Parents discuss changes to gifted ed in Chesapeake

CHESAPEAKE

Dyon Morris will stand before his peers in June to present his cardboard and papier-mâ ché version of the Enterprise. The aircraft carrier is his choice for the next “wonder of the world.”

The project is one of many hands-on activities that Dyon, 9, participates in at the city’s Laboratory School for the Academically Gifted .

Deena Morris, Dyon’s mother, said she fears that other children will lose that type of engaging lesson now that the School Board has voted to close the Lab School after the 2008-09 year.

The board’s unanimous vote Monday night means advanced fourth- and fifth-graders will receive gifted instruction all week at their home schools. This would replace once-a-week visits to the Indian River Middle School annex building, where the Lab School is located.

The decision has elicited both apprehension and excitement from Chesapeake parents of gifted children.

They questioned the new program’s quality, especially in the early stages, while also applauding the plan to expand the number of higher level lessons offered.

“I’m hoping that they will take the best of the Lab School and start pulling it into the home-based schools,” parent Deborah Piper said.

Morris said she also favors an in-school program that mimics the Lab School.

Next school year’s fifth-graders will be the last class of students to attend the Lab School. Gifted fourth-graders will receive advanced instruction at their home schools .

“In the long run, I think it’s going to be great,” said Morris, whose fourth-grade son will not be affected by the closing. “But I’m concerned that if we move too fast, it’s going to all fall apart.”

Anita James, director of elementary curriculum and instruction, said last week that the new program will allow for a stronger curriculum that fits better with Virginia’s Standards of Learning. It will keep students from losing classroom time while traveling to the Lab School, she said.

The approved plan also calls for the creation of a gifted curriculum for middle schoolers.

Board member Harry Murphy said the changes will cost an additional $100,000 in the first year for training teachers not endorsed in gifted education. But “I think this is going to reap the rewards,” he said.

Piper and Doreen Lund, two members of Chesapeake’s Advisory Committee on Gifted Education, have pushed for improving the program for two years.

They expressed optimism about Monday’s decision, which they view as needed progress.

“I’m excited for it and I can understand there will be glitches,” Lund said. “All we can do is hope for the best.”

Hattie Brown Garrow, (757) 222-5562, hattie.brown@pilotonline.com