Dist. 26, please don't change what works

I am a former (District 26) board member and still live in the district. I am a teacher at Wheeling High School where my classroom demographics are very similar to Euclid's.

The reason for my e-mail is to give you another perspective on grade level centers.

From what I have seen in the paper and on the web, everyone has an opinion and they all seem to be very passionate. I would like to point out several things:

1. The educational experience between the two grade schools is different but one is not "better" than the other. Test scores may be higher in one school but the other school does a better job of raising scores from the starting point to the graduation point. Please don't change this, it works!

2. Grade level centers have shown a negative impact on student scores for the first few years after implementation.

3. The is a minimal cost savings to the district if any.

4. The majority of people in the district do not want to change to grade level centers.

I could go on with the negatives but there are also positives and I am not trying to debate, just discuss.

When we were considering full-day kindergarten we felt it would be beneficial to the students (because) there was a savings to the district, we had better utilization of staff and it would be a better educational experience for students.

Even so, we chose not to go through with the implementation. There was very strong voter resistance to such a change.

I believe you are seeing the same type of resistance today. Just because it may improve education (this is a source of GREAT debate), does not mean that it should always be implemented.

We have a great district because of people like you (the board) who are willing to spend valuable time at board meetings, committee meeting etc. Please keep up the great work and I would ask you all vote NO to Grade Level Centers.

James Meyer

Mount Prospect