BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A proposal to close failing schools and reopen them with new academic programs and staffs doesn't consider the social problems many struggling students bring to school, several Cincinnati Public Schools parents charge.
The plan - which district administrators unveiled last week - also doesn't allow parental involvement in evaluating schools for closure, they complained.
Under the plan, teams made up of teachers and school and district leaders would evaluate schools using such measures as proficiency test scores, student and staff attendance and dropout rates.
The teams would assess schools' performance data, recommend their fates and, when necessary, redesign their academic programs and order their staffs replaced with other district teachers. Schools not showing improvement in both one-year and three-year studies of data would be targeted for redesign.
Spencer Bouldin, president of the parent-teacher organization at Burton School in Avondale, questioned why parents can't serve on the teams - especially since officials have been calling for more parental and community involvement.
"They're making decisions about our schools, so we should be involved," said Mr. Bouldin, a father of two whose oldest child is a Burton fifth-grader. "My child's future is at stake."
District leaders said they excluded parents because they expect the evaluation and redesign to be time-consuming and complex. But parents will have many chances to get involved after the schools are redesigned, such as helping select principals, Deputy Superintendent Rosa Blackwell said.
Assuming the plan will solve students' learning problems is naive - especially by shuffling teachers instead of bringing in new talent, said Stan Corkin, a Sands Montessori parent and member of the Coalition for an Accountable School Board.
"It doesn't address the other things that make it difficult for students to learn," Mr. Corkin said, referring to poverty and other social ills. "This seems like a very bureaucratic and very limited solution."
Mr. Bouldin suggested including a neighborhood's or a child's social problems in the criteria for evaluating schools for closure. Or, officials should put more social services in the schools and lobby for more funding, Mr. Corkin said.
But the district has been increasing social outreach in the schools, Superintendent Steven Adamowski said. And students' social problems shouldn't affect schools' rankings, because the plan won't compare successful and struggling schools, he added. Rather, the goal is improvement.
"We should not lose sight of our goal, and that is to provide every child in this school district with the opportunities for academic success," Ms. Blackwell agreed. "So while we certainly would never minimize social concerns or conditions, we should not allow them to become the rationale for why our children should not be educationally challenged."
