Supporting the AEAP program in Malden Schools

  The long scheduled school committee meeting with the AEAP’s (formerly known as the Gifted program) status on the 2023 agenda, took place at city hall Monday evening, January 9. The proposed final status of the program was not determined at that time due to more information needing to be assessed about many aspects of the AEAP curricula, attendance, results and other factors. I had requested that demographic data about the program be added to the analysis.

  There has been ongoing discussion and debate for many years about the need, efficacy and equity of the AEAP program for the city of Malden’s school system. I have been on the edges and at times in the center of this contentious community discussion and debate of whether this is needed and effective for our children.

  For the entirety of the public discussion, spanning more than a decade of my family’s involvement from my oldest child, who is now 22, to my youngest, who is still a student at Malden High, I have been a firm supporter and advocate for the AEAP program within the Malden Public Schools. My youngest son has followed in his older sibling’s footsteps out of the AEAP and onto the Honor Roll at Malden High. As a parent, I can only hope it continues for him. There are multiple different classroom models in effect for all different types of children with different needs. And more different types of classroom teaching models keep getting added/nurtured each year as we accommodate different needs for different children and families. It is my firm belief that children, who are able to excel in an environment like the Malden AEAP program, with like-minded children and families, should get the consideration and resources needed to achieve great things.

  These demographic numbers represent this single classroom per grade level of determined children willing to work hard. This is the sort of learning environment that many immigrant parents, like my wife and I work extra hard to get our children into. This is the sort of environment, that my parents worked hard to get me into, when I went through the halls of Boston Latin. I personally did not appreciate the environment during my own childhood, but I eventually realized the incredible value of the environment, when I became a parent myself.

  Following my conscience and my beliefs, I will support the AEAP program for talented children here in the city of Malden.

Joseph Gray

Ward 6 School Committee Member