The Echo

Note:  These are not intended to be minutes of the meeting, nor do they represent the views/opinions of the Christina School Board.  The following posting is my personal  interpretation of events, presented here as a courtesy to community members who were unable to attend last night's meeting.


Edward Mayfield, Jr. and Dr. Kalia Reynolds Will Remain as Principals of Glasgow and Stubbs
At last night's workshop, the Christina Board of Education approved the superintendent's recommendations for two intervention models for its Race to the Top Partnership Zone schools. Glasgow High School will enter the Transformation model and Glasgow's current principal, Edward Mayfield, Jr., will continue as principal under the new plan.
The Board approved the Turnaround Model for Stubbs Elementary School. The District will ask the state to accept recent changes at the school to meet the requirements of Turnaround. Dr. Kalia Reynolds was named principal of Stubbs Elementary School in August, and the majority of teachers are new to the school this year. Dr. Reynolds will continue in her role as principal.

The workshop was a departure from the usual Christina Board meetings.  The meeting, attended by a cross-section of parents, teachers, students, community members, and elected leaders, began with public comment in accordance to the usual format of three minutes per speaker.  Because of the sensative nature of the issues being discussed, the board permitted all speakers who exceeded their three minutes to finish their comments before leaving the podium.  Initially, approximately 16 attendees spoke regarding their wishes for Glasgow and Stubbs.  The majority supported the superintendents recommendations.  Following public comment, the Board initiated discussion regarding the recommendations.  The public was invited to rejoin the debate by returning to the podium to be recognized. And they did.  At times the line to the podium was 10 speakers deep.   The Board also frequently referred questions to Ms. Noreen LaSorsa, a member of the Department of Education's Turnaround Department who was on hand to be a resource in the discussion. 

Most notably, Ms. LaSorsa shared that schools in the Partnership Zone will be permitted to use their existing funding at their descretion.  The usual limitations on various streams of funding will be removed for these schools.  For example, Glasgow will be permitted to reallocate all approx. $2.8 million of existing funding as needed without restriction, in addition to receiving PZone funding of up to $700,000/year up to three years.  The only restriction on the addition PZone funding is that it cannot be used for capital improvements. 

Some Board Members and public commenters noted that the additional $700,000 is not likely to be enough money to deliver the quality and therefore the results required by the Partnership Zone status. 

The District will now begin the process of determining the specifics of a plan for each of the Partnership Zone schools. The plan must include changes to instructional approaches that will bring about improved results.  While the intervention models are lacking empirical evidence of success, the instructional model should be the driving force behind improvement.  Under their new plans, both schools will have two years to acheive AYP.  If the schools fail to make AYP, a task that will be doubly difficult as a result of the recent State Board of Education's decision to raise the DCAS cut scores, that school will be required to engage in the selection of a new intervention model.

Two design teams made up of the school principals, teachers, parents, and district staff, as well as representatives from the Christina Education Association, the community, and the Board of Education, will be meeting weekly to develop plans to be submitted to the Delaware Department of Education by November 15. Parents and community members will be invited to share feedback during this process, through meetings, surveys, and community forums. Two community forums are scheduled for late October: Monday, October 25 at 7:00 p.m. at Glasgow High School, and Wednesday, October 27 at 7:00 p.m. at Stubbs Elementary School.   --------- via an email the CSD Information Officer

The Board liason for the Glasgow High School Partnership Zone Design Team will be Ms. Shirley Saffer.  The liason for the Stubbs Elementary School Partnership Zone Design Team will be Mr. Eric Anderson.

The Board also named liasons to a number of other district committees.  Mr. Dave Resler will serve as the liason to the Race to the Top Committee and the Health and Wellness Committee.  In addition to the Glasgow Design Team, Ms. Saffer will also serve on the 6-12 STEM Academy in Wilmington Bold Exploration Team.  This team reflects the course charted in our  Strategic Plan and can be found heading Bold Explorations.  Ms. Saffer will also liason to the Middle School Sports Task Force.  Lastly, I will serve as the board liason to the Early Childhood Center in Newark Team, another committee established as part of the Strategic Plan.


For more information about the Race to the Top Partnership Zone, please visit the following link:
www.christina.k12.de.us/PartnershipZone

On a personal note:  At the end of debate, I personally feel that the board's vote reflects the desires of those members of the Glasgow and Stubbs community who came out in support of their schools.  Unfortunately, there's just no way to please all of the community all of the time.  I look forward to the selection of the instructional models for both schools and hope that the community members, both those who are pleased and those who are not, will continue to engage the process.  The final products to be turned into the Department of Education are far from complete.  Community involvement will be imperative to completing these plans and implementing them with fidelity to create the best chances for success.  Given that the four intervention models don't pass muster, the meat must be in the instructional models.  Parent involvement is more critical than ever.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Scheinberg


Christina Board of Education Approves Intervention Models for Partnership Zone Schools