AnonymousUpdate by an edhat reader
A meeting was held Friday morning with over 50 parents and the Principal backed down an apologized from his decision to end CK program. But the district is receiving unprecedented transfer requests, the deadline is 5pm today. Another meeting is at 11:30am and parents are meeting at Goleta Library on Saturday.
By an edhat reader
In an unexpected and hasty move, the new Principal of La Cumbre Junior High Bradley Brock informed perspective 7th-grade parents Wednesday evening that the popular Core Knowledge Program is being discontinued and will not be accepting incoming 7th-grade students for the 2020/2021 school year.
With just two days before intradistrict transfer applications are due, it is causing many parents to scramble and rethink their enrollment decision. Being within the attendance area of La Cumbre we had heard wonderful things about and were excited for our son to enter the Core Knowledge Program. La Cumbre is the smallest junior high school and this decision will likely make it even smaller.
Unfortunately, Jo Ann Caines is not with us to defend this program and advocate for Westside families. I’d like to hear from former students and parents about your experiences at La Cumbre and the Core Knowledge Program. Possible solutions for this quick decision that caught us off guard: • Extend the deadline for transfers? • Continue the Core Knowledge program for one year and give proper advance notice to next years 7th grade parents?
I was one of the 50 parents at the morning meeting. As far as I can tell from what the principal told us – this was his own choice, not based on any district goal. He came into the school this year to head it up, he is in the process of evaluating each area of the curriculum. I believe this is his first time as a principal, though he has experience in setting curricula. He looked at data (mainly enrollment, I expect, though it wasn’t clear), interviewed some students, and decided to cancel the program. It came as a complete shock to current students, incoming students, parents, AND CK faculty. So…that was not prudent………………… It seems that perhaps due diligence was not completed before he made this decision. On the contrary, COASTWATCH, this action would be the opposite of “dumbing down” to receive higher test scores. The core knowledge program is incredibly rigorous and in depth. It would be true loss to the school and the district. I am glad that he agreed to extend it a year, but if it is not replaced with something as good, then a majority of families who would enter the program would likely choose to transfer. One of his arguments is that it is a “stand alone” program with no elementary or high school equivalent. Um…so?
all of my kids go there and we are NOT fans of either of the Core learning…at all. Brock is a good guy, and FAR better than Jo Ann Caines. She was the root of almost every problem that school had. I will say, that 2 of 3 of my kids have done poorly at LCJS and we may be transferring them to SB. There are issues at every school….
coastwatch, the entire common core learning is the dumbing down portion. it’s ridiculous. i do math as most of my job, if someone came in doing math this way, they would be escorted off the property…
Twisted but sensible to me. I never was a fan of Common Core but Districts are forced to adhere. To me, the bigger issue is Labor Unions representing both management and employees; “teaching to the test” pressure placed upon teachers, and additional legacy “no child left behind” pressure also placed on teachers. We have some really great teachers here and personally I’d like to see the reins pulled off of them and just let them teach they way they know how to. They are actually pretty good at this, please don’t limit their ability to continue teaching!
I guess just teaching basic math-geometry, science, english skills and geography is too simple a task… I can’t believe some of the YouTube “person on the street” videos where they ask BASIC knowledge questions… 90% can’t get any of them right- and they ask on COLLEGE CAMPUSES…! It’s really frightening how STUPID we, as a country have become. It’s not teachers, it’s the crazy curriculum they are forced to teach by the State and Administrators.
Zerohawk – you’re dunking on a dead woman who was beloved by many and died tragically less than 2 years ago. You have a right to your own opinion… but have the decency to know when to keep it to yourself
Is this the result of the “dumbing-down”, so to speak, of our schools in order to attain higher scores…?
I’ve been a parent of SBUSD for 9 years with one more year to go. My family has experienced ups and downs with programs and services, which seems to be the nature of public education. At this point, I can say that students are successful because of parent engagement and providing real guidance for their children. Not every kid will attend university but parents should expect their child to learn a basic education Common Core or not.