Parents of elementary students concerned about restrictions

Friday, October 20, 2006

A school administrator has barred visitors from Reading First classes for two days at McCook Elementary, setting off a wave of protests from upset parents.

McCook Elementary Principal Kathy Latta said the school had been "inundated" with visits from parents recently and closed the classrooms during Reading First so "kids have the time they need to have a normal instructional period."

Next week, she said parents wanting to visit must get prior approval, as stated in school board policy.

But parents say they are upset they were not made aware of the ban beforehand. Tensions between parents and school officials have been simmering since an October school board meeting, when a crowd of around 50 parents showed up protesting recent curriculum changes in the Reading First program.

McCook elementary parents Sandra Gray and Colleen Benson said when they tried to visit their children's classrooms Thursday, they were surprised to learn that the three hours when Reading First classes are taught - an hour in the morning and another two-hour block in the afternoon - were off limits to them.

"I felt I needed more notice," Gray said, a parent of a kindergartner and second grader. "I'm trusting the school with my kids and I don't like it that I'm not allowed to go where they are."

Benson, who also was barred from the classrooms with another parent, said one of the concerns parents have is that children from kindergarten through third grade are in reading classes for one and two-hour blocks at a time, too long for children that age. Children in some classrooms, she alleged, are not allowed to leave during Reading First and have wet themselves because they could not go to the bathroom.

Another parent echoed that concern. Traci Loker said her first grade son told her he was allowed to leave to go to the bathroom but that he would have to put his name on the board and forfeit recess.

Loker said she and other parents are not "against" school administrators but are frustrated that their calls about their concerns are not returned. She questioned the reasoning behind barring visitors to classrooms only during Reading First instruction.

"What are they trying to hide?" she wondered.

Another parent, Julie Gilispie, said closing the the classroom during Reading First time looked "suspicious."

"Our tax dollars pay for that school and their salaries and we should be able to visit anytime we feel the need to," she said, adding that she has written letters to school board members and called administrators to no avail.

She said she realized that administrators can't react every time a parent calls, but "when you have 30 or 40 parents upset about the same thing, you need to take a look at what you're doing," said the former teacher and now stay at home mom.

Latta said the claim that children are not allowed to go to the bathroom at any time during school is untrue.

"We're doing everything we can to provide the best possible education for our students," she said. "We know that some parents don't agree but we've listened to their concerns, the school board has listened to their concerns and we're doing the best we can for the kids." She added that parent phone calls have been returned but maybe not in the timely manner as parents wanted.

"We have a lot going on doing the school day," she said.

McCook School Board member Diane Lyons said she was unaware of the visitor restrictions until she received numerous phone calls from parents Thursday.

"I question the reason why," she said of the decision to restrict visitors from Reading First classes. "As a board member, I am saddened that administrators felt the need to deny parents access to their children."

Board president Greg Larson said Thursday,"We have to look at this as a board and see what direction to take."

A special school board meeting is set for Wednesday at 6 p.m. At the Junior High Conference room, Lyons said, with an agenda item that will consider with the hiring of an outside consultant to evaluate the reading program.

Currently a consultant from the Reading First program is evaluating the program.

Reading First has been taught at McCook Elementary for the past three years and is an auxiliary program from No Child Left Behind.

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