The Beginning of Progress in Camden Schools

--UPDATE ON GIFTED AND TALENTED--

As posted on Facebook

Tuesday, Camden City School District Superintendent Paymon RouhanifardPaymon Rouhanifard announced the basic parts on a new gifted and talented program for next school year.

The program will be in two schools, for grades third to fifth. 
Students will focus on certain subject areas (like math or language arts) with a different teacher teaching subjects at an advanced level in a different room.
Only students already in that school will qualify to test for the new program.
They still need to figure out which schools, how a student is chosen, and who gets to teach it.
They need a name for it.
They got to find the money to pay for it.

This has taken a long time. I hope to see the program get a name, find money, start in September 2018, recruit about 30 students from each school, provide an stimulating learning experience, and brings new students to the school with the Camden Enrollment process.

This too way too long. For me, the story starts in 1989 when I was in the CHIPS program. It was an excellent programs that now hundreds of people from Camden in their late 20s and 30s had. Ms. Doyle was my teacher in third grade at McGraw, my last year in Camden before moving. Dr. Stephenson, my principal later became the Willingboro superintendent.

Paymon's announcements is a reminder to the pragmatist that this may be what progress looks like. Slow. Too slow. But it can be. Sometimes in comes from protest or lawsuits. Sometimes it comes for leadership and advocacy. And on too many issues, it doesn't come at all. I began asking and pushing a gifted and talented program in 2010, my first year on the school board. It may be nine years from then before its fully implemented.

They reached out to people in the community. The pictures are screenshots of some of the information shared and discussed. Katrina McCombs and Christie Whitzell worked on this for months. They went to conferences and partnered with a university. Board member Theresa Atwood, former educator spoke about the issue Felisha Reyes'Morton reminded me to be strategic. Brother Keith Eric Benson and Sister Ronsha Dickerson talked about the issue with education groups they lead. Anthony Ways and Rashaan Hornsbyare two kings that reliably give me wise counsel.