Outrage bubbling over school plan
The Delaware Department of Education says six low-income schools in Wilmington are failing, and the way to fix them is to make the more than 200 teachers reapply for their jobs – and to hire elite principals at each school who won't have to follow most district rules while earning annual salaries of $160,000.
Mark Murphy, secretary of education, says it's necessary for teachers to reapply for their jobs to ensure that every educator in the six "priority" schools has the commitment and skill to improve student achievement, as measured by the state's standardized tests.
Outrage is bubbling among teachers, parents and school administrators in the schools – Bancroft Elementary, Stubbs Elementary and Bayard Middle in the Christina School District and Warner, Shortlidge and Highlands elementary schools in Red Clay School District.
They contend this is a state takeover, not a school turnaround.
The state asks that districts sign a Memorandum of Understanding by month's end to begin establishing a plan for each school, all of which serve students who come from neighborhoods grappling with poverty.
"If we agree to this MOU, day one is a takeover. They take over our authority," says Kenneth Rivera, Red Clay school board President. "We are not going to agree to that."
Murphy and Gov. Jack Markell say they are not seeking to usurp anybody's power. Elite school leaders and top teachers need freedom to make dramatic changes without being hobbled by business-as-usual approaches to educating children in failing schools, they say.
Yet schools clearly face harsh state consequences if they don't agree to the state's conditions.
"If an MOU is not agreed to within 120 days, the LEAs (Local Education Agencies) options are then limited to closure, reopening as a charter, or contracting with a private management organization to operate the School," says the Department of Education document district leaders are expected to sign.
The state's plan was announced Sept. 4 with a press conference on the steps of Warner Elementary, where the governor and education secretary tried to build a sense of cooperation and teamwork.
The next day, however, district leaders received the memorandum of understanding, and an accompanying 156-page guide explaining what was expected of them. As they combed through those documents, some school leaders began to believe they got a raw deal.
"I came to this board in August and said we had a chance to get some money," Red Clay Superintendent Merv Daugherty told the district's school board Wednesday night. "Well, I got the paperwork. I cannot agree to this MOU as it is written. I'm going to make a stand here."
Adds David Resler, president of the Christina School Board: "I can't speak for all the other board members, but I have very, very serious concerns about the way this has been handled."
The Christina board is set to meet on Sept. 29, and the Red Clay board is set to meet on the Sept. 30, the day the Department of Education expects a signature.
Meanwhile, Murphy says he is working with the districts, adding that details of the proposal could change.
"[The Department] is not creating a plan," Murphy says. "We have taken great pains to ensure those decisions are made by those who are closest to our children. This is just the starting place. This is us creating the conditions for success."
And city leaders say that, while the plan may not be perfect, the six schools listed as a priority urgently need to be improved and the state's plan is an important first step.
"Could we make some improvements? Sure. But I'm still very much in favor of this," says Nnamdi Chukwuocha, chairman of the Wilmington City Council's education committee. "This is very important because it does what the title says -- it makes these schools a priority. And neither of these districts has done that in a long time."
Is it the teachers' fault?
The state's memo says "schools need to be staffed with teachers, administrators and other staff who both want to work in the school and have the skills, experience, and commitment necessary to advance the school plan."
That line has enraged the "priority" school communities.
"To suggest that Highlands needs new teachers who prove their commitment to the population is a slap in the face to every single Ms., Mrs, or Mr who works in that building," says Highlands PTA President Cory Norie.
Some parents and teachers say state bureaucrats are out of touch with the hard work being done by teachers. It's wrong-headed to blame school staff for low scores, they argue, when the real culprit is poverty, crime and other social factors that put students far behind – before they ever walk into a public school.
Rather than spending more money on principals, teachers wonder why the state won't hire more instructors to lower class sizes – and give students the one-on-one attention they need.
"The teachers in my building feel bewildered. They're distraught," says Mike Matthews, president of the Red Clay Education Association teachers union who works at Warner Elementary.
Statewide, 99 percent of all Delaware teachers were rated effective or highly effective by the state-created teacher evaluation system. Only one percent were rated "needs improvement." No teachers were rated "ineffective."
State officials contend school leaders almost always "bumped up" teachers to passing ratings.
Yet Murphy and Penny Schwinn, the Department of Education's chief accountability officer, say they won't object if the new school leaders genuinely believe most of the current staff should stay.
"We know from experience that this is very hard work," Murphy says, "and we need to be sure that every person in those buildings is committed to it."
While state officials have acknowledged that improving high-poverty schools is difficult, they say it is possible. Schools like EastSide and Kuumba Academy charter schools, Red Clay's Lewis Dual Language Elementary and several Indian River schools are standouts statewide, state officials say.
"This governor stands there and points to these charter schools as an example of doing things right when he knows full well that those schools get to pick and choose who they take and don't have to provide all the same services as these (target) schools," says state Sen. John Kowalko, D-Newark.
In remarks to the Red Clay school board Wednesday night, Kowalko called the Education Department's plan "an unholy deal."
Less control for districts?
Under the state proposal, districts will be able to pick the principal for each school – but the state will have final approval. If districts don't pick a leader the state approves by the end of the year, the state will provide a list of candidates from which the district must pick.
And the districts would need the state's approval to terminate these school leaders, who would be "the single point of contact" with the state on the school's behalf.
The $160,000 principal salary is drawing particularly sharp criticism. That is more than some district superintendents in Delaware make, and is only about $10,000 shy of what Daugherty earned last year to run all of the Red Clay, School District.
"If that position is making that, well, I'm applying," Daugherty joked to his school board Wednesday.
The reason the salary must be high is to attract the absolute best school leaders, says Murphy, who earned only slightly more than $160,000 last year.
"This is a statement of quality," he adds. "This says we are looking for someone with truly exceptional skills."
The priority schools would not be subject to any district requirements that aren't part of state or federal law. They would also be allowed to depart from any district-wide implementation of state or federal programs and go their own path. Principals will set their own budgets.
Though the plan includes $5.8 million to help implement each school's turnaround plan, local officials point out that's less than a million per school over four years. And the plan requires the districts to pick up plenty of costs, like the generous school leader salary and teacher raises.
"This plan is almost certainly going to cost our districts money," Resler said. "We will be using local taxpayer money, and the elected school boards will have very little control over what is done with it."
Murphy said the $5.8 million is only the start, and that the state is searching for additional funds to route to the six schools. He also said school districts can do a better job searching for money available to them directly.
Poor communication
What has really outraged some local educators is how this plan was created. It was crafted, they argue, by education department bureaucrats, then sprung on districts with no input.
Resler, the Christina board president, points out that the state didn't send a letter explaining the proposal to school board members until after Christina's monthly school board meeting; board members were only aware of the plan because district leaders shared it with them.
"This has been an extremely flawed process," Resler said. "When they had this press conference, there weren't many details. And once they started releasing those details, we weren't included."
After getting word of the state's plan, several legislators whose districts include the schools pressed themselves into a meeting between district officials and education department staff. Those lawmakers are not happy.
"This is, yet again, the Delaware Department of Education trying to adopt models from around the country with almost no collaboration with people who are actually in the schools in Delaware," says Sen. Bryan Townsend, D-Newark. "There was no collaboration with the legislature. There was no collaboration with teachers. There was very little collaboration with district leaders. They're putting forward this plan that has tremendous implications without talking to the people who are going to be implementing it."
Kowalko, a frequent critic of the Department, had a tougher message:
"This is not an MOU. An MOU by definition means you had to sit down with two sides and work something out together. What this is an ultimatum. It is the Department of Education trying to force school boards to give up their elected authority."
Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com or at 324-2428. Follow him on Twitter @TNJ_malbright
UPDATE: This story has been edited to delete an incorrect reference to Race to the Top.
TARGETED SCHOOLS' PROFICIENCY RATES
The Delaware Department of Education considers these six schools in Wilmington to be failing. Below is a breakdown of the percentage of students who scored well enough on the state standardized test to be considered proficient in math and reading, along with the percentage of students in each school who come from low-income families, for the 2013-2014 school year. The state's proficiency rates are for all grades, while the schools' rates are for the grades they serve.
STATE PROFICIENCY AVERAGES: reading, 72 percent; math, 69 percent; low income, 38 percent
Red Clay School District
Warner Elementary: reading, 45 percent; math, 30 percent; low income, 85 percent
Highlands Elementary: reading, 49 percent; math, 37 percent; low income, 68 percent
Shortlidge Elementary: reading, 45 percent; math, 43 percent; 85 percent
Christina School District
Bancroft Elementary: reading, 35 percent; math, 35 percent; low income, 79 percent
Stubbs Elementary: reading, 36 percent; math, 37 percent; low income, 89 percent
Bayard Middle: reading, 45 percent; math, 30 percent; low income, 79 percent