East Windsor School Officials Approve High School Intervention Classes

The East Windsor Board of Education Thursday approved two high school courses that are meant to help students who are struggling with basic math, reading and writing courses.

The two classes, Foundations of English and Foundations of Math, are meant for  students who are identified in eighth grade as likely to fail in math and english courses in ninth grade, Edward Keleher, principal, said.

Keleher said the foundations classes are meant to re-enforce not replace the basic classes students will be taking in their first year of high school.

“Students that succeed in English and succeed in Math will have success in high school and graduate in four years,” Keleher said.

The purpose of the classes is to help the students pass freshman Algebra and pass freshman English, Keleher said. If the students don’t pass those classes they are being set up for failure, he added.

The classes will have no more than 15 students in them and will take place in their block schedules. The classes will take part of the students’ study periods. The work will involved more hands-on experiences and not entail any homework, officials said.

Curriculum in the classes will be based on the student’s needs and will not conflict but support the work they are already doing in their regular Math and English classes,

Irene Parisi, director of curriculum and instruction, said the overall goal of the classes is to accelerate the students’ learning.

“We owe it to the students to offer some kind of intervention,” Parisi said.

Superintendent of Schools Theresa Kane said the classes are a great start to get tiered intervention into the high school and are a work in progress.

“It really gives students a chance to work at their level and move forward,” Kane said.

Board member William Schultz said the board should review the classes to see how effective they have been for the students.

***East Windsor High School Principal Edward Keleher's name was misspelled in the original version of this story and has been corrected.