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Show School Reaction Sketchy By TOM BUSSELBERG FARMINGTON -- Reaction is still sketchy to a national school reforms report released early last week because copies have yet to be received re-ceived by area educators. THE REPORT, "A Nation at Risk: The Imperative Im-perative for Educational Reform," was prepared pre-pared under the direction of David Gardner, University of Utah president in concert with the National Commission on Excellence in Education. Educa-tion. Reports were to have been mailed starting earlier this week but one report said they may not be available for 10 days but the recommendations recommen-dations are sure to form discussion from board rooms to teachers' lounges to student lunchrooms. lun-chrooms. A VAST array of changes are proposed, from longer school days, pushing for possible seven or eight period days as is being tried in Davis District most notably by Davis High School, to longer school years, extending beyond the 180-day 180-day period to 200-220 days. A further stiffening of requirements, such as four years English in high school to a half year computer science, are also outlined, although the Davis District, along with others around the state, has been studying changes in curriculum, partly to meet increased standards passed by the University of Utah, among other schools. "I THINK it has some profound statements we must consider very carefully," Davis Board Pres. Sheryl Allen said in a telephone interview. "I do think the school year needs to be lengthened leng-thened and I do think we need to stimulate more people to become science and math teachers, upgrading the teaching profession." The former teacher added a concern others have raised that "all of this will take more dollars. dol-lars. The public has to realize that. To call for those things is one thing, to finance them is quite another. "IT WILL TAKE a public committment to do so," she added, having returned only days before be-fore from the National School Boards Assoc. convention in San Francisco, meetings Supt. Lawrence Welling also attended. "They didn't get too excited about it over there," he said of reaction in San Francisco. "I think the matter of proposing excellence in the schools is a good direction to go. I don't find fault with that, if we don't forget there are some people who can't perform in an excellent way. "IF WE JUST design schools for the top students, stu-dents, we have a responsibility to provide education edu-cation for all students-some who are reluctant learners or are finding the academic world hard to cope with-that may be addressed in the report. re-port. "We'll have to shake these things out of the report and see how it affects us locally." EDUCATORS will be briefed May 10 during a conference at the University of Utah by Dr. Anthony Morgan, administrative assistant to Dr. Gardner, who a spokeswoman says will not be able to attend. So far, the only "stiffening" of requirements by the Davis Board involves requiring three years of English, as recommended by a study committee although no suggestions were received re-ceived for math or science, raising concerns of the board. IN ADDITION, a committee is currently studying teacher and principal evaluation procedures. proc-edures. Dee Durningham, executive secretary of the teachers' Davis Education Assoc., said of the report, "I think it's consistent with what educators educa-tors have been saying for some time. A longer school year is desirable." THEN, HE took some shots at the legislature, laying blame at their feet for delays in many of the recommendations. "In the past, when the state legislature has been asked very specifically specifical-ly to do that, they've declined. Right now, the realities are moving in just the opposite direction direc-tion of the report. "It's significant the legislature has cut funding fund-ing for education and teachers, and educators and others around the state are talking about reducing the number of school days because they can't be expected to do more for less. "THE PUBLIC is going to have to assess those needs that the commission has pretty adequately ade-quately addressed and then simply tell their legislators that they've got to meet those needs because our legislature is so hung up on California's Califor-nia's four-year-old tax limitation and tax-cutting measures and trying to replicate them here and they're totally out of step. "The economy is recovering, but instead, they're continuing to cut. As a whole, legislators legisla-tors are poor businessmen. They don't recognize recog-nize the value of investment and human investment invest-ment is the most critical, fragile kind we have," Mr. Burningham added. '"' " " " . a |