Monday, February 2, 2009

Why are we running for the Pleasantdale School Board of Education?

· To ensure that all parents feel their voices are being heard.
· To focus on all students.
· To be fiscally responsible with your hard earned tax dollars.
· To increase technology assisted instruction in the classroom.
· To explore and take advantage of all monetary resources and opportunities.
· To increase parental involvement throughout the district.
· To establish a district wide homework policy that includes a schedule for subject matter tests.
· To improve staff morale.
· To align our goals and curriculum with Lyons Township High School.
· To increase the percentage of district revenue that actually reaches the students.
· To decrease the overall emphasis on standardized tests.


Regardless of how good we think our district is, we must constantly strive to be better.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

YES WE CAN!!

Anonymous said...

My daughter will be entering Pleasantdale Kindergarten in the fall. She is my oldest child. Based on your bullet point list, do you feel that technology is lacking in the Pleasantdale school system or do you feel that it just needs to remain a priority. Do children have computer time during the day? Does the school utilize smart boards? This seems pretty common place in many schools.

Anonymous said...

I am not one of the BOE candidates but my youngest is in 8th grade presently and I do not feel that our students are learning the technology skills necessary for high school and for life. Way back when, Pleasantdale did employ a teacher who was trained adequately in the computer lab. Todays "Mod Tech Special," while it is a very unique class, in my opinion it seems to not teach useful technology skills, but possibly only spark a passion for a future technology based career. Also, the recent teachers assigned in this classroom are usually teachers who are orderred to leave the curriculum that they have been teaching for many years and they seem to have to learn this difficult, unfamiliar curriculum on their own and then try teach it to the kids. This is very stressful on the teacher and the student. Luckily, the kids do seem to get some computer time in the classrooms and I do believe that the teachers try their best to teach some technology skills along the way but there is only so much time in the day (especially with all of the mandated testing that must be taught to). I think kids also spend alot of time on the computer at home these days. That said, many of our kids are able to go over to L.T. during their 8th grade year and test out of a keyboarding class so then when they are freshman at L.T. they can take a wonderful class called Computer Applications. This class trains and certifies (for an extra fee) the students on Microsoft Office Software such as Power Point, Excel, Access, Word, Publisher, etc. which are commonly used formats for homework in high school. Hopefully, when your kindergarten girl gets to the Middle School, Pleasantdale will be more proactive in the tech skills department. Once they get to high school they should be using their electives to help them identify a future career choice not develop basic technology skills.