Educators Still Advocating For

Reed’s Project Adventure Course

By Eliza Hallabeck

In the 2010-11 budget, as originally proposed by Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson, Reed Intermediate School’s Project Adventure course was eliminated in favor of keeping the course at the middle school.

Subsequently, as Reed Intermediate School Principal Sharon Epple and physical education teacher Aaron Blank noted recently, the teacher who had been teaching the school’s Project Adventure course — a physical education teacher — displaced one of the three physical education teachers who had been teaching at Reed. According to Mr Blank, the physical education instructor then applied to another school district due to no longer having a position at Reed, not by choice, which had been reported at Board of Education meetings in the past.

The Project Adventure program is still in place at Newtown Middle School, and is proposed as an addition to Newtown High School for the upcoming fiscal year. At the Legislative Council’s Education Subcommittee meeting on Monday, March 21, Dr Robinson said it would be cheaper to implement the program at the high school than reinstate it at Reed due to already having a certified Project Adventure instructor at the high school. Adding the program back at Reed, she said, would require hiring for a new position at the school.

 However, at the Legislative Council’s Education Subcommittee following meeting, Dr Robinson modified the statement and said the program would be cheaper to implement at the high school due to already having an available teacher for the program and only needing to purchase equipment at the high school level for the program.

Dr Epple and Mr Blank both said equipment is already in place at Reed to handle the program, and two teachers at Reed are already trained for the Project Adventure course. In order to reinstate Project Adventure at Reed, a physical education instructor would be needed to allow the Project Adventure teacher the ability to once again oversee the course.

“The budget cuts last year were so deep, and really affected Reed,” said Dr Epple. “And I know all of the schools took a hit to some degree, but I want people to be reminded that the position was cut due to the budget.”

Both Project Adventure and Reed’s music technology courses were cut from the 2010-11 budget, resulting in the creation of a new rotation schedule. The new schedule has been the focus of multiple meetings between parents, administrators, and scheduling specialists brought in to help at the school.

“I still am holding on to some hope that at the end of the day, as retirements go through and there has been some movement, that there may be a chance that we can restore that position,” said Dr Epple.

In the event a position at Reed is opened through retirements or other openings, Dr Epple said, the school may be able to reinstate a physical education position and therefore move the teacher who desires teaching the Project Adventure course back to the program.

Dr Epple said Project Adventure, a team-building course, is perfect for students going through the “tween experience,” like the fifth and sixth grade students at the intermediate school.

While the program was in place at the school Dr Epple said she saw team-oriented activities, where groups would need to solve problems while cooperating. Some of those problems took the form of obstaclelike courses.

“It’s pretty neat, the foundations of it, how it was really supported widely by the community when Reed started,” said Mr Blank. “It was one of the fundamental cornerstones at the school.”

The equipment for the program, the certified personnel is available, but, Mr Blank said, the program was cut, leaving Reed students without access to the program.

Physical education, Mr Blank said, focuses on individual wellness, while Project Adventure would focus on team growth.

“They are just at such a great age, that they really can just start thinking that way,” said Dr Epple.