Peabody super recommends no changes to curriculum

PEABODY – The search for a new administrator of Special Education is on, but suggested plans to alter the current curriculum to address gifted students is off, at least for the coming school year.Committee members voted two meetings ago to have Superintendent Milton Burnett look into tweaking the current SPED program to feature learning components specifically designed with exceptionally gifted students in mind. The suggestion came from Committee member Beverly Ann Griffin Dunne, who said during a previous meeting that this was an idea she had long been pondering.”I’d like to see us help those students, too,” she told the board, noting that many academically gifted students leave the Peabody schools and pursue their education elsewhere, particularly private institutions that are more apt to tending to their needs.Burnett came to Tuesday night’s meeting with a printout of his findings regarding the potential program change.He agreed that academically, artistically, and athletically gifted students, who generally make up a 1-2 percent of a school’s population, are “often underserved in public education due to allocation of available resources.””Gifted Education is a very complex and all encompassing process. With ever-increasing mandates in special education, gifted education is not an item that can be added with the current staffing level,” he wrote. “My recommendation is not to add it to the current job title.”Members approved Burnett’s recommendation and again praised Dunne for creating the much-needed discussion.”I’m glad Dunne raised the question,” said Dave McGeney. “We want to make sure parents don’t feel they must go elsewhere.”Although the program will not be organized for the upcoming school year, Burnett and Committee members said it will remain on the agenda. Burnett said he is currently drafting a plan to create a Screening Committee for the hiring process.If and when the program does come together, it wouldn’t be for the first time in Peabody. Burnett said that years ago, from the late 1980s to about 2000, such a program was in place for grades 3-8. In fact, there were three teachers associated with it. He said budget cuts reduced the program to what exists now, which are a variety of accelerated course offerings without any commensurate staffing.