After a wait of almost a year, the Next Generation Science Standards agenda item will finally be discussed at this coming Thursday’s (3/7/19) Board of Trustees meeting. A link to the entire meeting agenda is here. I have been told that the NGSS item will come up around 8:00 PM, but this timing is only approximate. The District will give the following PowerPoint presentation, and I have been granted six minutes to respond.
I just sent the following email to the SMUHSD administration and the Board of Trustees in preparation for this event:
Dear Board Members,
I am pleased that we will finally address the NGSS agenda item this coming Thursday, March 7th. I have reviewed Dr. Kempkey’s and Mr. Simmons’ presentation. Dr. Skelly has informed me that I will have six minutes to reply following it. I have specific comments that I will make in regards to the District’s presentation, but also request that you all be aware of the following.
Since the SMUHSD science curriculum is of paramount importance, since it has been over two months since I posted the following article summarizing my concerns, and since I have waited for almost a year to the day for this forum to occur, I sincerely hope that you will do me the courtesy of rereading ahead of the meeting this article from my blog and also the Education Week article that is referenced therein.
As I noted near the end of my article, I am NOT seeking the quixotic goal of overturning the District’s adoption of the NGSS standards, but I do have serious reservations about the adoption process and want to implement better public notification in the future before such major changes are adopted. Please refer to my meeting objectives stated at the end of my article starting with the text “Despite looking into this for a year now, it is not clear to me how involved the Board of Trustees really was in the NGSS adoption decision, and I hope the meeting sheds some light on that question.”
Thank you. I’m looking forward to seeing you Thursday evening.
Sincerely,
Dr. David Kristofferson
EduIssues 