{"id":8263,"date":"2016-07-15T17:35:32","date_gmt":"2016-07-15T17:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idsunmedia.com\/?p=8263"},"modified":"2016-07-15T17:35:32","modified_gmt":"2016-07-15T17:35:32","slug":"international-baccalaureate-demise-will-save-funds-for-school-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2016\/07\/15\/international-baccalaureate-demise-will-save-funds-for-school-district\/","title":{"rendered":"International Baccalaureate demise will save funds for School District"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Trustees to hear new proposal in November<\/i><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em><span class=\"s1\">By Jean Jacques Bohl<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">T<\/span><span class=\"s2\">he Blaine County School District 2016-17 budget, approved by the Board of Trustees on Tuesday, June 14, eliminates funding for the International Baccalaureate program. The IB program was a key element of the Strategic Plan adopted by the School District in 2008. The District\u2019s website describes IB as an \u201cinnovative educational program for students in grades 6-10 that encompasses project-based learning, 21st-century skills, and Common Core State Standards, while encouraging inquiry, collaboration and critical thinking.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s2\">Superintendent GwenCarol Holmes and Director of Curriculum Angie Martinez said that the District plans to replace IB with another program to be conceived by a committee of administrators, teachers and community members. Those plans will be presented to the Board of Trustees in November. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s2\">Holmes said that IB was \u201ca framework,\u201d but that curricula and exit standards for each class were written by the specific departments at Wood River Middle School and High School. Carey High School and Silver Creek High School didn\u2019t participate in the IB program. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s2\">Some community members voiced their disapproval of the IB demise in Town Hall and at School Board meetings. Trustees Cami Bustos and Liz Corker voted against the cut. More than 300 people signed an online petition requesting, among other things, reinstatement of the IB funding. Middle School IB Coordinator Jane Walther said that the decision to drop IB was based \u201con anecdotal research,\u201d and that parents had seemed supportive of the program.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s2\">Students at the Middle School and High School won\u2019t notice any changes in their classes when they return to school in August. The changes made for IB, such as the introduction of World Languages in sixth grade, and the Personal Project, will stay in place. A $160,000 cut in funding eliminates the position of the IB coordinator and IB dues and membership.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s2\">Holmes and Martinez also indicated that the new plan would not alter the amount of credits required for graduation. They believe that it will be even more rigorous than the current IB framework. About 60 percent of graduates have taken at least one Advanced Placement class. The goal is to increase the amount of AP classes taken under the new proposal. The administrators say they will be responsible for ensuring that teachers implement the desired practices. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trustees to hear new proposal in November By Jean Jacques Bohl The Blaine County School District 2016-17 budget, approved by the Board of Trustees on Tuesday, June 14, eliminates funding for the International Baccalaureate program. The IB program was a key element of the Strategic Plan adopted by the School District in 2008. The District\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,18,32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"category-news","9":"category-schools"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}