In a year with academic progressions and hard decisions, Park has shown how public education is ever-evolving. This spring, Park school district community members received a message containing information regarding updates to Park programs, staffing and resources that will be set in motion next school year.
One shift the district is making is the transition away from the IB program at the elementary and middle school grade levels. According to Park Superintendent Carlondrea Hines, “The question that came to me when I first came (to the district) was, why are we still doing IB? What are we getting out of this?” Administration decided to cut IB based on prioritizing consistency from kindergarten to high school, and ensuring Park is providing equitable learning opportunities at each school site, noting that the program is absent at Park Spanish Immersion Elementary School.
The changes to IB are not impacting the high school level at this time. Administration is taking additional time to examine if the program is worth the operational financial costs. In order for the IB program to have sufficient returns on investment, more high school students would have to fulfill the IB Diploma Programme. Hines said the district is prioritizing student preference, and utilizing that to drive future course decisions.
“We are still analyzing the impact to the high school, so we didn’t want to remove the choice from students at the high school if they wanted to continue with the DP (Diploma Programme),” Hines said. “We’re really watching how many students are graduating with their IB diplomas to see, do we continue to have IB at the high school, or are students choosing other courses, because I know we are offering more concurrent enrollment courses, so are students choosing more of those courses than IB courses?”
A shift that is impacting the high school next year is Alison Tsuchiya Theiler’s role as the Park media specialist will become a digital learning specialist. This position is designed to include district-wide collaboration, focus on active creation for students and be an active presence at Park schools by visiting classes. Tsuchiya Theiler said digital devices are a permanent force, and because of this, it is important to learn how to use them well. According to her, Park has an opportunity now to organize its resources to optimize their impact.
“They’re a part of our lives, and there’s time and space to use digital tools, just like any teacher who evaluates what they’re doing and wants to figure out what the best way to help their students learn the learning target or the objective of the day,” Tsuchiya Theiler said. “Park hasn’t had a team-leading technology. This is my fourth year here, and what I’ve learned is that during COVID, they just handed out Chromebooks; there wasn’t a plan (because) people make decisions in emergencies. Now, I feel like there’s a breath from that time, and now it’s like, how are we actually using our resources, time and all the digital (resources) to come together to create something for the district and for our students?”
Another change going into effect next year is the district’s addition to the special education leadership team. Each school site will have a dedicated teacher on special assignment to lead special ed, and Hines said they will be focused on instructing teachers how to show up as better supporters, as well as filling out legal forms.
“What we have heard since my beginning here was that there was a need for more support in the building for our students that are receiving special ed services,” Hines said. “We took advantage of an opportunity because we had some retirements in administration in student support services, to restructure it in order to push more support into the buildings. Our teachers on special assignment that will support student special ed, they will support with teaching intervention and teach coping skills for teachers for classroom management when we have students who have in their IEPs behavior improvement plans.”
One more major difference in the high school next year will be the retirement of the non-traditional academy (NTA) program. This support program is made for senior students, allowing them to recover credits and graduate on time. According to senior Day’Shawn Simmons Harris, he would be struggling without NTA. He said NTA presents an amazing community that students in the future will have to miss out on.
“NTA helped me a lot because I’m not from Minneapolis, and coming in my junior year, I didn’t really know what was before me,” Simmons Harris said. “My senior year, I decided to come (to NTA), and I met a lot of great people, and I like how it’s a non-traditional academy, so you can do whatever you want, and it’s student-based. It’s sad to see it going because I feel like for a lot of future generations, this would be good for them to catch up with their credit recovery and be in an environment where (school is) project-based, and I feel like it’s better to manage yourself around other people and projects.”
While administration agrees that NTA has been a beneficial program for students in it, Hines said the current structure expense is high, and if they expanded the values of the program beyond just seniors, that could widen the impact.
“With NTA, what we noticed is that it was just for seniors, and the cost associated with it,” Hines said. “I think it was the framework, the things that they were doing in NTA, like the inter interdisciplinary learning opportunities driven by student choice. It was like, why is it just for NTA? If students (or) if teachers want to collaborate and have that model, let’s open it up, as opposed to just this one program, so as to allow for the good things that were in NTA to be casted across the board in all content areas and within all grades.”
The district believes that through the upcoming block schedule, they will be able to align the teaching pedagogy and effect of NTA with standard classes. According to Simmons Harris, compared to his past experience with a block schedule, NTA drives student success more effectively by tailoring learning plans to the individual and providing students with extra confidence.
“I’m gonna have to say no (the block will not be able to fill the shoes of NTA strategies),” Simmons Harris said. “I came from a school that kind of did the block schedule, and I’m gonna be honest, I like the NTA more. I feel like it’s more interactive. NTA gives people a reason to get their grade up, and it gives them a lot of courage to get things done and free time to get their grades and things up. In normal classes, you can’t do that because just by yourself doing Orioles Nest, sometimes people can’t do it or are bad at time management.”
Tsuchiya Theiler said every time something that is known is modified, people are bound to feel uneasy about it. However, according to her, sometimes thinking about shifts in a hopeful, eager way can lead the way for something better.
“Change is always scary, and people fight against change because it’s not what they want,” Tsuchiya Theiler said. “Change inevitably happens, and it’s something that can be a positive. So, I’m hoping that these changes are positive and that it’s like a refresh, every school year is a refresh. We’re gonna start something new, and be excited about it.”
According to Hines, educators’ duties are to serve their students, and administration aims to make decisions that enable every student to thrive.
“We are charged and obligated to make sure that we are doing and making decisions that are in the best interest of students in order to prepare them for their choice. If we don’t, we’re literally closing doors for students. Now, we do have a sector of students that will make it regardless of what we do, but there is also a sector of our population that really need us to show up differently for them in order for them to have other and better opportunities in their future,” Hines said.
