Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Open thread

Summer is almost over already, only one month left. What's on your mind, APP parents?

Race to Nowhere and APP

By request, a thread to discuss the film "Race to Nowhere" and the concern of pushing children too hard too fast. Useful reviews and summaries of the film are available from Slate, Wikipedia, and the New York Times, among other places.

Principals at split Lowell

Suep asked for a thread to talk about leadership at Lowell and Lowell APP @ Lincoln next year. Specifically, she said:
Basically, the district is asking Gregory King to be principal of two geographically and academically separate schools, is also assigning last year's Lowell Asst Principal Rina Geoghagan to APP @ Lincoln, and is also assigning a third person, Marella Francois, to APP@Lincoln. (Francois has not been the principal of a regular school in 14 years and left her last job at Meany Middle School in a climate of controversy.) This will effectively give APP@Lincoln 2.5 principals and Lowell half a principal.

Both APP@Lincoln and Lowell have a challenging year ahead of them, arguably especially APP@Lincoln which almost has to reinvent itself and is basically in limbo until the district figures out where to place these kids permanently. How are these leadership arrangements sensible or equitable?
Seems like an important topic. Thoughts? And please also use this thread to discuss other issues around the challenging year ahead for APP@Lincoln and Lowell.