Archive: News

While the Ithaca City School District (ICSD) still faces the need for budget cuts, reports and discussions at the January 26 meeting focused on strategies to insure inclusiveness and good learning experiences for all students.

Reports from the Discovery Trail, the Declaration of Shared Values, the Ithaca Teachers Association, and the Northeast and Enfield elementary schools, all showed a strong interest in finding ways to create a good community for learning.

 

Board members Seth Peacock and Eldred Harris asked many questions about the practicality of the presented materials.

 

Members of the Discovery Trail, Warren Allmon (Museum of the Earth) and Jean Currie (The History Center), reported on the "Kids Discover the Trail" project, which combines classes from different elementary schools to visit one of the Trail's eight sites. Students visit a Trail site each year from pre-K to fifth grade. In so doing, they make friends who will later join them in middle and high school. This approach keeps neighborhood isolation from becoming a problem in the higher grades.

 

Cal Walker (Village at Ithaca) and Roger Sibley (The Racker Center) reported on the Declaration of Shared Values, and asked the ICSD Board to sign the document. Created after the divisive Kearney vs. ICSD trial, the group aims to provide guidance, assistance, and resources to companies and groups who want to improve diversity and cultural sensitivity.

 

Susan Mittler, President of the Ithaca Teachers Association, reported on the recent Superintendent's Conference Day, where ICSD teaching staff collaborated on inclusion plans and RTI training. RTI, Response to Intervention, is a protocol that helps teachers evaluate students for learning difficulties and disabilities, and provides tools for addressing these concerns.

 

Board committees reported that they have received $1.1 million from the state, as expected, but that unemployment insurance filings have tripled, from $15,000 per year to $45,000 in 2009. Although ICSD has not fully laid off any staff in the past year, previous staff members who took jobs in other districts and were quickly laid off must apply to ICSD for unemployment benefits.

 

Superintendent Judith Pastel encouraged everyone to attend the Community Forum on Monday, February 1, 2010, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn in downtown Ithaca. Titled "Unleashing the Power of Community: Continuing the Dialogue on Racism, Tolerance, Collaboration and Commitment," the Forum will include an open mic where community members can talk about their concerns with a panel of community leaders.

 

Northeast Elementary School and Enfield Elementary School each reported on their plans for the coming year. Northeast is the largest elementary school in Ithaca, with 400 students from 25 countries. Enfield is a rural school with 273 students, many of them financially underprivileged. Both schools, however, are carefully analyzing student achievement data in order to provide differentiated instruction, where students have multiple options for taking in information and making sense of ideas. To develop their strategies, Enfield worked with Sean Brady of Prism Decision Systems LLC. Teacher Judy Blood commented that those sessions "moved the staff further than ever in my ten years of experience."

 

ICSD Board President Robert Ainslie responded to the school reports by noting that "Your child can go to any school in this district and get a great education."

 

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