Starting Over: A Post-Katrina Education

Four hours ago, Board members, Tracie, Madonna and I, had the privilege of presenting awards to a few hundred students at our school’s first annual Scholastic Awards Ceremony. The auditorium was filled to capacity for this special event. One of the teachers did an outstanding job of decorating the room for the end of year assemblies. Giant sized students in graduation caps and gowns, spring flowers, and other figures adorned the walls.

In anticipation of the overflowing crowd of proud parents, the scholars were not seated in the auditorium; there would not have been enough room. Instead, we started the program with the “March of the Scholars.” Students marched into the room to the musical strains of Pomp and Circumstance as we applauded their entrance. There were enough students to span three sides of the auditorium.

The awards were distributed quickly and the children didn’t seem to mind standing up instead of sitting down. Awards were presented for twelve categories: Perfect Attendance and Meritorious Attendance, Excellent Conduct, Citizenship, Effort, Gold and Silver Honor Roll, top scholarship in Reading, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies and the Outstanding Student. As their names were called, students received their awards from one of the Board members and took a place on the stage to be photographed. After the presentations, the scholars repeated their march, this time holding their trophies, medallions, pins, ribbons, and certificates aloft for all to see. It was a wonderful experience.

We learned a few lessons after doing this for the first time. I was especially proud of the way the teachers worked together for a smooth distribution of more than 400 awards. I am truly grateful for their extra effort to make this a unique occasion for our best students. It will be bigger and better next year. Congratulations, Scholars of McDonogh 42 Elementary Charter School.

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The operation on our former principal was a success. She has survived a pulmonary embolism, cardiac arrest, a medically induced coma and more. Now she is “out of the woods.” Thank you for all of you prayers.

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In the past, I have always loved the closing days of school. Not because it signaled the end of the session, but because it was a time to assess what had been accomplished and begin planning for the next year. It was like getting ready for New Year’s Eve. In addition to the awards programs, promotional exercises, graduations, end-of-year parties, Teacher’s Appreciation Week, volunteer recognition celebrations, and other special events, we had the test scores to measure our progress.

This year, we are doing all of those things, but the year is ending too quickly. Even this blog is ending too fast. There are so many things that I did not have time to write about that it will be hard to stop telling the stories of McDonogh 42 each week. Writing for Education Week has been a blessing in helping me to sort out what would have been stewing in my mind. I’ve been reacquainted with colleagues from my past and met new friends on-line because of the edweek.org connection. It will soon be a thing of the past also.

The principal is completing evaluations and making recommendations for rehires. He is also interviewing potential staff for next year. His leadership team can complete the many inventories and records requests by May 22, the last day of school. I am working with the Business Manager on next year’s budget and new vendor contracts for custodial services, maintenance services, lawn maintenance, waste management, insurance, child nutrition, transportation, security, retirement and health benefits. That’s when she is not attending technology training for a multitude of new programs.

We still have two huge grant applications to submit in the next few weeks. It did not help to learn that a number of other charter schools are in the same boat. People always think that the major problem with public schools is a lack of money. For us, it’s a lack of planning time to develop a comprehensive strategy and then apply for the money while completing the day-to-day tasks of running the school. I have hope that we’ll be able to finish the applications, but it will mean putting in some long hours starting tonight. I’m determined to do my best to make sure we have the resources to begin some new initiatives for 2008 - 2009.

If we don’t complete at least one of the applications, we can’t fund the summer clinic for rising fourth and eighth grade students. This week we received the first state test reports. As I suspected, the fourth grade scores were not good, but not terrible. About 30% did not pass English Language Arts and Math. This was slightly higher than the RSD averages for the high stakes tests. They will have to attend summer school and retake the LEAP tests at the end of June. I anticipate that about half of the summer testers will pass and qualify for promotion. Of the 60 students in that grade, probably 10 will have to repeat the year. The failure rates were higher in Science (42%) and Social Studies (50%), but these are not high-stakes tests. We did worse than the RSD averages in these subjects. I don’t have the statistics on the initial testers and the repeaters yet, so it’s premature to discuss where we are in our baseline year.

Given the disruptions we had and the difficulty of an inaugural year, I am satisfied that we can begin working in earnest. Had we done the diagnostic testing that I wanted to do at the beginning of the year, I think the staff would have developed a sense of urgency that I did not feel this year. The three fourth grade teachers were in place at the beginning of the year and they stayed focused on their work. All three of the ladies were experienced and willing to take on the extra stress of teaching in a high-stakes grade. Unfortunately, we did not have basic things such as maps, globes, science kits, etc. until well into the second semester. I also don’t think they focused on what the state’s web site offers in the way of model lessons for Science and Social Studies. The content is not that difficult and the students should have performed better. I plan to take a look at their lesson plans to see what was being taught. I am willing to guess that they taught by the texts, not the state’s list of grade level expectations. It’s also possible that the students were further behind than we figured. Without the fall diagnostic evaluations, we’ll never know.

The eighth grade scores were all worse than the RSD school averages, with the exception of Math. I was surprised that the failure rate was only 23% compared to 39% in comparable schools. The students missed a lot of classes in the fall and the math tutoring was almost nonexistent for much of the time. However, they did have the benefit of two math teachers who really knew their stuff. The reports for Science and Social Studies were dismal. It’s been chaotic for the 8th grade students all year for many reasons. I’m not surprised that they learned very little. Just this week, their field day activity was canceled because of rampant disruptive behavior.

We are already planning a summer clinic for the rising fourth and seventh grade students. I think they need more time to catch up on what they have missed in the last few years. We have also planned the LEAP remediation program for students who failed fourth and eighth grade. Too many of them are already repeating the grade, having failed in 2006-07, the rules mandate that they must be assigned to the next grade. I don’t like social promotion; however, what can we do with 8th grade students who are on their way to their 16th birthdays? We also need to create individual plans and start small group tutoring earlier. We have to do a better job of professional development to ensure that the teachers know what to teach and how to teach for success. We need to make sure we have purchased all of the supplies, kits, books, equipment, and materials to begin the school year.

I’m tired and I’d really like to rest. But first, we have to get the money.

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Yesterday was an emotional time for me, with shocking ups and downs all day. The best experience was picking up the trophies, medallions, and ribbons for the Scholastic Awards Night which is coming up in two weeks. The worst was news that a friend and colleague, our school’s former principal, was seriously ill and had been hospitalized.

I was in Slidell, LA picking up the awards when I had a reunion with the store’s owners. Pre-Katrina, I did lots of business with them at their store in Chalmette, LA. When it was time to order trophies this year, I searched for them and was disappointed to learn that they had not returned to their store on Judge Perez Drive. Attaway’s Trophies was a family business and Ronnie, the owner, was wonderful to work with. I was never disappointed in our dealings. He could be counted on to get whatever we needed. The merchandise was always ready on time, usually earlier than the scheduled pick up date.

I had a chance to meet his wife, Janet, a local artist. I found their new location through a charter school connection with MLK charter. They asked about some of their best customers, former principals who had relocated after the storm. I took a stack of their business cards to share with friends who might be looking for awards for their schools.

While I was loading the 400+ awards into my car, I received a telephone call from my son. He had been reading a friend’s Facebook page and noted that the young man wrote that he was praying for his mother. My son called the young man—the son of our school’s former principal who left the school in December, following a painful period of decisions.

After hearing my son’s version of this mother’s health emergency, I called her husband. I still have her husband’s cell phone number programmed in my Blackberry’s address book, so I was able to talk to him briefly about her condition. Her husband, who worked for many years as a medical professional, carries the burden of knowledge about the possible outcomes. She is one of the healthiest people I know. She survived a serious operation. We are anxiously waiting for news of her recovery.

In spite of the separation when we parted ways professionally, I still care about the principal and her family. We had a close personal relationship for many years before problems arose five months ago. We have not spoken since she left the school. Once in awhile someone who knew of our close friendship will ask me if I had talked to her—did we “make up.” I have not; we did not. I regret that we have not been able to resolve our differences.

When I think about the hard work that I put into the organization of this school this year, I consider the cost to my personal life. It’s never been about money because I knew that Board members could not profit financially from the charter school. I “pay” for the opportunity to be on the Board. The sacrifice of time and energy, the stress and paperwork, and the hours of meetings and planning all come at a price. I consider the loss of friendship a high price to pay. It is no longer about who is right or wrong for me. It is what it is and we’ve moved on. However, I am praying that I will have a chance to talk with her when we are both ready.

Please join me in praying for my friend’s recovery and her family’s strength.

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The Professional Development day went off without a hitch. The atmosphere at the Basin St. Station was exciting. The meeting was held in the 4th floor reception hall with a view overlooking the neighborhood. The breakfast menu blended traditional foods with health foods. Good coffee is a requirement in New Orleans. We feasted on scrambled eggs, grits, croissants, strawberries, cantaloupe, sweet pastries, bacon, orange juice and yogurt.

This was the first full day in-service for our faculty since school opened in August, with the exception of the meeting following the work stoppage in December. Today’s meeting was much more pleasant. Having been to several parties held in the renovated train station, I selected the setting because of the ambience, vicinity to the school, free parking and other amenities. We thought it would be a treat for the teachers to get away from the building and experience a training meeting the way other professionals do. I was there for the breakfast and the opening Ice Breaker, but had to leave before the guest speaker did her presentation.

Gayle Miller, the Director of our Region I Service Center in the state, conducted a session entitled “Accountability & Components of a Successful Instructional Program.” She discussed the steps to creating a strong instructional program, laying out a plan of action for next year. I hoped she could create a sense of urgency for the faculty. This is our baseline year for the School Performance Score. Our growth target will be set, in part, based upon where we test this year. I know the type of effort we will have to produce to meet our goal and I wanted the staff to come to the same realization. We’ll have to be better prepared and a lot more focused next year.

When Gayle finished her session, the school’s curriculum coordinator took over to review the Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum. Most of the faculty members were familiar with the LCC, but a refresher was needed since, some of them had not really examined the documents since Katrina. I was conducting a meeting elsewhere, so I did not see this session either.

I returned in time for lunch and my own session. The luncheon menu included gumbo and rice, potato salad, assorted sandwiches (including vegetarian), brownies and soft drinks. The session was designed to be a fun, interactive session of Truth and Trust. We did a few exercises and demonstrations using volunteers and read an illustrated story on PowerPoint.

The funniest part of this was after playing “Catch.” Three volunteers each selected a colleague who was responsible for catching them as they trustingly fell backwards into the arms of the “safety net.” All of us have done this at one time or another in summer camp. One teacher, a very petite young lady, chose as her partner the principal who is a “plus-size” man. While she is a little more than five feet tall and probably under 115 pounds, he is well over six feet tall and at least 250 pounds. We all understood her strategy in selecting the largest man in the room to ensure that he was strong enough to keep her from hitting the carpet.

What they did not know that part II of the activity was “Reverse Catch,” in which the partners had to switch places. When I gave the instructions, the look on the little teacher’s face was priceless! She took off her shoes, stretched her arms and prepared to catch a mountain of a man. The look on the principal's face was even funnier. We couldn’t stop laughing. As a matter of fact, I’m laughing now—12 hours later.

My session ended with an original fable that I wrote while living in a little townhouse in Baton Rouge after the flood. I left after lunch, but I was told that the hard work slated for the afternoon, was tackled with sincerity. A pick-me-up snack of popcorn and cookies was available to keep the energy levels high until the 4:00 dismissal. The day ended with clusters of teachers developing strategies and a discussion of business for the remainder of the year.

I was very proud of the school leaders who prepared the day’s events. Tomorrow, I will let them know who much their high-level work reassures me that they are up to the job of improving student achievement. I have an idea that I’d like to propose for our opening of school institute. We’re going to raise the bar. If anyone can offer ideas that made a professional development session memorable, please share. You always have such great ideas.

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Do the students have Spring Fever? Have some of our teachers moved at a clip that was too fast and so hard that they are running out of gas before the end of the school year? Are there so many fires to put out that one administrator can’t possibly stay on top of them? I think the answer to all three questions is “Yes!”

First the children:
I have always noticed that the changing weather makes children shift their behavior. Our weather has been so crazy for the last month that we don’t know how to dress. The temperature goes from the 80’s to the 30’s within the same week. As soon as we put our sweaters away and pulled out our tee-shirts, the weather man was predicting freezing temperatures on the North shore.

Every year as spring-like weather approaches, the students get antsy and anxious for summer vacation. They can’t sit still. They run around the school and make more noise than usual. They don’t follow the rules that have been in place all year. Surprisingly, we’ve had some exceptionally calm and quiet days. Then, they go nuts and do unbelievable things. Friday, there was a fight after school. Our middle school students have been fighting—right in front of the entrance to the building—mere steps away from the security guard’s station. As the pugilists performed, the audience cheered them on.

We had a visit from the Hornets Basketball Team last Friday for another book giveaway. The students loved the decorated bus that transported the championship ballers and really enjoyed the celebrity visitors. I was at the school between 9:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. holding a meeting in the library with members of a university/district partnership. Everything was very calm. But at 3:00 it looked like a totally different school. TGIF! I don’t mean “Thank God It’s Friday.” It stands for “Teen Girls In Fights.”

Second the teachers:
I saw far too many upper-grade students going home today without books. No homework on Tuesdays? I don’t think so. We don't want to be one of those schools where teaching and learning stops as soon as the LEAP tests have been finished.

I am concerned that this year was very hard on some of our staff. The middle school students are the most challenging and their teachers are the worst for wear and tear. All of them are new to New Orleans. We had to change their afternoon schedule, increase the supervision between classes, and step up the assistance to the enrichment teachers. The rest of the school seems okay. I really admire the teachers for hanging in and continuing to search for ways to maintain an effective atmosphere, especially the new, inexperienced teachers who have not had the benefit of mentors or intensive professional development.

Third the administrators:
The principal can’t do everything alone. It was a mistake to open school with one certified administrator. We will definitely have an assistant principal next year. We hired a retired principal to help with the teacher evaluations. Right now we are getting some supervisory help from an administrative intern, the curriculum coordinator, and the administrative assistant. They are going to have to hold daily strategy meetings to stay ahead of the students.

I hope this entry does not sound as if I am giving up on any of our folks. Contrary to that idea, I embrace the challenges of keeping students interested, disciplined, and focused in the final month of school. We have a professional development day next week and I am looking forward to hearing about the closing of school strategies for May. In my principal experience, we always had the Principal's Reading Challenge to keep students involved. I hope the faculty can come up with something interesting for this group to do.

There are so many great things going on at t he school right now. But, I decided to blog about the spring fever because it is going on all over town. Last week, I called four schools to ask if the students were going berserk. The answer was “yes” in all but one. One teacher that I talked to blamed the administration for bending the rules. In another school, the principal said the teachers were burning out and she had to prod them to work hard until the end of the year. A third principal claimed that the students were “not the same” as our pre-Katrina children, these being rougher and tougher. Parents are being blamed for not doing their share of the child supervision at home or school support when needed.

When I left this afternoon, after a meeting with a potential business partner, two honor roll students were receiving suspensions. Another student who tried to push up a group fight left with his mother, before having a suspension conference with the disciplinarian. Mom was in a hurry. The social worker will be visiting his home tomorrow to deliver his suspension notice.

It is always amazing to experience the unrest of spring in April, the relief of school's closing in May, and the lazy, calm days of summer school in June. Go figure.

I am allergic to pollen, grass, and dust. My allergies are worse in the spring than in other seasons of the year. It’s only one of the reasons that I hate spring time. You know the other reason.

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As I searched the aisles of Home Depot a little while ago looking for chandelier cleaner, I spotted the famous McDonogh 42 Elementary Charter School Second Grade Teacher extraordinaire, Paulette Larkin, with her grandchildren making a purchase. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating her fame, but not her extraordinary status. She’s an excellent teacher who just happened to be pictured in a story on the front page of the Times-Picayune today. Okay, maybe it didn’t just happen, the principal selected her for the photograph, but she looks great in her photos. The photographer didn’t just happen to be at our school either. He was there because the newspaper was doing a story on teacher salaries in New Orleans.

According to a report from the Louisiana State Department of Education, our school has one of the highest pay schedules in the city’s public schools. Although the figure reported in the PEP report claims we budgeted an average of $55,698 per teacher, that number is higher than what we actually pay. I’m not sure what is added to the calculations once we submit the actual annual salary for each teacher, but it increased the numbers from the $48,156 we calculated in October. I noticed that the head count of 28 did not match the Full Teacher Equivalency figure of 24 in our report. That would make a big difference. I also don’t know the amount added to each teacher’s salary for earned supplements which are input by the state. Even so, we would have been in the top ten no matter how you figured it.

I think that is good news. Since there is so much competition for good teachers everywhere (but especially here), I think it is great for our staff to know that they are highly regarded and justly compensated for their work. For the first time in a long while, I am not embarrassed about what we pay our educators. Someone told me if and when the charter school movement cools off and we return to one district the high salaries will be gone also. I hope not. It doesn’t have to be. We are not using the one-time federal dollars to pay our salaries because we want to be able to sustain them in the future. We are only using reoccurring funding for teacher salaries. One of our goals in operating the charter schools is to model effective urban schooling. Learning how to handle the money is a high priority and an important lesson.

Here’s the link to the news report.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1208150443152620.xml&coll=1

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I’m going to have some fun before I call it quits for tonight. I am going to create the Awards Day form for our teachers to list the students being recognized for outstanding performances. The reviewers need it by tomorrow morning, so I am on a deadline. This blog will be shorter than usual.

Last week, while talking with the school’s principal, we discovered that we had different ideas about what an awards ceremony should look like for the school. At my former school, it was a big deal. We gave out trophies, ribbons, medallions, certificates, and pins. Students received awards for scholarship, behavior, citizenship, effort, and attendance. Teachers received awards; parents volunteers received trophies; business partners received recognition. The winners had their names listed in fancy programs and everyone dressed up for the ceremonies.

At the schools that my son and daughter attended, this never happened. Although they attended some of the most sought after schools, the awards were scant. Usually, they gave out chintzy homemade certificates or tiny trophies. It was a different type of environment. I guess the values were different.

Mr. Johnson’s plan was somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. As we talked, he said “I’ll let you do it your way, since this is our first time.” He told me that he understood that this was something special to me and he was not threatened or feeling micromanaged because I wanted to be involved with the schools awards. Actually, he has a committee to do the real work. I just get to name the awards and write up the criteria for them. I also get to shop for bargains at a couple of local trophy stores that have reopened since Katrina.

It is a real pleasure to work with this man. He shares ideas with me and the other Board members before we have a chance to ask. His willingness to ask us what we think makes him easy to work with. The frequency that we have similar ideas is amazing. He is always open-minded and focused on the big picture. He accepts criticism well and brings out the best in people. I am surprised and delighted at the teachers who are showing leadership and planning skills.

As I was preparing to leave the school today, he invited me to his faculty meeting to discuss the need for teachers to get involved in recruitment of students for next year. I politely declined the invitation. It was his meeting and I didn’t want anyone to think I want to do his job. However, I am happy to do some of the work—the fun stuff.

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I am going to an 8:00 meeting tomorrow morning to observe some principals in a focus group on leadership issues in New Orleans schools. This goes against the first of my four retirement rules.
1. No 8:00 meetings (a.m. or p.m.)
2. No Monday through Friday employment
3. No leaving the house if it’s raining
4. No interruptions between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 Noon when The Young and the Restless is on.
It will be a miracle, if i make it.

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It’s been one hell of a week in New Orleans. The weather has gone from beautiful, windy spring days to frighteningly stormy nights. We’ve had tornado warnings and now the Mississippi river is cresting at a level much higher than usual. These weather changes shouldn’t cause too much concern, but there’s something in the air that has folks jittery.

Our Board meeting was today and after three hours we had discussed a multitude to topics. I had thought that the 2008 -2009 school calendar proposal would generate the most discussion. It didn’t. I had a notion the upcoming National Charter School Conference that will be in New Orleans in June would excite everyone. It didn’t. I figured everyone would be interested in the financial reports. Not. These topics were treated routinely.

Not surprisingly, the topic that stimulated everyone the most was a report by the principal on the current academic standing and demographic retention analysis for our students. We finally have some diagnostic data on reading for all of the students. It’s something I was desperate to have at the beginning of the year, but it was not to be so. We examined the second DIBELS results for grades K-3. 32% still need intensive instruction in reading. 46% are on level. The rest are at the Strategic level, meaning they are at some risk.

Our Lexile/Scholastic Reading Inventory results were equally shocking. We completed testing for all but one class of students in grades three through eight. Six students were Above Grade Level. 80 were On Grade Level. 63 were Below Grade Level. 68 were Far Below Grade Level. Overall, about 60% of our students are below level in reading. It was probably worse back in August when school started. None of this is really news, but we didn’t have the statistical data to quantify our problems before now.

The principal shared a Retention Analysis Report that examined the age appropriateness of our students in seventh and eighth grade. Although I was familiar with some of this data, several of the other Board members hadn’t seen the figures presented so starkly. In one eighth grade class, only three of the sixteen students were in the correct grade. All of the others had repeated grades once or twice. Almost 50% of the seventh grade class failed LEAP in fourth grade. 28% of our current eighth grade class failed LEAP last year. One girl celebrated her Sweet Sixteenth birthday last October at our elementary school. That one made me want to cry.

Earlier in the meeting we were bickering about something inconsequential on the organizational chart. In retrospect, I’m sorry we wasted precious minutes on that when we could have been trying to figure out what to do for our children who are so desperately in need of our help. We have a basal series, but we don’t have a school reading plan so far. It is at the top of our list for the summer teacher institute.

Several sparks of brilliance did come out of the discussion including a summer program for rising eighth grade students and fourth grade students who must take the high stakes tests, a parent involvement component to show parents what is happening to students who do not have strong academic support, enrichment activities so that students will be more interested in and excited about attending school, revamping of the middle school program, and intensive professional development for our teachers.

I’m also hoping that someone in the edweek.org audience will have some ideas to offer. I don’t want to hear from vendors who troll these blogs to sell their programs. I’d rather hear from practitioners who have had success with programs that target severely at-risk students. We need some help.

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