Shared information concerning construction; Dr. Bickert addressed these issues:

• bids are on the street for the elementary schools
• Ankeney may not be finished for transition
• transition is on target with the completion of the high school
• academic intervention centers and who will be served
• no multipurpose rooms added to elementaries

Questions were asked about the percentage of the budget spent on special education and intervention. Patti Phillips shared some figures derived from EMIS. Much discussion ensued.

Middle school issues were discussed.

• restructured day and team planning--what is the ripple effect of changing the schedule if social studies needs an extra 30 minutes?
• What is a team?
• What are levels?
• What are core courses?
• What are interdisciplinary units?
• Why get rid of honors classes?

Dr. Bickert explained that students assigned to teams would be subgrouped within a group. The organization would not be linear as the levels are now, but it would have depth. Also, this format would allow the flexibility of moving students within a team during the year based upon the material being studied, as opposed to students being assigned one level for the year. As an example, Dr. Bickert used the possibility of having 5 distinct "levels" for each of the 5 classes on a 5 member team followed his explanation.

• Patti Phillips and Vicki Garrett indicated that there are studies as recent as 1992 don't support the middle school concept. Both are frustrated that the "cutting edge" concept is 30 years old, since middle schools began in the 60's.
• Discussion concerned the PRIDE committee and the issue of their mandate of the middle school concept. All this committee agreed to was the grade structure, 6-8, called a middle school,--not the mandated middle school concept.
• Middle school visitations were considered to be all pro middle school. Administration indicated that the choices for visitations were based upon comparable districts with similar demographics, one of the reasons that Bellbrook was not visited.
• The strategic plan process wanted a "cutting edge" curriculum, a term disliked by Patti Phillips and Vicki Garrett.
• Discussion about test scores and that Bellbrook's, who did not go to a middle school, are rising. Dr. Bickert explained that the district has hired a consultant to help the staff improve proficiency test scores. A brief clarification ensued which cautioned about such testing comparisons. Multitudes of variables prohibit valid and reliable comparisons.
• Parent question concerning middle school--Am I going to have a presented (articulated) curriculum at the beginning of the year? Yes, a Course of Study for each subject serves as the accountability vehicle.
• Are we as a district looking at academic excellence? Are we going to meet the needs of the academic student to excel? Yes.
• All parents are concerned about how MY child is going to be affected. Give specifics for a variety of student types, such as BELL, Title 1, average, and special education.
• A question asked was "Does it come down to a trust in the staff?"
• Parent concerns were about time; where is the time coming from in the school day such as when talking about advisory groups? An explanation related to the restructured time allocations of the school day followed.
• Concerns were expressed about the increase of remedial college students and would our change in curriculum add to that problem. It was conveyed that the child-centered curriculum will further enhance existing academic opportunities.
• Dr. Bickert indicated that we were not throwing out our honors curriculum. There will be sub-grouping within groups assigned to certain teams. There were concerns about how the curriculum is approached. A comment of clarification was that there is only one course of study of which all levels of classes are taught.
• How will parents be involved in the educational process at middle school? Parent-teacher conferences, which are not an option in the existing Jr. High structure, will provide an additional avenue of communication.
• How do teams differentiate levels within one school year? The fluidity of scheduling, with collaborative team input, was discussed at length.
• How are the teams going to vertically challenge students? Teams will deliberately plan these instructional strategies.
• How will Beavercreek prepare students for the AP classes? We will maintain the best practices, which are currently being implemented to attain high academic performance.
• Why not 3 levels of LA if there are going to be 3 in math in the proposal for eighth grade of the middle school? Research, visitations, and developmental needs of students were discussed.
• Dr. Bickert was asked by one of the parents how he felt this session went. He indicated that the dialogue had been very helpful and he was pleased with the openness of the parents and their concerns.