See his letter to parents below:
Dear MMS Families,
I am excited to announce that we have found a replacement teacher for Ms. Skrivanic’s math classes. Please join me in welcoming Ms. Erin Mitchell to the Maplewood Middle School community.
Ms. Mitchell has a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Rowan University and holds highly qualified certification in middle school mathematics. She completed her student teaching experiences in the Princeton Regional and Bordentown School Districts, where she worked hard to form positive connections with her students and their families. She is passionate about teaching math and enjoys incorporating technology, manipulatives (such as algebra tiles) and math games into the curriculum. Ms. Mitchell shared that she became a teacher because she enjoys helping students build confidence in themselves and their ability to approach math in a positive and successful manner.
Ms. Mitchell spent today shadowing Ms. Skrivanic and introduced herself to your students. On Monday morning, she will assume her duties as the new teacher for all of Ms. Skirvanic’s math classes. Here is the instructional plan for Monday:
Course Title - Topic of Study
Advanced Honors: Proportional Graphs
Honors: Inequalities
College Prep: One Step Equations/Inequalities
Next week, Ms. Mitchell will provide your family with details about the next steps in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. She will also send home an update with her district email address as soon as it becomes available. Thank you for your patience and cooperation during this process.
Together We Can,
Jerrill M. Adams, MS.Ed, M.A.
Principal
This is not an acceptable replacement for a teacher who has demonstrated mastery in her pedigocial skills . You cannot hold "a highly qualified certification in middle school mathematics" as a new teacher and my understanding is that you must have a masters degree in your content area in order to have the equivalent of a permanent or professional teaching license. I do not fault the exiting teacher or incoming teacher. I place the blame on the district and the administration and their lack of transparency in the process. Clearly the MS students' math education is being compromised. The high school is getting a highly qualified teacher. The middle school is getting a new teacher, new to the differentated curriculum across the 3 levels of 6th grade math,program and as I understand it new to teaching in a middle school. The HS Math Department could have hired a temporary replacement for this school year and started Ms Skrivanic in the fall. This would have given MMS the opportunity to have interviews with teachers from other districts who may have been " more qualified and certainly more experienced",
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