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Parents urge Brockton to restore TAG cohort at middle schools
Summary
Parents of students in the Brockton Public Schools’ Talented and Gifted (TAG) program told the School Committee on Dec. 16 they want the district to preserve a dedicated TAG cohort through middle school, arguing that current honors academy placement (ELA and math only) risks repetition and lost opportunities in other subjects.
Melissa Thomas, a parent of a fifth-grade student at the Angelo School, told the Brockton School Committee on Dec. 16 that she and other parents are concerned that TAG students will “lose momentum” when they move to middle school because the district’s honors academy covers only English language arts and math.
“We need to continue to support these talented and gifted children,” Thomas said during the hearing of visitors, arguing that many TAG lessons are already at sixth-grade level and that combining TAG students with the broader honors academy will force them to repeat material.
Other parents described similar experiences. Erica Gilbert said the TAG program gave her son organizational and presentation skills and warned that without a middle-school TAG cohort “he will yet again be forgotten.” Amy Changarakis, who has children in both TAG and the honors academy, told the committee she sees the academic difference firsthand and is concerned that melding cohorts will create repeated instruction and uneven classroom demands. Jackie O’Donnell said the TAG cohort is roughly 75 students—about three classes—and asked the committee to “please consider” keeping those classes grouped at the middle-school level.
The comments echoed a recurring concern: that advanced instruction in science, social studies and foreign language will be lost if TAG is not continued as a discrete cohort in middle schools. Speakers said the program brings academic challenge and social-emotional support and helps retain families within Brockton Public Schools.
The committee did not take a formal vote during the public comment period. The hearing of visitors concluded and the committee proceeded to the superintendent’s report. Parents asked that the district revisit this placement decision and expressed willingness to partner on solutions.
