Multiple parents asked Palmerton Area School on Tuesday to reconsider a decision ending departmentalized learning for first- and second-graders at Towamensing Elementary.

Under the departmentalized model, students rotate between teachers and classrooms throughout the day rather than staying with a single teacher all day, a structure parents said is now being eliminated.

Pinar Angun, who said her son is entering third grade in the fall, asked the board directly how the decision was made and whether Towamensing’s teachers had been part of it.

“It was brought to my attention that there have been some changes made to the structure of the first and second grade, so that they will no longer be switching classrooms, but staying with just one teacher,” she said. “I was really disappointed to hear that.”

District solicitor David Conn told her the board doesn’t typically take questions during public comment and that an administrator would follow up with her directly.

Angun told the board she’d already emailed administration with the same concerns and shared how her own son reacted when she asked him about the change.

“When I asked my son about how he would feel if he had to stay with one teacher all day, he said he wouldn’t like it, and he loves being able to switch classes and teachers,” she said. Asked why, she said he told her, “it doesn’t make sense to stay with one teacher all day when the teachers are all experts in what they teach,” because then they’d have to teach subjects outside their expertise.

A second parent, Lynn Passerini, who said one of her children experienced the model and an older child did not, brought the board a written letter and what she described as a year-long case study from a similarly sized rural school district.

“I am reaching out tonight in support of departmentalized learning, beginning in first grade,” Passerini said. “As a parent, I have seen firsthand the benefits of students rotating between teachers and classrooms.”

She told the board the model keeps young students engaged through movement and a change of scenery, exposes them to different teaching styles, and helps build adaptability and independence earlier than they might otherwise develop. She also tied the practice to a goal she said the board has emphasized before: “This board has repeatedly emphasized the importance of equity, and departmentalization helps support that goal,” she said.

Director Erin Snyder pushed back on the suggestion that directors had been left in the dark, saying the board had been briefed on the change beforehand even though it wasn’t a decision board members made themselves.

“We don’t make those decisions, but we did know — it was discussed with us,” Snyder said. “It wasn’t a blind decision.”