It seems that given the Redmond School District administration’s decisions, parents of high school students — with the exception of a few — have no choice about their children’s educational choices.

The International Baccalaureate Program is being continued at Redmond High School even though it has consistently drawn money away from the general fund, is utilized by only a small percentage of students, and the curriculum is only recognized by about one-third of colleges.

The supporters of the IB program have spoken to two main themes — it teaches critical thinking and graduates have received college credit that lowers their parents’ financial obligations. When asked why other classes could not teach critical thinking, the superintendent responded that the IB teachers were better trained. So for students in the new Ridgeview High School — there will be no critical thinking and no “better trained” teachers. It should be noted that students can attain college credits while in high school either via the “fifth year” or by taking classes from Central Oregon Community College while a junior or senior.

There seems to be a belief that Advanced Placement classes cannot measure up to the IB classes. However, only AP classes are being provided at Ridgeview, and bus transportation will not be provided should one want to participate in the IB program at RHS. Redmond has no local bus service, and should a child be given the opportunity to transfer to RHS from Ridgeview, he/she must find his/her own transportation. This also holds true for RHS students who have transfer rights to Ridgeview to participate in some of the AP or industrial courses being offered.

At the school board meeting, no statistics could be provided relative to the number of students who participated in the IB program — those entered, those completing, and those in the classes because no AP class was available. When asked how the administration planned to determine the number of students who wanted IB classes in the future, the response was, “Well, we have a purple sheet for one school and a different color for the other school and then each student gets to select classes he/she wants.” Well, if only IB courses are offered at RHS and the student does not know if he/she will be given transfer rights and wants more advanced courses, he/she must select the IB courses. The same selection process confines Ridgeview students to selecting AP courses when IB courses may be preferred. From this, the administration will determine the number of IB and AP classes. And a very expensive program will be perpetuated.

Why isn’t the IB program being studied to determine if the same perceived educational quality could be provided in a less expensive way? For instance, are the coordinators really needed? Or are they there just to comply with the International Oversight Organization? Is it necessary for the Redmond School District to pay a Swedish organization to obtain quality education for a limited number of students? How much use of the expensive magazines was made? Given a shortage of funding for our schools, these are serious questions that must be addressed and seemingly are being swept under the rug.

Although the school board gave citizens much time to discuss this matter, it was easy to see why parents get discouraged from attending school board meetings. After having given the administration ample time — four weeks — to provide IB statistics, only fuzzy figures were provided. Then to be talked down to with the inadequate “one purple sheet, etc.” explanation was very demeaning. Audience members on both sides of the IB/AP discussion asked the same question and each time were given the “purple sheet” non-explanation.

The promises of transparency and parent participation seem to be election material only, as the school board did not require the administration to have clear, concise statistics nor to provide answers to the parents.