Posted By: Elizabeth Goodman
Hello, Dr. Gerard,
I am a 31 year resident of Tacoma Hills. We bought our house on the sole basis of the quality of Edgewood School. Both of our sons attended ES. Our older son has his Ph.D and our younger son is a University of Michigan Law School graduate and a lawyer. Our younger son was fortunate to have attended Edgewood at a time when Project Language Arts was in the school. He could not read "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss at the end of 1st grade. He was double grouped into PLA in the 2nd grade and learned to read without ever being classified as Learning Disabled. It was my understanding that the only Okemos school that did not have PLA at that time was Central.
My brother had the same learning style and was not so fortunate. They called him lazy because he had a high IQ and poor grades, and he has had a failed life. I have also been a tutor at the Erickson Learning Center for 15 years, teaching Orton Gillingham and Project Read based instruction as well as other reading, language and spelling skills. During this time, I have had numerous students from Montessori schools. In every case, the student has had a shocking deficit in basic spelling, and reading skills.
I would like to see the statistics of the standardized test scores, (MEAP, etc.) for the current Edgewood Montessori school as compared to the other Okemos schools. My personal opinion is that Edgewood School, as it was before Montessori, was a model school, that truly "left no child behind". At my old age, I have become very cynical (and angry at the Okemos School Board) for closing a school that had such a high academic achievement rating and reopening it as a Montessori school. Marketing to out of district students and to students who have a certain learning style rather than to all students leaves me cold. Closing and reopening Edgewood School is a blatant example of a school board whose concern is marketing to out of district students rather than educating all students within (and outside of) the district.. Personally, I will never support a bond issue as long as the current situation exists.
As a tax payer and an Okemos resident, I would like to see some statistics of the comparative academic achievement scores of the Edgewood Montessori school compared to Edgewood as it used to be, and compared to the other schools in Okemos at present.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Goodman