District wants to expand gifted programs

The Brainerd School District took a step forward Tuesday on how it plans to further develop its gifted and talented program, a program geared for the district's brightest students.

The district has been looking at implementing changes to the program to make it more beneficial not only to the students who are in the top 10-15 percent of their class, but to other students at all grade levels.

The school board's Curriculum Committee in February heard a proposal from Karen Rogers, a University of St. Thomas professor, who was hired as a consultant to develop a three-year plan for the district's gifted and talented programs.

Superintendent Steve Razidlo said expanding the gifted and talented services to more students is important. Razidlo said there is a cost to expanding the program, but administratiors made changes to Rogers' recommendations to make the changes more financially feasible.

For instance, instead of hiring a full-time gifted and talented coordinator, Razidlo said a part-time coordinator would be assigned from existing administrative staff. Razidlo said a teacher in the district could be assigned to be the lead gifted education teacher who would provide programming and support at all the district elementary school buildings.

Razidlo said most of the cost beyond the cost of the additional teacher would come out of the district's staff development budget.

"There will be costs, but I don't know if we can pin a number to that," said Razidlo. "We are able and we are willing to provide this program to the students."

The curriculum committee supported these changes.

A recommendation the committee did not support was starting the program in second grade. Currently, students in the district are referred to the gifted and talented program in first grade. The administration followed professional recommendations that students not be accepted into the program until the second grade.

Deb Lechner, director of teaching and learning, said beginning the program in second grade would give teachers more time to identify students for the program.

"I don't support eliminating the first-grade classroom," said Jim Hunt, school board member. "I think the concern is identifying kids for the program and this needs to be defined to a greater degree. My view is we need to develop a better system ... (By starting the program in second grade) there is a potential loss of students. I'd worry that the kids would go to home school. I support the other recommendations, but we need more options for kids."

School board member Chris Robinson agreed with Hunt. Robinson said the district should be able to identify which students qualify for the program in first grade.

"We can't say to them that they have to wait until we figure it out," said Robinson.

School board chair Kent Montgomery said he wants the district to make sure that all the students who qualify for the program are "captured."

"I think there is an argument that some kids test well in the first grade and some don't," said Montgomery. "I say keep it (the same) as long as they are developing their skills or we test them in a different way or test them earlier before their second year. Some may take more time, but we don't want to lose them. There has to be some way of keeping those students in the program."

JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.