Newburyport Schools: Challenge Accepted

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Challenge Accepted

One of the commentators on the Jonathan Kozol posting issued the following challenge to me:

"So Mr. Menin--your assignment, if you choose to accept it--is to write an essay (or better yet, a series of essays) in which you describe your vision of the perfect school--or entire school system, if you want to be really bold.

The idea is that you are starting from scratch and you have whatever resources you need to set things up anyway you think is best.

You should address as many aspects of the educational process as possible, including (in no particular order): (1)programing/curriculum; (2)types of assessments (both as a placement/teaching tool and for evaluating the progress of students); (3) the facilities (both physical plant and resources); (4)teaching models (what teacher training would include and how classrooms would be managed); (5) how schools would be funded; and (6) any other topics you deem important (no issue is taboo)."

I accept. Over the next week, I will try to respond to this question as thoughtfully and pragmatically as possible, highlighting values and ideas that may already exist in Newburyport's schools, or could become part of the culture of our schools.

I will use the label "Vision" so that readers will be able to use the postings index to find all the postings gathered in one spot.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Thank you for accepting the challenge--looking forward to reading about your vision!

Given that this week is a period devoted to reflection and contemplation in the Jewish calender(a period for reviewing the past with the goal of recommitting ourselves to the task of becoming better people who contribute what we can to making the world a better place)--it's the perfect time to reflect on the best ways to go about educating our children for the future.

Good luck--I am sure you are up to the task!

SV; September 12, 2007 at 12:53 PM

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NATURE OR NURTURE?

Menin was born in the Bronx, to a National League family, who taught him early on that real baseball fans rooted for any team that beat the Yankees. His parents fled to the northern suburbs in the great mid-sixties diaspora.

An indifferent student prior to college, he was an early participant in the Geneva-based International Baccalaureate program, passing the exams and earning the diploma through West London College. He has a Bachelor's and a Master's in SpEd. He also has a CAGS in Dispute Resolution from UMass.

A trained Montessori teacher, he has worked in Lower and Upper Elementary classrooms in two Montessori schools; and has 10 years of classroom experience working with students from 1st grade through middle school.

Much of his professional career has been in human services, including more than fifteen years as an Executive Director for a regional agency serving the homeless, and a start-up national association of consumer litigators. He has also served as the Executive Director of the Family Self-Sufficiency Center, Inc., in Salem, MA; as well as performing the same role for the Disability Policy Consortium for three years.

Bruce co-wrote several grants to help start the Newburyport Learning Enrichment Center & the Youth Commission, where he was the founding Chair. He has served on the Revenue Task Force, the Newburyport Youth Commission, the Skateboard Park Siting Task Force, and is in his third term on the School Committee. He has also been elected to the Charter Review Commission.

As proof no good deed goes unrewarded, some misguided and anonymous individual successfully conned the American Red Cross, Northeast Division into naming Menin a Community Hero in 2010. Hopefully, the bar will be raised a little higher in future years.

A freelance writer for nearly 30 years, Menin has published locally and nationally. He has co-written plays that have been performed in Newburyport at the Random Acts Festival, three times at the annual New Works Festival, and in the North Port Festival in New York. He has co-written some songs with EJ Oullette and some of the new artists down at Whole Music in Byfield, and has seen his poetry and short stories in print and on the Internet. No one else has reported seeing them, however. He also spent five summers as a Naturalist on a whale watch boat running out of N.H.

He has two children, and has lived in Newburyport since 1991.

The Fine Print

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This is a forum for the exchange of information and ideas. It is an opportunity for the community to raise concerns about the challenges faced by the schools in Newburyport, to ask for my response as both a sitting School Committee member with nearly ten years on the Committee, (as in, a record to run on) or my position on new challenges we have yet to face.

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Please feel free to e-mail me directly if you have questions you do not want to raise in this public forum, although I do reserve the right to post an answer if I feel the question is relevant to our community dialogue about schools. I would do so without identifying the source of the question.

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Have a nice day. We are not liable or responsible if your day is not a nice one, however.

Hey, Attorney Griffin- did I cover everything?

The Mission of a School Committee Member

I believe that public service is both a privilege and a responsibility. I have had the opportunity to serve for nearly ten years; I believe we are ready to move the Newburyport School system into the 21st Century; providing the best possible education for all of the children of Newburyport. More than that, I believe that the Schools have a great deal to offer the larger community.

As a School Committee member, I have always been guided in my decisions by two important facts:

My constituents do not vote.

My role is try to address the needs of all the 2,ooo plus students in the system, and those few students placed outside the system in an equitable and proportional way.

According to the Educational Reform Act, it is the role of School Administrators to administrate, and for School Committees to set policy, budget resources, and ensure that the system has a vision of excellence.

Newburyport Schools

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Challenge Accepted

1 comment:

NATURE OR NURTURE?

You talkin' to me?

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