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1998-08-03
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1998-08-03
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City Council
Meeting Date
8/3/1998
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Minutes
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254 <br /> <br />NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING <br /> <br />A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE COUNCIL WILL BE HELD ON Friday, August 14, <br />1998 AT 12:00 noon IN THE Basement Conference Room. <br /> <br />THE PROPOSED AGENDA IS AS FOLLOWS: <br /> <br />Luncheon meeting with School Board <br /> <br />BY ORDER OF THE h,IAYOR <br /> <br />BY Jeanne Cox (signed) <br /> <br />BASEMENT CONFERENCE ROOM - August 14, 1998 <br /> <br /> Council met in special session on this date with the following members present: <br />Mr. Caravati, Ms. Daugherty, Ms~ Richards, Mr. Toscano. Absent: Mr. Cox. <br /> <br /> Ms. Erin Garvey, representing the Charlottesville PTO Council, presented <br />brochures developed by the PTO, targeted mostly to parents outside the school system. <br />Ms. Garvey said that the brochures will be widely distributed throughout the community. <br /> <br /> Dr. William Symons, Superintendent of City Schools, discussed the issue of <br />African-American student achievement. Dr. Symons said that this is a delicate topic and <br />while there have been many successes in the school system, disparity continues to exist <br />locally and nationwide between white and Latino and African-American students. Dr. <br />Symons said the question is what do we do about it. Dr. Symons said that quality <br />teaching is very important, as is rigorous programs. Dr. Symons said that statistics show <br />that as poverty increases, schools decline. <br /> <br /> Dr. Joshia Haig, a former school superintendent and consultant working with the <br />Charlottesville School System, said that disparity in student achievement has a systemic <br />effect on the entire organization and can destroy the emotional stability of a community. <br />Dr. Haig said that this disparity cannot be made to be only a school district problem, but <br />should be viewed in the broader view of community issues. <br /> <br /> Dr. Symons said that he believes some solutions to addressing the disparity issue <br />includes: teacher expertise/effectiveness; believing that every child learns; rethinking <br />how students spend their day in school; offering meaningful, rich content and follo~ving <br />through on what children do with this information; and interaction with students. Dr. <br />Symons said he believes disparities will continue if low level groupings continue and if <br />schools days continue to be fragmented. <br /> <br /> Responding to a question from Ms. Daugherty, Dr. Symons said that other <br />communities are being studied and efforts are being made to build a foundation with <br />teachers and staff and to develop common language. <br /> <br /> Dr. Haig said that the year-round school being offered at Jackson-Via is an <br />attempt to address the issue. Dr. Haig said wrapping City services around schools, <br />helping to define community involvement at the schools; looking at the role of <br />technology, and building a foundation for help in solving the problems are also being <br />explored. <br /> <br /> Mr. Toscano asked how we can evaluate such efforts. 1Vk. Toscano also noted <br />that getting rid of bad teachers can be very difficult and asked if the School Board and <br />Council are committed to follow through with this effort. <br /> <br /> Dr. Symons said that the school system has an obligation to help teachers <br />improve, but if this is unsuccessful, it will be necessary to go to the next step. <br /> <br /> Dr. Symons said that in his opinion the worse thing the school system can do is <br />focus on getting high scores on tests. Dr. Symons said that the test scores will change <br />~vhen the quality of learning improves. <br /> <br /> <br />
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