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KINGSTON — It wasn’t on the agenda, but the Wyoming Valley School District voted 6-3 Thursday night to end the stand-alone gifted program at Chester Street Elementary and provide gifted education the way all other districts in the state do: through pull-out programs for the students in their own schools.
The move evoked instant anger from parents who had been asking for months about the proposal, seeking to have more input into the discussion before the final decision.
Jacki Degnan said administrators and two school board members met with parents for about 2½ hours Wednesday night, but that the district did not provide any clear explanation of how things would work once the change is made.
“We didn’t get answers last night,” she said, ” there were no specifics.”
President Joe Mazur and the five other members who voted for the change declined comment during the meeting when one man asked about it. Mazur said everything had been discussed with the parents previously, and that the move will save the district money. He and the others left without comment immediately after adjournment. District Superintendent Irv DeRemer referred all questions to the board, but they had already walked out of the Middle School auditorium.
The three members who voted against the move — Dave Usavage, Gary Evans and Gordon Dussinger — stayed. Usavage agreed that there was no plan for how the change would work, which was one reason he voted against it. He said three options were considered: Keeping the stand-alone program, switching to pull-out classes at all schools, or phasing out the current program one grade at a time beginning with first grade.
The board voted for the second choice, meaning Chester Street will become another elementary school with gifted students getting additional help in pull-out sessions rather than having five separate classes of all gifted students.
Degnan said parents were told students attending classes at Chester could stay there until they move to the middle school if they want, regardless of which school they live near.
Jaime Volonakis, a parent who has frequently questioned the idea of ending the stand-alone program, contended the board violated the law by voting for the change without having a written plan for gifted students under the new system and not giving parents 28 days to review it. She cited Chapter 16, Section 4 of the Pennsylvania code, though that applies to the development of a gifted education program.
Other parents voiced concerns of how gifted students with other issues such as ADHD will be handled under the new system. Most who waited after the meeting said they are not necessarily against eliminating the stand-alone program, but they wanted to see a clear explanation of how instruction will be handled under the new system.
Volonakis said she no longer trusts the school board because parents had been told for months they would be given a voice in the decision and an explanation of any change.
“They lied to us,” she said.
Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish