Spencerport board votes to phase out Triad program

Citing the success of the district's School-Wide Enrichment Program, the Spencerport School District Board of Education voted Tuesday, June 22, to phase out the Triad program.

Board members Jim Oberlin, Jack Wade, David Dorofy and Bill Sweeney voted in favor of a motion to approve a detailed phase-out plan recommended by Superintendent Phillip W. Langton. Voting against the motion were board members Todd Dunn and Christine Geen. Board President Laura McFarlane abstained.

Adopted by the district more than 20 years ago, Triad serves students in grades three to six who are identified as "gifted" and places them in separate classrooms at the Taylor School. Under the approved plan, the district will phase out these classrooms and instead provide a range of learning opportunities for future students designated as gifted within general classrooms. Educational experiences for these students will be provided under the umbrella of the School-Wide Enrichment Program, which offers lessons and activities to enhance classroom learning for students of all abilities. All students currently in Triad will remain in the program through sixth grade. Under the proposed plan, the district will continue to offer the Triad classroom option during the 2004-05 school year for third graders, who will be the last class accepted into the program. Triad will formally end after the 2007-08 school year when this class would enter seventh grade.

"I think the vast majority of our parents and community supports this recommendation. This is consistent with our instructional philosophy of inclusion of students of all abilities," Langton said. In the district's new plan, a larger pool of students will be identified as potentially gifted, and will be clustered in classrooms with a number of their educational peers. As part of the School-Wide Enrichment Program, teachers have been trained for the past two years in designing creative lessons that will challenge all the students in their classroom. The goal is to provide a deeper understanding of the curriculum, not a faster learning experience.

Board members said they did not make this decision lightly. "I am concerned about the misperception of some people that we're taking something away from our gifted students," Dorofy said. "We do not want to impair the education of our gifted students. We all want the same goal."

Langton said the timing of the phase-out is designed so that parents, students and teachers can become knowledgeable and comfortable with the new model. The district will continue to determine the gifted population and track these students to ensure that School-Wide Enrichment is meeting their needs. Teacher training for preparing differentiated lessons for all learners also will continue. "Our goal is to take the very best of the Triad model and move that into every classroom," he added.

Starting in September, the district will double the number of full-time School-Wide Enrichment specialists from two to four following the success of the initial pilot program.