13 school year.
Before Wednesday's meeting, IHS principal John Clark — who is retiring after this school year — said Borba did mention transfers.
“Borba really wanted the teachers on board, so he told teachers they should consider transferring within the school district,” Clark said. “It's not as though teachers will lose their jobs if they don't want to teach IB.”
Brown said Borba falsely characterized community support of IB implementation as unanimous.
“It is ironic that we teachers were given the impression the community was 100 percent behind the idea,” Brown said in the e-mail. According to a Tuesday phone interview, Brown confirmed the statements made in the e-mail.
Borba said parents were “vociferously in favor of bringing IB to Incline,” in regard to support given at last year's Incline Schools Reflective Task Force, when it voted to pursue IB.
Borba said he never intended to convey the impression there were no community members that expressed reservations over the program.
“Whenever you have an issue of major change in a school district you will always have disagreement, and the district doesn't mind healthy debate,” Borba said. “In any given community ,one-third of the people are for an issue, one-third are against it and one-third are ambivalent. I never wanted to make it seem as though everyone in Incline was on board with IB. However, there was and is a very enthusiastic group of parents and residents that think IB will be a component in making Incline a better more well-rounded school.”
Going forward, teacher support and training will be critical to the successful enactment of IB.
“I admit that IB implementation is going quickly, which means it will be important to provide teachers with helpful answers to some of their questions so they have less concerns going forward,” he said.
Martinez said the district will continue to devise strategies to make the transition more seamless, adding that Wednesday's faculty meeting was the first step in working closely with teachers to ensure their questions are answered.
“It's important that staff's concerns are addressed as IB contains a lot of confusing elements,” said Martinez. “No one in the district is trying to silence teachers or to force cooperation.
“A healthy debate is constructive.”
According to an e-mail from Steve Brown, who teaches biology at Incline High School, to another community member and obtained by the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza, Washoe County School District officials — namely Chief School Performance Officer Rick Borba — put pressure on teachers to accept IB without providing enough information about how the impact will affect teachers' workload.
“Last year, at one faculty meeting, (teachers) were told that (officials) were going to investigate the feasibility of an IB program at IHS,” Brown said in the e-mail. “At the next meeting we were told that the community had made the decision to go ahead with the program. When (faculty) began questioning the process, (Rick) Borba told us we either had to ‘ride with the stampede' or we could easily be transferred to another school.”
On Wednesday, Borba said while he did characterize the movement to implement the IB as a stampede, he did not threaten teachers with transfers.
“I never mentioned a transfer or any threats over job security,” Borba said. “I was trying to give the teachers a feel for what was going on in the community.”
Borba and WCSD Deputy Superintendent Pedro Martinez met with teachers at Incline High School on Wednesday to talk about concerns staff had about IB's schedule, which is to install the Diploma Programme — a high-level curriculum for grades 11-12 — for the 2011-12 school year, and the Middle Years and Primary Years programs, thus completing the K-12 curriculum, for the 2012-13 school year.
Before Wednesday's meeting, IHS principal John Clark — who is retiring after this school year — said Borba did mention transfers.
“Borba really wanted the teachers on board, so he told teachers they should consider transferring within the school district,” Clark said. “It's not as though teachers will lose their jobs if they don't want to teach IB.”
Brown said Borba falsely characterized community support of IB implementation as unanimous.
“It is ironic that we teachers were given the impression the community was 100 percent behind the idea,” Brown said in the e-mail. According to a Tuesday phone interview, Brown confirmed the statements made in the e-mail.
Borba said parents were “vociferously in favor of bringing IB to Incline,” in regard to support given at last year's Incline Schools Reflective Task Force, when it voted to pursue IB.
Borba said he never intended to convey the impression there were no community members that expressed reservations over the program.
“Whenever you have an issue of major change in a school district you will always have disagreement, and the district doesn't mind healthy debate,” Borba said. “In any given community ,one-third of the people are for an issue, one-third are against it and one-third are ambivalent. I never wanted to make it seem as though everyone in Incline was on board with IB. However, there was and is a very enthusiastic group of parents and residents that think IB will be a component in making Incline a better more well-rounded school.”
Going forward, teacher support and training will be critical to the successful enactment of IB.
“I admit that IB implementation is going quickly, which means it will be important to provide teachers with helpful answers to some of their questions so they have less concerns going forward,” he said.
Martinez said the district will continue to devise strategies to make the transition more seamless, adding that Wednesday's faculty meeting was the first step in working closely with teachers to ensure their questions are answered.
“It's important that staff's concerns are addressed as IB contains a lot of confusing elements,” said Martinez. “No one in the district is trying to silence teachers or to force cooperation.
“A healthy debate is constructive.”
