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CHAPEL HILL — During an all-day meeting of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board, the board passed a plan to offer honors as well as standard courses in six basic high school classes in the fall.
The board members met during a retreat Monday that is scheduled to continue at The Friday Center this morning, when they will discuss technology and next year’s budget. On Monday, the board heard about programs and problems.
Although members mostly listened and talked about programs throughout the day, the board did vote 4-3 in favor of offering honors and standard course options for world history, civics and economics, U.S. history, biology, chemistry and physics beginning in fall 2010.
The board previously discussed offering hybrid courses, in which students in both a standard class and an honors class would meet together in the same classroom with the same teacher but the honors students would have to meet higher standards.
The board rejected that proposal, so Superintendent Neil Pedersen and staff came back with the proposal to offer the class on two different levels.
Board member Michelle Brownstein, however, asked for a change in the wording of the recommendation to make sure that procedures would be introduced to encourage students who are culturally and ethnically diverse, economically disadvantaged, who are English language learners and who are disabled or exceptional be encouraged to take the honors courses.
The board insisted that the standard classes be reinvigorated, and Brownstein asked that the standard courses not be used for remediation.
Board member Annetta Streater, who along with Joe Green and Greg McElveen, voted against the measure, said adding more honors courses segregates the schools.
Students who don’t already have As are blocked from taking the honors courses, she said, arguing that it’s not fair that B and C students aren’t given the support they need to take an honors class.
“That’s where this proposal, to me, is not convincing enough,” Streater said.
The staff recommendation stated the cost of implementing the program is $107,000 for changing the curriculum, teacher training and materials. To strengthen the standard level courses, the staff will use $76,000 from this year’s fund balance to do that.
The resolution also calls for regularly monitoring the implementation and impact of the additions and changes.
