Accountability, Admin, District Boundaries, Privatization of Public Education, Standardized Testing

Charter School Recommendations from KBE

This email was sent to Kentucky Board of Education Members. Their email addresses are:

grboyd@bigsandybb.com,
cundifffarms1979@gmail.com,
RFGimmel@atlasmachine.com,
sdhiv1234@gmail.com,
gary.houchens@wku.edu,
alesag.johnson@gmail.com,
Robert.King@ky.gov,
rlmarcum22@gmail.com,
nawannap@aol.com,
ceemore1@gmail.com,
wtwyman@scrtc.com,
marygwenw@cflouisville.org

Dear KBE Members,

As a parent of a recent JCPS graduate from one of our district’s Cohort 1 “priority” schools, I implore you to exercise extreme caution when vote tomorrow to recommend charter schools, and if you do decide to do so, be equally judicious with which elements you can support.

One of the things that makes Kentucky schools special is its emphasis on local control, as exemplified in the innovative decision under KERA to provide SBDM power to local schools. However, the conversation revolving around helping these high poverty gap students via way of charters is invalid if you take into account that my son’s priority school lost its SBDM powers 5 years ago when it entered into priority status.

Another thing that no one seems to be able to genuinely answer is how “school choice” will solve our problems in closing achievement gaps. JCPS is already a district of choice. This choice, combined with overemphasis on high stakes test scores, has been devastating to our students in poverty, who don’t have the same abilities to navigate the system and overcome the hurdles we put in front of them. Our student assignment map that discriminates against our most vulnerable citizens is just one of many examples. There is no sense of community behind my son’s school because they backfill the students who attend there from other communities. Perhaps you should know more about hurdles like these before we assume that they just need MORE choices. Competition has not been proven to improve outcomes in Jefferson County. We need more reasons to work collaboratively instead. Let’s work to make our existing schools better before we throw more variability and competition into the mix.

Speaking of local control, our local school board is should have the final say as to which charters will be permitted in our community. They are democratically elected and have the ability to garner feedback from their constituents about the proposed schools and whether or not the charter proposals and the underlying assumptions, hold water when it comes to how they will address the needs of the students in our community.

Perhaps instead of looking at charters as a solution for persistently low achieving schools, we should look at ways to remove some of the handcuffs we’ve placed upon them. I’m happy to share a litany of these items, should you be interested, in addition to a few I hinted at above. No, these problems are not solved by simply introducing charters as a way of “working around” the system. When we have a leaky house, we must fix the roof, not build a new house down the street.

Furthermore, should charter schools move forward, I would like to reiterate the following provisions that should be a requirement in any charter school legislation in the state of Kentucky:

• SBDMs need to be in every publicly funded school, both public and charter (especially priority schools!)

• The local school board, which is democratically elected by the community it serves, should serve as authorizers

• Non profit. Truly non profit not an arm of for profit company
Should not take tax dollars from existing schools. (Since this year is not a budget year, making funding a sticking point could buy us time.)

• Not closing schools just because they are low performing. Need latitude to serve special needs, at risk, etc without being held to same standards as a school like Manual.

• Remove the unhealthy fixation we have on high stakes testing for all schools, public and charter, but finding less intrusive accountability measures, such as sampling and dashboards, and even self reporting of portfolios of accomplishments

• Schools must be open to all, and should not have ability to refuse applicants or weed out. Barriers to entry already create self selection bias. How will that be eliminated?

• Must provide transportation and free and reduced lunch the same way public schools do.

• No use of public funds for religious schools. (No vouchers for St X, for example.)

• Accountability and transparency is a must. Open board meetings, open records, published minutes, budgets and salaries of all employees, contractors and operators

• There needs to be a minimum enrollment in a charter before it can be funded, demonstrating community need and support.

• There should be a limit to the number of new charter schools opened per year.

• There should be safeguards in place to prevent taking resources from public schools to fund the charters. One of the reasons public schools are currently failing is due to lack of supports and resources. Stripping away funding, or even “high performing” students, or highly involved families, from the mix, creates even greater burdens and hardships on the schools that stay.

• There needs to be equitable access to quality schools in every neighborhood. Closing low performing schools is not an option if there are no other schools in the vicinity.

• We need to treat our teachers with respect and support if we wish to attract quality educators. The idea that we can work them more hours for less money is going in the wrong direction and will see less than qualified individuals with higher turnover than we are currently experiencing in public schools. This is a fallacy with no evidence to support it.

• JCPS is already district of choice. You must demonstrate, without a doubt , not just from selective evidence, that “school choice” does more to fix existing problems. Proponents must provide conclusive evidence before we move forward with implementing a solution that doesn’t fix an existing problem, but only layers on more complexities.
This is a quick list I threw together in the hopes that you will have a chance to review it before you vote tomorrow.

I found the presentations at the work session last week to be one sided. They did not provide an opportunity to cross-examine the evidence by those of us who represent the more cautious approach to charter school implementation. What were the unique qualities of each of the success stories and what made them a success? What specific laws did they implement, which we could we emulate, to make sure we have the same successes? Claims that Nashville was a success story was quickly discredited by Tweets from school board members in Nashville. Arguments that charters serve gap students in urban areas has been disproven time and again by other research groups. Parents, teachers, community leaders, including NAACP, have made it clear that charters are doing more harm than good in many of the communities all over the country where they have entered. THESE VOICES CANNOT BE DENIED! Perhaps it is due to one or two factors that good legislation can and will prevent, but the information presented to the board at the work session was unclear what those specific items are, and therefore you do not have conclusive enough evidence at this time to justify forcing us to implement unproven charter schools in our major cities. WE DON’T WANT THEM! No one has been able to demonstrate to me that any version of charter schools will magically address the needs of the students attending my son’s school and schools like them. Since they represent our district’s most vulnerable, don’t we really need to come up with the best plan for them, regardless if it’s introducing charters or fixing existing schools, before we move forward with any plan?

Please help those who are doing the work at the ground level dig into the ways we can stop failing our most vulnerable students in the Commonwealth BEFORE moving forward with some fancy new idea, which will only create a distraction and drain on resources and energy. I look forward to continuing the conversation. We have work to do.

Gay Adelmann

Accountability, Behavior/Discipline, Challenger Learning Center, District Boundaries, Privatization of Public Education, Standardized Testing, Teacher Shortage, Vision: 2020

#BringBackTheColonel, Please?

This is an email that was sent by an Academy @ Shawnee Sophomore to Dr. Hargens on Sunday, Nov. 27. She asked that Dear JCPS publish it our our open letter forum.

Dear Dr. Hargens,jessica

I wanted to follow up with you in regards to my speech that I gave at the JCPS Board meeting on November, 15th. On your way out the door when my mother mentioned a possible follow up email being sent about #BringBacktheColonel your response was “think about the programs as a whole, not just one person.” So, I went home and read again the letter that was sent home by Ms. Benboe on November 9th, explaining the personnel changes that happened at my school, the Academy@Shawnee, over a 4 day break for the students. What I noticed was the statement about the magnet programs. The following was taken directly from the letter:

FINALLY, OUR MAGNET PROGRAMS HAVE NOT CHANGED; STUDENTS WILL CONTINUE TO RECEIVE SUPPORT AND RESOURCES FOR ALL OF OUR CURRENT MAGNET PROGRAMS.

When Ms. Benboe and the District transfers the magnet coordinator, Col. William Vander Meer with no plans to replace him, then to say that the magnet programs will not change is a contradiction. The programs changed at 2:30 in the afternoon on Nov. 4 when the Colonel was told that he was being transferred to Central High School, effective immediately. We, the students, will not continue to receive ALL the support and resources that were available to us with the Colonel gone. I’ll share with you an example about the aviation program. On November 5th, the day after his transfer, there were about 15 Shawnee Middle and High school students that were to meet him at Hanger 7 at Bowman Field, to take plane rides. Only because he holds a seat on the Board of Directors for Hanger 7, were those students, myself included, still able to go on the plane rides. I actually got to fly a plane and logged air time for the first time that morning. Those types of outings and programs were the direct result from the Colonels passion for the kids, for learning and for the excitement of aviation.

Another example that maybe you are not aware of, is a new program with UPS, which the Colonel was able to arrange for our school. The freshman this year will be paired up with UPS pilots. The pilots will follow and mentor, one on one, the students for their entire 4 years in high school. What an opportunity. Once again it was because of the Colonel’s connections with the community and his drive for the success of the Academy@Shawnee.

I could you give example after example, if you care to listen, of how the Colonel’s 19 years of experience and his community connections promotes all of the students attending the Academy@Shawnee’s Middle and High Schools. He was one of a few administration personal that was bridging the Middle school to the High school.

However, I would like to share with you how I felt when I was attending the Board meeting that night. During the first part of the meeting when schools were getting recognized, I was sitting in the audience getting frustrated, hurt and then angry. All of these schools were talking about teacher relationships with their students and how awesome of an experience that is. Our school has teachers leaving to go to different school to teach every single day. So, to have the few remaining in our building meant the world to me and to the other 150 children that signed our petition. The swift and quiet transfer of the Colonel just feels like a punishment. A punishment in which our school does not deserve. I have already had the experience earlier this year of a teacher being fired by the District and then just 6 days later she was reinstated by the District to her teaching position. So, that is why I am asking you again: Dr. Hargens, will you please transfer Col. William VanderMeer back to the Academy@Shawnee?

Regards,
Jessica Bennett

Accountability, Behavior/Discipline, Budget, District Boundaries, Privatization of Public Education, Teacher Shortage

School Board Candidate Responses from Various Sources

Dear JCPS is in the process of aggregating responses from school board candidates as they respond to various groups in the district, as well as endorsements they receive. We will continue to add them here as they are brought to our attention. Be sure to check back after the candidates school board forum hosted by the 15th District PTA on Wednesday for a link to that video, as well. Our questionnaires and formal endorsements will be forthcoming. If you have a question you would like school board members to answer that you do not see on these sites, please email them to moderator@dearjcps.com.


Below are candidates for the upcoming school board elections, and links to their websites.

District 2
David Jones Jr. – Incumbent
James Fletcher
Chris Kolb

District 4
Benjamin Gies
Keisha Allen

District 7
Chris Brady – Incumbent
James Sexton
Scott Majors
Fritz Hollenbach


Below are organizations who have received responses from candidates:

FOR’s Aim Higher subcommittee advocates in Jefferson County Public Schools for improved outcomes for low-income students, immigrants, students of color and other marginalized students. As part of that work, we asked this year’s candidates in the three school board district races about their positions on important issues of policy and use of JCPS’ human and financial resources. Six of the nine candidates responded.
 

Go to https://louisvillefor.org/school-board-candidate-responses/  to find the 13 questions, background facts, the candidates’ responses, and what school district you live in.


For the last two election cycles, GLI and the Business Leaders for Education (BLE) have collected and shared information on candidates with our members and whoever wishes to access this information on our website. We believe this is a very important race and that it is critical that voters know the stances of all potential school board members. 

While GLI is active in public policy and in education, we do not endorse candidates. We have posted candidates responses verbatim here and encourage our members and community members to read them. 

A map detailing Jefferson County’s school board districts can be found by clicking here.

GLI 2016 JCPS School Board Elections


From JCTA’s Website


Endorsements from some groups, such as Bluegrass Institute, cause concern:

Two years ago, this story from WDRB, revealed that corporate interests may be driving some endorsements, and Dear JCPS encourages proceeding with caution when considering these endorsements.  So far, they have backed David Jones and Fritz Hollenbach. This is a red flag to our group.

If your organization has endorsements or candidate questionnaire responses you would like to see added to this page, please send an email to moderator@dearjcps.com.

Challenger Learning Center, District Boundaries, Teacher Shortage, Vision: 2020

Fool Me Thrice

“Fun” automated transcript provided by You Tube (since I didn’t have a prepared speech that night.)

good evening dear JCPS my subject tonight is for me thrice I don’t know
0:10how many times I’ve been fooled actually I know it’s been at least more than
0:15three but you know how the joke goes for me once shame on you fool me twice shame
0:20on me
0:21what happens when your full 3 times 4 times 5 times a hundred times at what
0:27point do you take things to the next level
0:31I’m gonna give you three examples of times that I’ve been fooled the first
0:37one pertains to my son school ever since I set foot in that school I recognize
0:43the goldmine that it is and I’ve been trying my background is marketing so
0:47I’ve been trying for the last three years to help recruit students to that
0:51school because that’s where priority school or failing school one way to
0:55change our scores is to recruit students to the magnet and help grow this horse
0:58and every single year I’ve had obstacle after obstacle after obstacle thrown at
1:05my feet
1:08i sent an email to all of you but last week with some of my concerns and dr.
1:13organs appreciate your response and I appreciate your response
1:16dr. Huggins wrote everyone agrees that sean is a shining star and that it
1:20provides a great opportunity for JCPS students there’s a disconnect
1:25not everyone does recognize that that’s my point that’s what we’re trying to do
1:29is change perception and so if we think that we have that everyone already
1:34recognizes that then we’re not even admitting what the problem is my second
1:40concern is Challenger Learning Center a year ago when you voted to allow
1:44Kentucky science center to operate it
1:46you promised us that the new operator their proposal said they would 550
1:51missions we flew hundred and fifty missions last year so no interruption in
1:54service was the promise they flew 42 i think it was so we went to a third of
2:02what we had been doing before and yet we’re paying them we just renewed the
2:06budget for ninety thousand dollars to pay them when the reason we cut it was
2:09because it was costing us $250,000 without any return
2:12but 8,000 students went through the program that’s a return
2:16where’s the value put on that there’s no that there’s been no value put on that
2:18and here we are renewing the contract for even more this year and it’s dark
2:23most days
2:25what do we need to do to send all of JCPS sixth and seventh-graders through
2:29this investment that we’ve already made we spent the $MONEY million dollars to
2:32install it at Shawnee and it’s it’s dark
2:35let’s put kids back into that program and the third issue is the hair policy
2:40and you’ve already heard speakers and I know it’s been talked to death but I was
2:45disappointed that the letter indicated that the person who brought it to the
2:49attention should have asked first instead of admitting that we made a
2:52mistake we made a mistake there should be a review process that says you cannot
2:56violate law and you cannot violate board policy and it should be reviewed it got
3:01changed by a couple of people who’d probably meant no harm just weren’t
3:05familiar with the terms and it became a big stink because there wasn’t a policy
3:09in place so my question to you is what do we do when I’ve been when it’s for me
3:14once fool me twice for me thrice what are those next steps
3:18Thank you Thank You muscleman

District Boundaries, Teacher Shortage, Vision: 2020

Access to Quality Education Should be Equitable

Good morning Academy @ Shawnee Leaders and Supporters,

I wanted to follow up regarding previous conversations I’ve had with each of you in different settings and during different times, over the past few years.
First let me start by saying the purpose of this email is not to place blame or criticize or throw anyone under the bus. We are a very large district and it’s really hard to get everyone on the same page at the same time, much less come up with a plan of action when there are so many moving parts and interested parties to consider.
I tried to start by sharing some of this history, as well as concerns and suggestions at Tuesday night’s board meeting, but 3 minutes is not nearly enough time to cover everything, tie it back together to make a case, much less respond to concerns, brainstorm for better ideas, etc. when the dialogue is only one way. But these concerns continue to remain urgent and to date they have not generated the attention I had hoped for or expected. My hope is that by sending this global follow up email we can try to pick up on some of the more urgent items since school starts in less than two weeks. These are just ideas, and other folks may already have the ball on this, or there may be factors I am not aware of, but I can’t allow another year to go by without at least attempting to see what can be done.
I realize I may be butting in where I don’t belong, and am probably stepping on people’s toes, and possibly many of these ideas are already in the works. But because some of these issues have gained momentum and agreement with previous leaders, including Dr. Barber and Amy Dennes, and every time we gain new leadership, we seem to start from scratch, I didn’t want to take any chances. I feel this loss of continuity and repeated delay has done a huge disservice to our students and students in the West End.
Below is a series of problems and proposed solutions that I would like your feedback on before school starts on Aug. 10. And if possible, hopefully some of the proposed solutions, or a variation thereof, can be implemented in time to affect this year’s student population.

PROBLEM:
I met with John Collopy last spring and he explained to me that one of the reasons Shawnee has such a high cost per student, (in addition to the fact that we are charged for Early Childhood’s cost center and shared costs with ESL, but their populations are not factored into the divisor), is also that there are certain fixed costs that remain the same whether you have 500 or 2000 students in a building. Several leaders I have spoken with have agreed that growing the school to around 700 students would allow much more economies of scale.

PROBLEM:
Shawnee has met all of its AMOs for the past 3 years, but it cannot get out of priority status because it cannot move out of the bottom 5%. Growing the magnets and retaining or attracting students from the West End and our resides who might apply to schools like Manual or Male, or even be assigned to a school across town but prefer to stay in their community, is another way to raise the scores. Failing schools have nothing to do with the teachers, or the building. Test scores have everything to do with the student population mix and the income and wealth of the families in attendance. Even with ESSA changing soon, we owe it to this school and this community to do right by them now. This school year.

 
PROBLEM:
I volunteered during the first day of school last year and there were 100 students from the West End there who either were at the wrong school but thought that Shawnee was their resides school, or had not completed any registration paperwork and were not in our system. We had to triage them in the auditorium, which was an all-day affair. If they were in the right school, we couldn’t build a schedule for them until we got them entered into the computer system. If it turned out they were in the wrong school we sent them home, even though they WANTED to be there, and may have qualified for a transfer! Once the first day of school starts, students are no longer allowed to apply for a transfer.

IMG_0349

SUGGESTION:
Could we ask for the mobile registration bus to be at Shawnee during our high school orientation on Aug. 3? And again on the first day of school? This would speed up the registration process and allow for a quick decision as to whether a student qualified to apply to our magnet.

SUGGESTION:
Could we get the word out to the Shawnee community that they can apply for a transfer the day of registration if it is not their resides school. Perhaps yard signs and announcements in the paper. I will help any way I can.

SUGGESTION:
Can we make an exception for this community that experiences the greatest amount of burden caused by busing (reference the high school boundary map presented Tuesday night)? I realize that could lead to having to hire or relocate additional teachers at the last  minute, but that sounds like an adult problem, not what’s in the best interest of the students.

SUGGESTION:
Can we reach out to students who did not get their first and second choice, who feel that they have no alternatives but to attend their resides school and let them know about the opportunities that exist at Shawnee?

Please provide Ms. Benboe and her staff the support they need to find some way forward on this topic of recruiting and growing the school to 1) reach the economies of scale needed to run efficiently, 2) serve the students and families who live in the west end and wish to attend Shawnee and 3) recruit more students from the east end to obtain better integration using “more carrot and less stick.”

The Academy @ Shawnee is a shining star in the West End and has the potential to transform that community. Let’s make sure it gets the oxygen it needs to breathe and flourish. Please?Just as you are only as strong as your weakest link, a school district is only as strong as its weakest schools. I look forward to your replies, additional ideas, suggestions, concerns, etc. We have important work to do, and I believe some of the most important work of all starts here.

Thank you for your time, I’ll be following up with an update at the August 9th board meeting.

Sincerely,
Gay Adelmann
260-633-0463

District Boundaries, Vision: 2020

Excellence with Equity

Dear JCPS,

In a previous episode of “How JCPS Turns,” Superintendent Hargens mentioned that three JCPS seniors were awarded scholarships in excess of one million dollars. One of those students defies widely accepted paradigms because he comes from a priority school.

Not only did this student earn unprecedented scholarship dollars but this valedictorian was accepted into several prestigious universities as well as the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy. This Governors scholar scored a 32 on his ACT he took six AP classes to dual credit classes at Morehead State he wants to fly F 35’s off the back of the landing ships, become a career Marine officer and eventually apply for the astronaut candidate program.

My son, Peyton Adelmann, is proof that a school’s priority status means nothing about the opportunities that exist nor the quality of instruction or rigor available. He demonstrated that you can go to the lowest performing school in the state and still get the best education possible. Low test scores are not because of the building. They’re not because of the teachers. You can be successful in any school in the district as long as you have someone to advocate for you, access to necessary wrap around services, and you’re not trying to overcome the effects of trauma and poverty without necessary resources.

So, on tonight’s episode of “As JCPS Turns,” we will focus on disparities that  prevent some students from achieving Excellence with Equity.
IMG_0349

Please take a look at the high school boundary map I handed you. There is a noticeable difference between the colors of this map. I understand why we have this map the way that we do. It’s in order to achieve integration. However, if it was truly about excellence with equity, we would be sending as many students from East to West as we do from West to East. I realize that’s not always easy to do, but we could be doing a better job getting the word out about the wonderful opportunities that exist at schools like Shawnee. We could be using more carrot and less stick to achieve this goal. Help us get the word out that it’s worth the bus ride or car ride to come down to a magnet school in the West End.

Instead, we take the most disenfranchised part of our population and further disenfranchise them by sending their kids across town. We separate them from their community. We criticize them for not being involved parents. Sometimes, these kids can’t stay for after school activities or can’t get the assistance they need because they might not have a way home. They may be on a bus an  hour each way to a school that’s potentially no better than one in their own neighborhood.

Then because we’ve bused all of the Shawnee kids out of their neighborhood. And by the way, these other schools have the luxury of attending schools in their neighborhood, but we have no sense of community for these West End students. Their neighbor goes to a different school than they do. Then we have to backfill. Shawnee buses in from the Portland area.  We need to find a way to revisit this map and unwind it.

We have students in our neighborhood who want to come here. This is evidenced by the First day of school when approximately 100 high school students show up thinking or hoping we are their school. Instead, we send them away! If they want to be in our school, and they qualify for our program, we need to find a way to accommodate them so that our school can reach an efficient economy of scale, and raise our scores at the same time.

Three minutes is not enough time. I will follow up with an email to finish my story.

District Boundaries

JCPS Security Levels – A Quick Update

SecurityDJIn light of today’s security threat, I just wanted to post some information that may help everyone keep this situation in perspective. JCPS has 5 Security Levels. They normally operate at a Level 2. Today’s threat has elevated all schools in the district to a Level 3, just one level above normal.

We heard from one bus driver this morning that her first bus was relatively full. However, she said some parents who had sent their children to school on the bus, were at school when she arrived and took them off the bus. “I had most [of the regular bus riders] on my bus this morning. A few parents chickened out and showed up at the school before I got there and got their kids off the bus.” She also told us other buses were not very full. She said, “Most buses that normally have 50 and 60 kids on it only had 4.” After she returned from her elementary school route, she said, “You would not believe how many elementary school buses had 0 students! Mine included.” She blames not only those who made the threat, but also those who posted and perpetuated the sharing of rumors. “I hope they catch who made the threat. And people need to quit posting rumors. I was taking all that seriously.”

A father who sent his daughter to school said, “The whole thing felt like a ‘there is nothing to this, but we have to CYA’ to me.” Others were more critical and accused those who kept their children home as overreacting.

Another parent responded to those allegations asking, “Just a question for the people who say that parents are overreacting. Why do you care what people do with their children? No one is on this post accusing you of not caring for your children and putting them in harms way! No one is condemning you at all. So if someone kept their child home what did it take away from you? What would you be saying if something horrible happened! Would you expect those who kept their child home to say I told you so? We have a responsibility to raise our children and take care of them how we see fit. It’s no ones business. Gambling is not something I do. So I won’t start with my children!”

A teacher, who also has kids in the district, said, “I have very low attendance in my classes today. I also kept my own child home today. I’ve shown up to teach three times this year with threats against my building, so I am not one to be irrational and dramatic. However, I don’t feel we have been provided with enough information to make an informed decision. They always know more than tell us. Out of ‘an abundance of caution,’ I am choosing to keep my child safe.”

Another concerned parent messaged us to say, “[Dr.] Hargens says she is disappointed in today’s attendance rates. If our school were transparent about what’s been going on I would have more trust in them. Our middle school has been on [some kind of high level alert] for two days, with no note sent home. We are hearing rumors of gang activity, so with no verification or refutation from the school, how are we to interpret a ‘vague threat?'”

This father echoed that sentiment when he said, “I will be honest about my decision to keep the kids [home] was based not on the vague threat as much as it was I just don’t trust the administration and how they react to situations.” Chime in on Facebook and tell us your thoughts.

District Boundaries

Myers Cohort Request

The following Open Letter was recently submitted to the Dear JCPS website. 
Topic: District Boundaries
Addressed to: David Jones, Board Chair
Board Member: Steph Horne
School(s) Affected: Waggener, Myers Middle, The Academy @ Shawnee, Carrithers, Highland, Meyzeek, Newburg, Noe, Ramsey, Thomas Jefferson, Western, and Westport


Greetings Chair Jones,

At the May 12, 2014 JCPS Work Session regarding the Repurposing of Myers Middle School, you asked a very important question (around the 59:50 mark of this recording), and a subsequent commitment was made:

Jones: “Can you commit that we will track [the Myers students] as a cohort?” 
Rodosky: “I will commit.”

Based on Mr. Rodosky’s commitment, and other representations and assurances made during the presentation, the board unanimously approved the following recommendations, among others:

  1. The incoming sixth-grade students assigned to Myers Middle School will be placed in one of ten middle schools (The Academy @ Shawnee, Carrithers, Highland, Meyzeek, Newburg, Noe, Ramsey, Thomas Jefferson, Western, and Westport). There are approximately 210 incoming sixth graders projected to attend Myers, so each of the 10 receiving schools would serve 40 or fewer students during the 2014-15 school year. Each of these students will be paired with a central office mentor who will provide support during this transition. (See the attached map for proposed boundary changes and the attached table that shows the number of students placed in each school. Sixth-grade students residing in The Academy @ Shawnee and Western Middle School areas of the map will be offered a choice between the two schools.)
  2. The current sixth- and seventh-grade students (rising seventh and eighth graders for the 2014-15 school year) will finish their middle school experience as students at Myers Middle School at Waggener High School. This arrangement will allow students to stay together for their middle school years and still participate in all middle school activities. Myers Middle School at Waggener will provide a cohesive, focused age-appropriate education that targets these students in an intentional way. It will challenge, intervene, and support the cognitive and non-cognitive skills of students.
  3. All impacted families will be able to apply for a transfer to another school for their student(s).

A year has passed, and I would like to know if Mr. Rodosky’s office is providing you with the data you requested? More specifically,

  • What has happened to this “cohort” of 6th (and 7th and 8th) graders after they were assigned to these schools?
  • Were any “exited” from their new school?
  • Were the schools that had been “magnet only” (Western and Shawnee) given the resources and support needed to close the gap for those who do not meet the criteria?
  • How well did schools that were tasked to absorb a higher percentage increase in Myers students fare? And those students?
  • Is there aggregate data showing if the central office mentorship proved successful, as well as the frequency and types of interactions, etc.?
  • How was the option to transfer to another school communicated to these families, and how many did this? Are there barriers, such as lack of internet access or difficulties using parent portal, that need to be overcome?
  • Are there any adjustments that should be made to this model in the short term so that these students can continue to be successful in the long term?

Please let me know what information you are able to provide. Thank you for all that you do.

Sincerely,
Gay Adelmann


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