By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
Prior to every lesson, Princeton High School special education teacher Joyce Turner photocopies the material she is going to teach, marks it with a red pen and yellow and orange highlighters, and writes students’ initials next to questions she plans to ask.
But since September, she has had to rewrite that information in what she called “cookie cutter lesson plans” mandated by the Princeton Regional School District — resulting in an additional two inches of paper in her binder and an extra five hours of work each week.
”This is just waste of paper as far as I’m concerned,” she said, addressing the Board of Education on Tuesday. “But I’m being compliant and I’m doing it every day. I’m writing about 25 lesson plans a week. I write them in the district form because I’m told to do it.”
Similar comments were made Tuesday by teachers from John Witherspoon Middle School and three of the district’s elementary schools.
Teachers said it’s not the first time they have asked administrators for a forum to discuss the purpose of the changes.
Though Superintendent Judy Wilson said she has been disappointed in “the pacing of the conversations and discussions to lean toward and produce a more meaningful experience,” she said the lesson plan directive was never meant to — and doesn’t — mandate a single inflexible standard.
”Never has there been any intention from any administrator, to my knowledge, of uniformity, of a single template,” she said. “The issue is content.”
Ms. Wilson said the implementation of the new lesson plans is related to the goal of increased consistency across the district, and was intended to fill “the void of a common framework.”
Noting that the new plans “have a basic set of components to them,” she said the changes were intended to provide easy cross-referencing with New Jersey “core content” standards.
”They should not be tasks that are onerous, and they should not simply be anything that is filling paper or scripting,” she said. “Teachers have complete range of choice about how they approach the components of lesson planning.”
But judging from the teachers who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting — and the dozens more who applauded their statements — the district’s instructors disagree.
John Witherspoon Middle School teacher Jo Szabaga said the new plans simply aren’t practical.
”The format is such that one cannot teach from these plans, one cannot leave these plans for a substitute. The template is awkward and difficult to use,” she said. “This process has diminished our professionalism, with its concentration on uniformity. Creativity is sacrificed, as is our response to student needs.”
Littlebrook Elementary School teacher Ellen Wadyka called the change a “daunting directive” that requires teachers to write “lesson plans in a very prescribed manner.”
For that reason, teachers haven’t had time to do their usual work and interact with students.
”We have been too busy squeezing out time to write 10 elements for each and every lesson we teach each and every day,” she said.
Ms. Wadyka said previous requests for a dialogue about the changes have been stalled by the district, but noted that she declined a meeting suggested Tuesday for the end of this week by Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Bonnie Lehet, due to the busy holiday schedule experienced by most teachers.
According to Ms. Wilson, a committee of teachers and administrators has been formed to discuss the implementation of the new lesson plans.
She said the committee could hold a meeting as soon as the first week in January, and noted that the district has agreed to address the elementary grades first — which Ms. Wadyka cited as the primary problem.
Despite the disagreement, Ms. Wilson said everyone has the same goal: providing the best education possible.
”I just see this as something that is absolutely workable and where it is very possible to come to a greater understanding for the common good,” she said.
School board member Walter Bliss responded to the teachers’ complaints during the meeting Tuesday.
”We all recognize that our teachers are the lifeblood of our schools,” he said. “At the same time, we have confidence in our superintendent.”
Noting that he hopes the situation can be resolved, Mr. Bliss asked the teachers “to do what is possible to make these initiatives work.
”They have purpose,” he said.

