No more grade levels, no more graduating classes, no more letter grades, 40-50 percent of learning will be done via computers, kids exposed to eight or nine teachers, kids can be done at 16 years of age and some will still be in school at the age of 20. Who will really know our children? Are you ready? Have you been informed? Are your questions answered?

The Reginal School Unit 18 administration delivered this huge paradigm shift to parents the week of May 11 to begin implementation in the fall of 2012. Why are parents just finding out? Teachers indicate they are not ready and feel this is going way too fast. Teachers have not had all the training, time to develop lesson plans, review curriculum or work in teacher groups for a successful implementation. Shouldn’t we be concerned if our teachers are concerned? Why is our administration and Board of Directors not listening to our teachers? Why do teachers feel like they can’t speak up, fear retaliation and fear of losing their job? Why are we losing so many outstanding teachers? There is a serious issue facing RSU 18 and as a community we need to pull together to get answers and proof from our district that this new model works and will benefit the children. To date, we haven’t seen any data and have been told to take the “leap of faith”. Why do our kids get to be the guinea pigs? Why can’t the district answer the parent questions?

Don’t get this model confused with the state of Maine’s requirement for standards-based education as this is a separate item in the agenda for RSU 18 agenda. This is not required and being forced on our district without any support. Are we going to let this happen? We want answers.

Jennifer Albert

Oakland