[Ohiogift] Praise for the proposed revisions to the Operating Standards

[giftedtchr at aol.com]

Sent to everyone on the committee list:
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Thank you for your kind attention, andyour service to our state.

I am a father and a grandfather ofacademically gifted children and grandchildren, so it may be of some surprise that Iwrite not to pan but to praise the proposed revisions to theOperating Standardsfor Identifying and Serving Gifted Students. (rule 3301-51-15)

Theannual academic growth of all students is a value held dear to us,for all can learn; and the proposed operating standards mustcertainly be designed to affect the greatest possible academic growthfor gifted students.

Whilewe mandate minimum hours of direct services for struggling students,the proposed operating standards eliminate minimum hours of service,but gifted students are different from struggling students, socertainly they need nothing designed specifically for them. It mustbe in the best interest of academically gifted students in Ohio tohave no time mandated to help meet their needs.

Yesthe physically gifted students – the athletes – are mandated bytheir teachers, their coaches, to experience many hours ofspecialized services per week,  but academically gifted students aredifferent from physically gifted students, so certainly they neednothing designed specifically for them.
It must be in the bestinterest of academically gifted students in Ohio to have nospecialized program or curriculum mandated to help meet their needs.

Themusically, and artistically gifted students have specially trainedteachers to help meet their individual needs for musical and artisticgrowth, but academically gifted students are different from musicallyand artistically gifted students, so certainly they need noprofessionally qualified teachers who understand their nature andneeds. It must be in the best interest of academically giftedstudents in Ohio to have no specially trained teachers mandated to helpmeet their needs.

Thegovernment of the State of Ohio recognizes the value of our giftedstudents, and bemoans the fact that a full third of our collegegraduates move somewhere else to begin their careers. Ohio isexperiencing “brain drain,” but certainly moving away from,rather than toward, mandating a free,appropriate, public, education for academically gifted students iswhat will encourage those students to stay in Ohio and plan to sendtheir own children to our public schools, rather than fleeing toIndiana or Texas. It must be in the best interest of academicallygifted students in Ohio to ignore the needs of the very young peoplewe want to keep from fleeing the state at their earliest opportunity.

Andfinally,  while annual academic growth of all students is a valueparroted by us, for all can learn, we hold preeminent the value ofclosing the achievement gap. We parrot growth for all, but we know inthe darkest recesses or our being that such gap closure is notpossible if EVERY student, (especially the academically gifted)receives a free, APPROPRIATE, public, education. It must be in thebest interest of the State of Ohio, and academically gifted studentsin Ohio to IGNORE their needs, and provide for them the LEASTappropriate education, that we may close the achievement gap, andcreate a society of equally ignorant citizens.

Therefore, I can only praise the proposed revisions to the Operating Standardsfor Identifying and Serving Gifted Students in Ohio.          But whenwill a time come for our children such as now

Grandpa(PawPaw Mark) Bohland
7250 Steam Corners Road
Lexington,OH  44904-9692
www.MPhoto.com
419-884-1693

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