D.C. public schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee yesterday asked parents to take a “tremendous leap of faith” as she restructures 26 schools that have failed to meet federal performance standards for five straight years.
“There’s no way to go through these times with everybody being happy,” she said at a press conference at Coolidge Senior High School in Northwest. “But we are fully confident that plans that we developed for each of these schools will result in significantly higher levels of students achievement for every single child.”
Mrs. Rhee is required under the federal No Child Left Behind law to make fundamental changes in the 10 high schools, 11 middle schools and five elementary schools at which students have failed to make “adequate yearly progress.”
A 27th school, Green Elementary, qualified to be restructured but is one of 23 schools scheduled to close next year.
Mrs. Rhee said she will use three of the five options under the law to restructure the schools, but will not reopen any of them as public charter schools or turn them over to the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, run by Deborah A. Gist.
Administrators will be replaced or will have to reapply for their jobs at 10 schools, and instructional staff will undergo the same process at seven schools.
Five schools will partner with outside organizations that have yet to be announced. Mrs. Rhee said those schools will operate similarly to charter schools, but will still belong to the District.
Education activist Cherita Whiting, the mother of a public school student, said she is cautiously optimistic about the restructuring program, but is somewhat relieved Miss Gist has oversight of the transition.
“I’m glad Deborah Gist has the last say,” said Mrs. Whiting, chairwoman of the Ward 4 Education Council. “I think she’ll be fair and more transparent than Michelle Rhee and the school system have been.”
School officials said Miss Gist will enforce the school system’s compliance with No Child Left Behind, but will not officially approve the restructuring plans, which were sent to her office yesterday.
Mrs. Whiting’s comments highlight tension between some parents and Mrs. Rhee and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, a Democrat, who have been criticized as making changes to the school system too quickly.
Mr. Fenty yesterday supported Mrs. Rhee’s plans and said most of the residents with whom he has talked support the rate of change.
“The majority of people that I talk to in the District want this system to improve right away,” he said.
“If I hear a criticism from District of Columbia residents, [it’s] ’Mayor, what’s taking so long.’ ”
Terry Goings, parent of a Coolidge Senior High School junior and president of the school’s Parent Teacher Student Organization, said he looks forward to working with the organization matched with Coolidge.
“We were hoping to partner with one of the outside groups, and we definitely want some form of reconstitution at the school,” Mr. Goings said. “We’re looking for them to come in and be able to challenge our students and take them to a higher level of achievement.”
The restructuring adds another large project to the school system’s already full plate.
Mrs. Rhee has pledged to restore art, music and physical education programs in all D.C. schools next school year, quadruple the number of social workers and nearly double the number of school psychologists.
Some schools with the lowest performances also will get new comprehensive staffing models.
In addition, Mrs. Rhee and Allen Y. Lew, director of the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, will manage two dozen school closings as Mr. Lew works to fulfill his promise to clear a system-wide backlog of fire- and health-code violations by the summer.
• Gary Emerling contributed to this report.
IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee must restructure 27 schools that have failed to make adequate yearly progress for five consecutive years. She has five options.
- Reopen the school as a public charter school.
- Reconstitute all or most school staff or administrators.
- Partner the school with external group.
- Turn over the school to the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.
- Implement new service or staffing models or conduct other major restructuring.
Source: D.C. Public Schools
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