On Thursday, December 12th, Superintendent Dr. William George visited with members of the student government and other various groups in the library to discuss new ideas and explain old ones.
It took a matter of little time for the quarterly exams to be brought to the table; the question came concerned to the reasoning of why the school district changed from semester exams to quarterly testing. “I was always behind quarterlies and I would take the hit on it,” George said, “we’re in it together… your grade is your grade and it’s our grade too.”
George told students that they were competing against students across the world and not just their fellow students. He also expressed his belief that quarterlies should be placed into the marking period grade saying, “in many classes these quarterlies would have helped your grades.”
George also told students that the board of education and the district is looking into see how much assessments each teacher is giving their students in order to see how and how often students are being assessed in the classroom. “We want to make sure your curriculum assessments are enough to make you successful,” George said.
The point was also raised at the meeting concerning college preparation classes and how many students feel that they were getting more difficult and fast-paced. George told the students that the measures from the federal and state guidelines concerning the expectation of college prep students are getting higher as they move on to higher education after high school.
George also concurred with the idea that both Middletown High School North and Middletown High School South has to unify together as a district especially over the concerning issue of the Monmouth County heroine “epidemic.” “We have to have students, and parents get together… we can impact hundreds of lives,” George said, “this isn’t a student problem, this is a community problem.”
George also pushed for more surveying of the student body to be done on topics such as quarterly exams and possible new sports in order to see how students feel about their schools. He also said that he wishes to create more opportunities for students to meet with administrators to discuss how they feel.
