
{"id":7281,"date":"2009-10-02T07:11:57","date_gmt":"2009-10-02T15:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=7281"},"modified":"2009-10-02T07:11:57","modified_gmt":"2009-10-02T15:11:57","slug":"school-board-candidates-discuss-gifted-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2009\/10\/02\/school-board-candidates-discuss-gifted-students\/","title":{"rendered":"School board candidates discuss gifted students"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Beth Mechum, Staff Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It was a well-attended forum Tuesday night at the Chapel Hill public library as Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education candidates argued for why they should be elected. But the variety of issues discussed left something to be desired.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Partners for the Advancement of Gifted Education sponsored the forum and all questions were about gifted students, classes and teachers.<\/p>\n<p>Because all board candidates supported gifted services, there wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t much room to make standout statements, but some common themes revealed themselves throughout the forum.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone agreed gifted students need different classes or kinds of work, but the amount of rigor offered to students was a topic of debate.<\/p>\n<p>Shell Brownstein was concerned that there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough variety in types of classes offered after students enter high school.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153One size does not fit all,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, citing the need for an in-between class for subjects with which advanced placement classes offer too much rigor and regular classes not enough. <\/p>\n<p>Incumbent Greg McElveen emphasized that though rigor is important for all students,  so too is relevant subject matter. In his view, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153rigor\u00e2\u20ac\u009d isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the only deciding factor when looking at classes and they shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be based on just that.<\/p>\n<p>MaryAnne Guccidardi expressed interest in providing rigor for students in interesting, more innovative ways, such as project-oriented classes, or through Professional Learning Communities.<\/p>\n<p> Guccidardi also addressed what she thought was a question directed explicitly at her about parents not being satisfied with the CHCCS system. Her son goes to private school at Cary Academy; her daughter goes to Rashkis Elementary.<\/p>\n<p>Guccidardi said it was just the right fit for her son, who wanted to continue his studies in Mandarin after moving to the area. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You have to do what is right for your children,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Another buzz word making its way around the panel was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153implementation.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nWhen talking about measures to assess and track the academic progress of students, Susana Dancy said she thought the measurements were fine, but that there are problems with using those measurements to better a child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s classroom experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Once the child gets through the gate as being identified [as gifted], a lot of times that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean a whole lot changes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Joe Green, the director of UNC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Upward Bound program, spent a lot of his allotted time advocating for increased partnership between the school system and the university as a way to engage students without exhausting existing resources.<\/p>\n<p>In their closing statements, candidates were able to briefly address issues besides those of gifted children and classes, and all made sure to say that though they believe the school system to be a wonderful one, there are always things that can be done better.<\/p>\n<p>Access to education for all students was a sticking point for most candidates. Christine Lee would like to see a more individualized approach to education. <\/p>\n<p>McElveen said though he was a fan of many of the policies in place, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s seen first-hand that they could be better implemented.<\/p>\n<p>Green, the youngest of the candidates, promoted his knack for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fresh ideas.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nBrownstein said one of her biggest interests is erasing the achievement gap.<br \/>\nDancy called the school system \u00e2\u20ac\u0153patchwork\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and said there needs to be better communication throughout the school system. <\/p>\n<p>Guccidardi used her closing statement to again advocate for creative and innovative teaching methods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Beth Mechum, Staff Writer It was a well-attended forum Tuesday night at the Chapel Hill public library as Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education candidates argued for why they should be elected. But the variety of issues discussed left something to be desired.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[356,117],"class_list":["post-7281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-schools","tag-2009-election","tag-chapel-hill-carrboro-city-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7282,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7281\/revisions\/7282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}