Letter to the Editor: Congratulations PCEP Seniors, Teachers and Administrators!

We, the Supporters of Academic Integrity in , would like to congratulate the Senior Class of 2012, the teachers and administrators at the Park, for a peaceful and fun last week of school. There was a flash mob performance of "Thriller," seniors were stuck in place in the hallways when they were "it" during freeze tag, students got together to eat a delicious waffle breakfast after turning in their books for the last time, while others from their class took part in a field day sponsored by the National Honor Society. The senior's final week culminated for many at the Prom, which, by all accounts, was a wonderful and fun event. This weekend these seniors will walk during graduation and move on to bigger and better things in many varied and diverse walks of life. Good news often is not reported with the same amount of urgency as when bad things happen, and we want to do our part to make sure that this wonderful week is acknowledged and celebrated!

What we feel this proves is both that we have wonderful students, teachers and administrators at the Park, but also that the best way to prevent fun from turning into inappropriate activities is for students, teachers  and administrators to work together. Students and administrators coordinated the flash mob, which we hope will become a tradition, having the music played over the PA system at the right time, and teachers knew that many seniors would be late to class because they were frozen in the hall. Administrators set firm guidelines for the Prom and clearly stated their expectations, and the vast majority of students complied, because they just wanted to have fun, not cause trouble.

Last year, there was much ink spent describing the end-of-year problems at the Park. While we do not want to minimize these problems, we want to make sure that the district does not overreact and overcompensate in terms of discipline or enabling untrained parents to monitor student behavior. We also want to fight back against the impression, left by a speaker from a different parent group, that somehow P-CEP has to "regain its lost glory." We are proud of our schools and our students and we feel it is insulting that anyone in our district would claim that the Park is not an outstanding institution or threaten to move their students to charter schools. We are committed to PCCS and maintaining and improving its already sterling reputation. Part of that commitment is trust in the well-trained administrators and teachers who have made The Park their home and know it best.

The Park is a unique institution, and in many ways a grand and glorious experiment. Can you really have Three Schools - One Park? We stand firmly behind the proposition that we can and should, and students, administrators, and teachers working together provide the best means to achieve this goal. As our graduates leave the district, let's wish them well knowing that being able to say: "I graduated from the Park" is a big step toward reaching their dreams!

Michael Pare
Kate Borninski
and members of Supporters of Academic Integrity in Plymouth-Canton