Published: 03/03/2022 13:11:21 Modified: 03/03/2022 13:10:56 Many column articles have been devoted to the recent use by a member ...
Published: 03/03/2022 13:11:21
Modified: 03/03/2022 13:10:56
Many column articles have been devoted to the recent use by a member of the Northampton school board of the terms “first-class learners” and “second-class” as opposed to “honours” and “university readiness”.
I wasn’t at the meeting, and I don’t know the answer either, but committee member Michael Stein’s question seems reasonable, and not derogatory: Will euphemistically labeled “college-prepared” students feel like second-class citizens if they share a math class with kids on an honor track?
I respectfully suggest other, perhaps more helpful, targets of the outrage and time of those who demanded an apology from the school board for a member’s choice of words – the $2.2 million taken each year on Northampton Schools coffers to support private charter schools. The mental health crisis affecting children, exacerbated by the pandemic, and what can be done about it. The Baker administration’s decision to lift the school mask mandate a) the day after students return from vacation with its potential for increased exposure due to travel, b) at a time when we are losing “only” 39 residents of Massachusetts daily due to COVID-19, and c) when there is still no widely available prophylactic treatment for our most vulnerable residents.
Nancy Grosman
Leveret
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