Wait a second, #90…is that a picture of the Presidential Ballroom in the White House? Is Trump really looking to rent out rooms in the White House like a common convention center?
Regarding #25…this was taken out of context by Fox Unfounded Opinion. http://jhhs.wps.k12.va.us
August 9, 2017
Greetings Winchester Families and Community,
Yesterday, the Todd Starnes Show on Fox News Radio ran a news story with the following
headline: “School: Honors Classes Will be Decided By Skin Color.” This headline and
subsequent dialogue was taken out of context. The Winchester Public Schools does not employ
quotas in any way; we do not discriminate; and we remain committed to equal educational
opportunity.
As a follow up to our community, we believe it is important to formally respond to this story.
On July 24, 2017, all John Handley High School (JHHS) families were sent a Welcome Back
letter from their principal, Mr. Michael Dufrene. In addition to the letter, an insert was included
that outlined division and JHHS initiatives for 2017-2018 that are a byproduct of the Winchester
Public Schools’ Strategic Plan. The intent of the insert was to communicate various initiatives to
the JHHS community, such as project based learning and professional learning communities.
Each initiative included the “Why,” “How,” and “Vision” of the work being done.
One of the initiatives that was communicated related to equity. Currently, the demographic
makeup of our 5th - 12th grade advanced courses is inconsistent with our overall demographic
makeup. The division has developed specific strategies in hopes of encouraging a more
diverse, high achieving student body to pursue honors and advanced level courses. These
strategies include, but are not limited to: universal screening for gifted potential for all 2nd grade
students, having all 10th grade students take the PSAT, and the development of an after school
program for 3rd and 4th grade students that show promise in math and science.
Our hope is that through dedicated, focused work in the younger grades, we can ensure that
more students are prepared and capable of enrolling and succeeding in honors and Advanced
Placement classes. Our vision is that through these strategies, our advanced classes will
increasingly reflect our entire student body over time. That is the vision being described in the
last line of the insert sent to JHHS families. We are proud of this work and committed to a
continued focus on equitable outcomes for all of our students.You can read the portion of the letter in question below:
Equity Work
Why
Winchester Public Schools, like many divisions across the country, continue to see
outcomes that are disproportionate by race and social class. American demographic
trends indicate that America will be a majority minority nation in the next 25 years.
Therefore, the new work of American public schools is to develop systems to address
disparate outcomes.
How
The WPS equity committee has three subsets - community engagement, culturally
responsive practices, and proportional outcomes. Each subcommittee presented
strategies for implementation in the upcoming year. Examples include the AMPed UP!
(Accelerated Math Progressions for Underrepresented Potential) for rising fifth graders,
giving the PSAT to all tenth graders in order to generate the AP Potential report for 11th
grade registration, universal screeners for gifted identification in elementary school, and
culturally responsive training through a train the trainer approach.
Vision
Through our collective work, advanced classes such as AP and Honors will have
proportional representation. Proportional representation is 40% White, 35% Hispanic,
12% African American, 10% mixed race.
The language used above under the “Vision” heading was not intended to imply or infer that
Winchester Public Schools would utilize race to place students into advanced coursework. We
sincerely regret that these two sentences were significantly misinterpreted, and that we were not
given the opportunity to respond to the concerns at the local level. To the best of our
knowledge, prior to this story reaching the national level, the Winchester School Board nor any
Winchester Public Schools’ employees had received any concerns related to the insert that was
sent home.
The academic criteria that exists for entrance into advanced coursework has not changed, and
we will continue to have high academic expectations for all students in Winchester Public
Schools. In addition, we will continue to support students that demonstrate potential for
academic success in order to ensure they are prepared and have the appropriate structures to
reach their full potential. Through these efforts, we strive to increase enrollment in advanced
coursework, such as honors and Advanced Placement classes.
Finally, we would like to address our use of social media during our response to this news story.
When we learned of the news story on Tuesday morning, we immediately responded to the news story with a statement of clarification. In addition, we posted the same statement on the
John Handley High School Facebook page and the Winchester Public Schools Facebook page.
Many of the comments generated on both the JHHS page and the Winchester Public Schools’
page were inflammatory, and some included personal attacks on school personnel and
community members. As a result, we chose to delete both of the posts keeping the best
interests of our students at the forefront of our decision. We welcome constructive dialogue
through email, phone calls, or face-to-face meetings.
Our School Board policies can be located here. In addition, minutes of School Board meetings
are available here. We encourage our community to review both our School Board policies and
minutes. You will find that the assertions included in the original news story have never been a
part of any discussion by the Winchester Public School Board and are not represented in our
policy manual, minutes, or the values held by Winchester Public Schools.
Thank you for taking the time to engage in this critical conversation for Winchester Public
Schools. We look forward to seeing students in our school buildings tomorrow for our first day
of school!
Sincerely,
Jason Van Heukelum Erica Truban Mike Dufrene
Superintendent School Board Chair Principal
Winchester Public Schools Winchester Public Schools John Handley High School
The issue school districts and state school boards across the country are grappling with is how to close the achievement gap. In my area, and I understand across the country, AP and Honors classes are filled with students whose families are affluent and caucasian. The questions facing us are 1)is there implicit bias at play and, if so, how to counter it, 2)how to prepare all students to achieve regardless of economic status, race, religion or gender.
I’ve seen similar numbers at our school board meetings as one metric toward achieving equality in our education system. No one is advocating using race as a qualifier for AP and Honors classes.