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HK Students Sound Off on Education

In response to recent educational news, the idea of additional school hours is not popular amongst Haddam-Killingworth High School students.

 

Students at schools in Meriden, East Hartford and New London, according to an article in the Meriden Patch, will be in class a little longer in the 2013-14 school year "due to a new pilot program the city is partaking in that is intended to boost student achievement."

A recent article in The Cougar Chronicle, a newspaper published by Haddam-Killingworth High School students, states that "the idea of 300 more hours of school a year is not a very popular one among high school students.

Communities in five states — Connecticut, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York and Tennessee — are taking part in the program, which will add 300 hours to some school districts in each of those states.

The program is called Time (Time for Innovation Matters in Education). It is a collaborative partnership between the nonprofit Ford Foundation and state and local governments — all of which are funding the program in an effort to improve low-performing schools.

According to The Cougar Chronicle, "many students are already overwhelmed with the amount of school work that comes along with being in high school" and "H-K students have experienced the pressure to be better."

Click here to read the full article in The Cougar Chronicle.

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Just a short thought to get the word out quickly about anything in your neighborhood.
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Observor May 18, 2013 at 09:56 am
The State of Connecticut has billions in unfunded pension obligations thanks to the money managementRead More ablities of our state treasurers over the years. Only an AFSCME union boss would trust them.
Resident May 17, 2013 at 01:23 pm
Dear save our schools : I have not heard that rumor.... I think where that may have started wasRead More with some people looking at the old middle school and thinking about using it for a vo-ag school, but not at all connected with our school system. I have not heard anything for a while on that whole subject. I have not heard about accreditation issues either... I know about 12 years ago or maybe longer there were issues. My kids are not in the HS. Normally I support our BOE. And it should be noted that the BOE did not approve this... I would tend to bet that if you polled every board member - no one saw this report card system before it went out, and I am not sure who has seen it since. With kids in the middle school now I am keeping an ear open about the HS.
save our schools May 17, 2013 at 12:44 pm
Dear EH Resident, Thank you for a well written and very informative communication. I am a parent ofRead More a recent Hale Ray graduate and have a student currently in the school system. My children are five years apart and it is down right scary to realize how much our school systems quality and rigor has been degraded in recent years. These changes are the direct result of the ill guided Board of Education. Recently I have heard that our high school will soon be becoming a vocational school and will not be accredited . This maybe a rumor but the current path we are on certainly supports the rumor. The loss of accreditation will mean that the diploma our children earn upon graduation will not be accepted by higher education institutions. The mantra of doing less with more is destroying our community. Our children are being robbed of a successful future because of their penny wise pound poor management. We must demand change and accountability from our Board of Education!
EH Parent May 15, 2013 at 01:20 pm
I am so hoping there is strength in numbers. We need as many parents as possible to sign theRead More petition against common core curriculum and specifically how it has affected the actual report card. As a group of concerned parents, we need to come up with a valid example of what we would like included in our children's report card. Presently, it is far too subjective and disorganized. There are approximately 67 categories on which to grade a student! Who decided to dissect a simple Language Arts score into over 30 different categories with grades? What tests are used to assess these 30+ ways to grade a child? Where are the tests? They don't come home and parents are in the dark until the actual parent/teacher conference! Additionally, if academic behaviors need to be included in reporting, they should be separate from the actual grades or the teacher can simply write comments next to each grade, constructive criticism that can enable a parent to help their child in whatever way they need help.This must be terribly time-consuming for teachers also whose time could be better-used in teaching our children without deciphering behaviors and analyzing standardized tests. I want to know WHY also!