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Grassroots effort to bring IB program to Chimborazo Elementary
03/17/2011 6:10 AM by John M
A grassroots effort is underway to bring International Baccalaureate (“IB”) Primary Years Program to Chimborazo Elementary School. An info meeting will be held on March 31 at 6:30PM at Chimborazo, and there will be presentation to the School Board at City Hall on April 4th at 7PM.
I am the director of education at the Virginia Holocaust Museum but in my former life I was an IBMYP coordinator for the first of three programs in Fairfax County. When I retired I worked for IB in many areas. Upon moving to Richmond to be near my grandchildren and family (grand child goes to Holton) I tried to convince the RCPS to put additional programs in place because I saw the change that my own school went through.
I am so excited that you are doing this and would like to help!! I will try to be at the meeting. My husband ran for school board and lost, but is still very involved in helping in schools and I will try to bring him too.
We are very excited about the potential for seeing IB come to Chimborazo. For a little history for those just hearing about this…
The Principal, Cheryl Burke, has expressed interest in seeing Chimborazo go “to the next level”. There are two other IB programs in the city. Thomas Jefferson HS has an IB program and Lucille Brown MS has an IB program and Mrs. Burke’s sister is the Principal there.
Several presentations were made to the teachers about the IB program beginning in the Spring of 2010. At a staff meeting this past fall, The teachers voted overwhelmingly in favor of bringing IB to Chimborazo.
An IB presentation was made to the Chimborazo PTA and they have voted to endorse this effort.
Our School Board representative, Don Coleman, has expressed his support for this initiative.
A task force made up of parents and teachers was formed and has been meeting monthly to plan the next steps. Before we can begin sending teachers to other IB schools or specialized IB training, we must seek the School Board’s blessing to pursue these next steps which we will seek on April 4th.
Thank you to all who are supporting Chimborazo’s IB efforts. If you are interested in joining our task force or would like to sign our petition, please email me: matt.illian@gmail.com.
Also, I think it is important for everyone to know that on the primary level, IB is not a magnet program. Chimborazo would remain a neighborhood school and the IB culture would benefit every child who attends.
I think this is a great opportunity for Church Hill. I’m surprised to see so few comments on this.
I’m with you Ry. This is another opportunity to show that our public schools have value beyond their perceived (and some real) shortcomings. If it helps us retain even a few dozen pairs of engaged parents in the district, it’ll be worth the effort.
What I appreciate about this IB initiative is that it is shaping up to be truly a community effort that is not simply driven by newcomers to the neighborhood. Also because it is school-extensive and does not cloister one small group of gifted kids within the student body, it is targeted to benefit the whole culture of the school. I believe this is one of the most exciting initiatives Church Hill has going right now and is worthy of our total support.
Thank you to everyone who came out to the meeting and student performance tonight at Chimborazo. There was a great turn out. I feel that it was very informative and the students did a FANTASTIC JOB!!! I am so proud of all of them. Thank you again for a spectacular night. Keep up the awesome support we have seen. If you are interested in joining in or continuing the support, please contact Chimborazo Elementary or Matt Illian as posted above, we would love to hear from you! Also please join us Monday, April 4th at the school board meeting to show your support of our awesome effort!