DANBURY -- Danbury High School graduate Jose Pimental told the Board of Education on Wednesday that his mother didn't speak English so she couldn't be his advocate.

By Eileen FitzGerald, Staff Writer
Published: 10:57 p.m., Sunday, February 28, 2010

DANBURY -- Danbury High School graduate Jose Pimental told the Board of Education on Wednesday that his mother didn't speak English so she couldn't be his advocate.

Pimental was assigned to the Level 2 track of classes, which were below high school level, and he never studied algebra.

That made college a challenge, but Pimental graduated from Western Connecticut State University, received two master's degrees, and is an assistant principal at the Bridge Academy in Bridgeport.

"That was a shame. Thousands of other students never made it," Pimental said.

Pimental wants the Danbury school board to allow the district to join Project Opening Doors, which would open doors to higher-level classes for more students.

The program is part of the National Math and Science Initiative in Dallas and is a project of the Connecticut Business and Industry Foundation.

Joining Project Opening Doors would give the district about $387,000 over three years. That money would train teachers to teach advanced placement courses, give stipends to teachers of AP science, math and English and their students who score at a certain level on the AP test, another $100 to each student who scores at that level, as well as provide curriculum support and program management.

"Think about some of the consequence of the votes you take. Project Opening Doors would be a tremendous opportunity,'' Pimental said. "Even if it's just a handful of kids who otherwise would not have gotten the opportunity, it will have a ripple effect."

But the teachers' union opposes Project Opening Doors, in large part because of the stipends.

Union president Cindy Mirochine reminded the board that it rejected Project Opening Doors two years ago and again last year before changing its mind.

Plus, the program would require the district to commit between $35,000 and $53,000 for the next three years.

"Every dollar counts," Mirochine said. "Every dollar should be used to fund programs we already have in the classroom. Why should the board allow an outside corporate program to get funding?"

Mirochine said the district has 790 teachers, including 200 at Danbury High, but Project Opening Doors would affect only a small portion of them.

The project's goal is to expand the number of advanced placement teachers, the number of classes offered, and the number of students who take them.

It's part of the high school reform plan to eliminate tracking, the practice of assigning students to one instructional group and denying them access to higher-level classes based on assessed or perceived readiness.

"This is a clear void that exists," Danbury High School Principal Robert Rossi told the board Wednesday night. "Seventy-six percent of our kids are going to post-secondary education, and 9.7 percent of them take college-level (AP) courses and 40 percent have to take less than college-level English in their first year of college."

Several other teachers also urged the board to find other ways to expand AP offerings.

Rossi said the high school must remove barriers to taking AP classes, which varies from department to department.

The high school offers 17 different advanced placement courses taught by 17 trained teachers.

The high school has 3,000 high school students, of which 1,000 are black or Latino. Of the 273 different students who take advanced placement classes, 21 are black or Latino.

Working with Project Opening Doors, Rossi said Thursday, he could train up to 40 teachers, increase the number of subjects taught and classes offered, and the number of students in advanced placement classes could double in a few years.

Project Opening Doors is in 12 districts in Connecticut, and the teachers' union in seven of the districts has challenged the program.

"This is not about AP, but AP drives other reforms," Superintendent Sal Pascarella said about the plan the school board is expected to vote on March 10. "The union has an issue, but we're here to advocate for the youngsters and this would add value to the students' education.''

Pascarella said the district wasn't ready before, but the new high school leadership, the restructuring of its department heads, a rewrite of the curriculum, and an audit of the classes, as well as the district improvement plan the state approved, make it timely.

Project Opening Doors president J.A. Camille Vautour presented the program to the board. He said the $100 students receive if they score well can attract them to the classroom, but highly qualified teachers are needed to hold their attention.

Project Opening Doors would only fund training for teachers of advanced placement English, science and math. Pascarella said the district would use other funds for other subjects.

The district has 10 AP social studies teachers, one AP English teacher, two AP math teachers and three AP science teachers, Rossi said.

This program would help the high school's effort to eliminate tracking at the school, he said, which has five levels. Level 5 is advanced placement/honors classes. Level 4 is highly challenged students. Level 3 is core. Level 2 is below high school material. Level 1 is for students with special needs.

The new plan calls for AP level, which would include some honor students and AP students. Honors level, comparable to the current Level 4, could include some Level 3 students. College prep would bring together Level 2 and Level 3, Rossi said.

An AP course would retain 1.15 grade point average weight. Honors likely would be 1.10 and college prep would be 1, Rossi said.

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