OVERVIEW:
PWS is committed to special education for gifted and talented students to help them develop their extraordinary abilities and recognizes that gifted and talented students in our school have unique values, needs, and talents. The program for gifted and talented students is designed to aid in the optimum development of their intellectual, emotional, and social abilities and to honor the diversity among the identified gifted and talented students through the provision of varied placement options and differentiated and more challenging curriculum.
To nurture this philosophy along, Mr. Hickey has created the website, “Challenging Middle School Students” for his students this year. Classes and schedules are being developed now with the cooperation of the administration and staff. Mr. Hickey will be at the middle school from 7:30 everyday and welcomes the opportunity to meet with parents, teachers, and students to discuss programming in a more detail way if necessary.
After chapter 4 in Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy the concept of equality is gone. First Turner is given a new “commandment,” Thou shall not step one of thine feet upon Malaga Island, lest thou be smitten, and smitten mightily, saith the Reverend Buckminster. The main reason being that Lizzie is an African American and is therefore “less” of a “human” than Turner. Then later he is not even allowed to go down to the beach or even communicate with Lizzie in any way. The concept of fairness is disappearing rapidly to as the book progresses. Reverend Buckminster gets more and more furious with Turner because he is “embarrassing” him, when in fact it is the rumors spread by Deacon Hurd and others who despise Lizzie’s community and her and Turner’s friendship that are the cause of his embarrassment. It is also not fair that Turner’s father, the minister no less, is judging the whole African American community before he even knows anyone from it and saying Turner, who knows several people from it, is wrong. It also seems unsuitable that the Phippsburg community believes that Turner is “not playing by the rules” because he has befriended Lizzie even when expressly forbidden. (And because he is the ministers son.) The bible itself actually says to “love thy neighbor.” Which is what Turner is doing, so they have no reason to be angry except for the breaking of their “rules” which I feel are based solely on ignorance and prejudice and so should be broken.