Website is Latest Salvo in Middle School Battle

Coordinating the families of 21,000 kids spread across seven municipalities is no small task, as parents opposed to the recent changes in the Central Bucks School District discovered this week.

Competing petitions against the recently-approved changes to the middle school schedule were being circulated.

Multiple complaints were being made to the state Department of Education.

By the end of the week, leaders of the nascent opposition movement had started to come together to work out strategy.

This weekend, they launched Central Bucks Engage, a website to share information about the fight to stop the scheduling changes from going into effect as planned in the fall.

The site lists contact information for school board members, district administrators and state officials.

Organizers' first order of business is to ask the school board to change the site of the next meeting to a larger location. Hundreds of people packed the meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 28, and dozens were turned away because there was literally no room left inside the school board meeting room.

The organizers also want concerned parents and other "stakeholders" to continue asking the state to get involved.

"Write to the PA Secretary of Education to inform him that Central Bucks' plan for Middle School efficiencies contains "curriculum deficiencies" that violate Pennsylvania School Code Chapter 4.22," one section of the website reads.

Those opposed to the middle school schedule changes are having a meeting Wednesday, March 7 at 7 p.m. at the to discuss the next steps.

Approved by the school board on Feb. 14, the changes reduce a middle schooler's day from 7 periods, plus resource, to 6 periods, plus resource. Class length will increase from 46 minutes to 56 minutes.

Students would be limited to four electives, one each marking period.

The reduction in electives primarily is what has drawn the parents' ire. Music students who want to take band, orchestra or chorus effectively will be prevented from taking any other elective, such as art, physical education, or family and consumer science.

The district's administrators suggested the change, saying it will allow students to spend more time studying the core subjects, which are math, science, social studies, English, reading and world languages in 8th and 9th grades.

In the past week, the state Department of Education has received numerous complaints from parents about the changes.

The next school board meeting is set for Tuesday, March 13.