EDITOR:
When my daughter overheard me discussing the upcoming, unfortunate changes our school district was about to make to our English departments she became both intrigued and concerned. She decided to read the articles and research the situation on her own.
Having attended both Carson Valley Middle School and Douglas High School she has benefited from many of our English teachers, their techniques and unique styles of teaching. She is both saddened and concerned that her younger siblings will not have the chance to benefit from this as the new Springboard program is geared more around creating "uniformity" in our classrooms and seems to lose the "creativity" our teachers had been able to offer our students so that everyone of their students would have the opportunity to learn his or her own way.
In 2009, my daughter received the Robert C. Byrd Honor Scholarship for ranking as one of the top 50 students in the state of Nevada based on her GPA and SAT scores. Though my husband and I are active participants in our children's education, we are fully aware that this is not something that could have happened without the knowledge and education that has come from our teachers here in this Valley. My daughter feels strongly that the vocabulary alone that she obtained from the numerous novels she read and vocabulary lists that Mrs. Leiknes, Mrs. Van Doren, Dr. Bateman and Mrs. Doherty gave her allowed her the foundation she needed to excel on her SAT's. I agree.
Without this foundation I do not believe she could have possibly scored as high as she did.
She is currently a student in the honors program at the University of Nevada, Reno, pursuing a major in journalism and a minor in Spanish.
She has continued to earn all A's and credits both the decision of her major and her academic excellence to the education she received from all of these great women. I too credit these great women for empowering my daughter and giving her both the passion and skills to stand up for what she believes is right.
I assure you that her words are genuine and truly come from her heart, her experience in the educational system in Douglas County and her strong desire for every student out there to have the opportunity that she did to succeed as a student.
With all of that being said, I feel it is ironic that the former program and teaching methods are what has allowed and enabled my daughter to prepare and present her arguments to the board in such an articulate and precise manner. I fear that the SpringBoard program we are replacing it with may fall short and in the future we may have to "coach" our students to be able to make such presentations.
To my daughter, I am very proud of you that you took the time and opportunity to stand up for what you believe in and be heard.
Theresa Herup
Minden
