For the first time, Florida’s most persistently struggling schools are asking the State Board of Education to give them another year to turn themselves around.
If their request isn’t granted, the schools may have to shut down, privatize, or become charter schools.
If granted a waiver by the board, eight schools in Miami Dade, Duval and Escambia counties will be able to continue efforts to turn themselves around. According to the State Department of Education, the schools, which have a combined total enrollment of 6,000, have received “D” or “F” grades for a decade or more, though a couple have rebounded a bit recently.
The schools are likely to get their request. Commissioner John Winn issued a statement late Friday that said he will request that the board grant waivers to six of them. The other two were already recommended for approval.
But Winn said there should be conditions. Under his recommendation, the six schools in Duval and Miami Dade counties would have to hold a “well-publicized event” to showcase other school options in the area, pay for a school turnaround consultant and deliver monthly reports to the Commissioner of Education. The schools must also hold more public meetings to explore options for improving student performance.
Rep. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, said he is pleased with Winn’s decision, and cautioned against closing the schools, calling them anchors of their communities.
Miami Edison Senior High School and Miami Central Senior High School are two schools that would have to close or convert into a privately managed or charter schools if the board does not grant their request for more time.
“These schools are often times more than just schools, they are institutions,” Bullard said. “They are places where multiple generations of our community have gone. When you are talking about shutting schools down, it is going to be problematic and you are going to get protests, and rightfully so.”
Both high schools had jumped to a “C” grade last year, but that apparently wasn’t enough to save them from possible closure. Miami Central was even praised by President Barack Obama as national model for reform.
In Duval County, Andrew Jackson Senior High School, Jean Ribault Senior High School, William Raines Senior High School and North Shore K-8 are all requesting waivers.
Duval County Schools spokeswoman Jill Johnson said all four struggling schools are in low-income areas, with a high proportion of students eligible for free and reduced lunches. Johnson said the district has worked to turn the schools around by replacing administrators and staff, improving safety, offering targeted instruction and increased training and getting the community more involved. The schools are seeing some improvement, she said, with attendance rates up and the number of students given disciplinary suspensions down.
If the board rejects their appeal, Duval Partners for Excellent Education, a non-profit, would take over management of the schools. The non-profit was created by the Duval County School Board.
The Florida Education Association, the state’s teacher’s union, supports district efforts to turn around schools.
“The communities are really interested in maintaining control of them and the school districts are very interested in continuing to try to improve those schools. We would be in support of what the school districts want as far as that is concerned,” said FEA spokesman Mark Pudlow. “They are the ones that are experts on it rather than somebody here in Tallahassee.”
But some question whether charter schools, one of the options for persistently struggling schools, are the right choice.
The same test-based school grade data used to determine which schools are struggling shows that charter schools struggle, too. Out of the 31 schools that got an “F,” 15 were charter schools. These grades did not include high schools.
Analysis has shown that charter schools perform no better, and sometimes worse, than public schools.
This contradicts the effusive praise that charter schools often get from lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott. State Board of Education Member John Padget, a former superintendent, said last month that “every single charter has superior results to all the other schools.” Padget said he wants more encouragement and expansion of charters.
Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature and Scott approved legislation this year that made it easier for charter schools to expand and add new grades. But some public school advocates say charter schools are not held to the same standards as traditional public schools, with more relaxed testing and class size requirements.
“The grades point out that charters aren’t a panacea,” Pudlow said. “If a school is struggling, it is probably struggling not because of management or teachers, but because of circumstances beyond what is in the classroom.”
By Lilly Rockwell
