Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Meeting reminder about schools

Don't forget the A+ Schools forum on IB:

International Baccalaureate (IB) 6-12 will be held on Thursday, March 6, 2008, 5:30 PM on the 31st floor of the Regional Enterprise Tower, 425 Sixth Avenue, Downtown (formerly known as the Alcoa Building). Hear about the IB and Middle Years programs and plans for the new school from teachers and administrators from Frick International Studies Academy and Schenley High School. You will have the opportunity to offer your input about important features of the International Baccalaureate School.
CLICK HERE TO RSVP

Don’t let parking keep you from coming Downtown. A+ Schools will validate parking tickets for the Mellon Square Garage!

I think it would be great if we had a huge turnout to express our thoughts on the proposed program/changes. I know that I have a few concerns about the anticipated move to expansion. Mr. Roosevelt has said that he would like to see more students taking the Diploma Program. What he hasn't said is how he is going to maintain a quality program with the high standards that have been important in the past. I have spoken with several parents of junior IB students who are currently (and one who dropped) Theory of Knowledge. For those of you familiar with the full IB program, TOK is a required course and extremely important. (check out the IB web site: http://www.ibo.org/). The class is offered over two semesters and currently begins during spring of junior year and continues to fall of senior year. One section of this class began with more than 40 students. Students were encouraged to switch to the other class, if possible, or drop it. It seems to me that the school and Roosevelt are at cross-purposes on this. They need to know that a few bad experiences will have a ripple effect; bad word-of-mouth will destroy the program. The program at Schenley has been very successful with some excellent teachers. We need to make sure that in the rush to expand, they don't lower the standards of the program.

Other Upcoming Events:
Parents of Schenley 9th and 10th graders have been invited to a general information meeting scheduled for 6:30 pm., Tuesday, March 11 in the Schenley auditorium. Another meeting will be held later for students who receive a letter of candidacy after GPAs etc. are reviewed.

Regularly scheduled PSCC is March 19, 6 pm in the Schenley library. Topic for the meeting is World Languages/ IB/IS.

amy moore

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