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Experience Excellence Real Student Issues
Medford Public Schools Great Success – Advanced Placement Program
October 22
Did you know that many Medford students graduate college in three years and that Medford, in comparison to other school districts, sends an extraordinary number of students to the Ivy League and other highly competitive schools?
In 1998 Medford implemented one of the most comprehensive Advanced Placement programs in the state. If students pass the Advanced Placement test, they earn college credit, and that is why many Medford graduates enter college at the sophomore level. This saves the student, and their family, an enormous amount of tuition money and/or allows them to preserve money for graduate school. In addition, mastering Advanced Placement curriculum makes students eligible for admissions into highly competitive schools and potentially receive good financial aid grants.
What is the problem?
The problem is that the students within these classes do not reflect the overall population of Medford school system. We need to do a better job of informing families, and coaching students, while they are in middle school to prepare themselves for the rigorous demands of Advanced Placement. Many students and families become aware of Advanced Placement too late in the process.
Medford public schools have a lot of great resources, including a phenomenal Vocational School, and we need to do a better job of getting information to students, and their families, so they can be inspired, and make more informed decision about their academic futures.
Andy Milne
Indigenous peoples day
October 11
In the first photo my students are exploring the Cambridge Burial Ground in Harvard Square and learning to interpret Puritan symbols as well as translate the Latin found on the headstones. “Time is running out”, “You too will be here soon.” My students are always stunned to find out how morbid these messages are and soon realize that the Puritan Church was utilizing fear to gain greater adherence to church doctrine. In 1831, on the outside of Cambridge, Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded by a group of civic leaders that adhered to the radical transcendental beliefs centered on the eternal life-death cycle of nature. In this photo the students are exploring an entire new set of symbols found on the memorials. Quickly, they realize the radical founding principal of Mount Auburn Cemetery and realize that the founders rejected the concepts of heaven and hell. Even their choice of the word cemetery “a place you sleep” reinforces the idea that dead would inhabit this space for eternity. The creators of Mount Auburn thus sought to make this resting place one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, places in the Boston region.
Whether it is the atomic collider at MIT, the replica Senate chambers of JFK Library, the Science Museum, the MFA, Lowell Mills, or the Mystic River, I want to support learning outside the classroom and have all Medford students explore the treasures of our region.
It is my mission that we can foster a learning environment where students are excited to go to school, and I want them mesmerized by the passion a teacher is exhibiting about a subject. Witnessing this passion makes education fun, and we know that passion will lead students to their own success.
To support this, we can also create professional development for teachers that develops exciting learning opportunities and shift our focus away from standardized testing and the one-size-fits-all approach. To come full circle, the students that do better on standardized testing are the ones excited about learning.
Andy Milne
October 3rd
Behind every major stride in learning is a human connection. The above is Sunrise Coffee, where, once a month last year, I would meet my students at the Starbucks at 6:30 in the morning. Most do not even drink coffee, but they came for the human connection and adventure. These students scored twenty points higher on the AP US History exam than the state average.
Unless we identify and understand the problem, we cannot not take steps to solve the problem.
This Wednesday, a group of retired teachers, including myself, brought Sunrise Coffee and breakfast to our former colleagues. We were filled with joy to see each other, and they reported that being in school with students felt very rewarding. COVID does create a high level of anxiety because last year they lost two of their colleagues Dennis and Frank, and this year two of the youngest, fully vaccinated, and the most athletic faculty members, were out ten days suffering through horrible COVID.
The faculty also reported that because the students have not been in school for a year in a half, there is a lot of school anxiety and mental health issues. Many students are new to their school buildings and must relearn how to do school. The situation cries out for us to support the teachers and students. Our mantra with each other needs to be “How are you doing?” And then we need to listen.
Andy Milne
Parent perspective
October 1
Why I am asking my friends and neighbors to vote for Any Milne in November!
Support for Andy’s campaign was not because he was a teacher in Medford. It was because of the teacher and mentor he was and the experience our sons were so fortunate to have had in his classroom! Medford needs Andy on the School Board because he thinks outside the box in a time in our history that calls for just that.
Andy understands that this is critical for the future of Medford and to the success of each student as they mature into healthy adults. A committed educator, Andy gave so much extra time and effort into creating an exciting and engaging experience in and outside of his classroom-- before and after school. We were the lucky ones! All of Medford Schools should benefit from his experience and ideas.
In the classroom, Andy was creative, bold and encouraged the students to be themselves and to support each other. Andy’s work with other teachers was exciting and engaged minds in a way that helps them think and act in this complicated world. Andy supported his students and interests beyond the classroom. Often, we would see Andy at the plays, musicals, orchestral events, athletics and cardboard canoe races (and the list goes on) and we know what that meant to his students!
Andy also understands and can teach others to think about social justice and the environment. Andy worked with students to through the issues of the day demonstrating his interest in the student's development and formation as a whole person. We saw this as he worked with students to find and to amplify their voices in protest and in support of the community. It was profound.
I cannot remember a time I have spoken up in Medford City politics. This was far too important for our city to not comment.
Creating a Supportive Environment
By looking at this photo, can you see the signs of a good and happy school?
Medford High School has a long and unmatched Halloween tradition whereby 80-90% of the students and faculty dress up and compete in a costume contest. Why is this so significant? It represents that the students and faculty feel emotionally safe, feel like they belong to a larger community, feel like they can take a risk, feel like they can be creative, feel like it is okay to be different, and most importantly feel like they can laugh at themselves and laugh with others. In the wake of the pandemic, it is my goal to support all students of Medford Public Schools that they can not only become who they want to be on Halloween, but that they can grow into the person they want to be for a lifetime.
Please support me and - Experience, Excellence, and Real Student Issues - November 2nd
Andy Milne