Green light for education reform in Hod Hasharon, doubt in Ra'anana

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
The "New Horizon" education system reform plan will begin operating at Hod Hasharon's elementary and middle schools at the beginning of the next school year, reports www.local.co.il. The city's education department has been holding meetings with school principals, teachers and parents' committees in recent weeks to discuss and explain the reform, which aims to increase the amount of time teachers and students spend at school, and has decided that the city will be ready come this September. According to the report, more meetings are planned between Education Ministry officials, local education officials and teachers to clarify details and provide simulations through the current school year. A municipal spokesman said the reform would enable the children of Hod Hasharon to "extract the best from themselves" and to continue the successes of the city's education system. Meanwhile, teachers in Ra'anana are continuing to oppose the introduction of the new system, reports www.mynet.co.il. Accompanied by an accountant of their own choosing, teachers' representatives met with municipal education officials last week to discuss how the reform would affect their salaries and pensions, but said later that they still did not have all the answers they wanted and were disappointed that Mayor Nahum Hofree had not met with them himself. The teachers said they still hoped to meet with Hofree to discuss the issues. The report said that local Histadrut officials also held a series of meetings with teachers to explain the reform, and expressed surprise at the "lack of knowledge and understanding" of the details of the reform among Ra'anana's teachers.