Six chronically failing public schools will have yet another year to get their act together under a waiver recommended by state Education Commissioner John Winn.
Reversing his previous plan to rachet up pressure, Winn said he wants to maintain the F-rated campuses in Miami-Dade and Duval counties under a "district-managed turnaround" program.
Florida "intervention" statutes allow for new management or closure of perennially failing schools, but Winn said he won't pull the trigger just yet -- even after the campuses have pulled down D and F grades for 13 straight years.
While saying he was "deeply troubled by the persistently low student achievement" at the schools, the commissioner will recommend that the state Board of Education on Tuesday grant the requested waiver to the local districts, with the following conditions:
- The districts will host a "well-publicized event" at each school to showcase available school-choice options to parents and students. The districts would be responsible for funding student transportation.
- The schools' boards "shall engage the services of an independent, effective school management or turnaround entity to assist in improving performance at the six schools."
- Duval and Miami-Dade will fully participate and cooperate in the state's Race to the Top initiative.
Meanwhile, the six troubled schools have been in a race to the bottom. On reading exams, for example, the percentage of Duval students scoring at proficiency levels was 12 percent at Raines, 13 percent at Jackson and 15 percent at Ribault high schools.
Each of those percentages declined from last year. The state high-school average was 49 percent, up four points from 2010.
The other three schools identified as persistently failing are North Shore K-8 in Duval, and Edison and Central high schools in Miami-Dade.
Local school board and community members decried any thought of closing the schools, which serve predominantly minority populations. But reformers respond that chronically failing schools do not help students, and that continuing to fund such campuses is throwing good money after bad.
The state Department of Education said deficient schools that enter "intervene" status must initially choose one of four options to implement the following school year:
- District-managed turnaround.
- Charter turnaround/conversion.
- Private management company.
- School closure.
"The schools already chose and implemented the district-managed turnaround option, but failed to exit 'intervene' status," said DOE spokeswoman Deborah Higgins. "Since they failed to exit, they are required to choose from the remaining three options unless the state Board approves their waiver to continue for another year under the district-managed turnaround option."
Dade had submitted plans in November selecting the charter turnaround/conversion option. Duval had chosen the private management company option.
"If granted, the waivers would allow them to avoid implementing these plans and continue under the district-managed turnaround option for another year," Higgins said.
Winn said his decision to recommend waivers "was based on the fact that the time remaining before the opening of schools for the 2011-12 school year presents almost insurmountable challenges that have the potential of destabilizing learning environments and hindering the pace of reform."
Higgins said Florida's Differentiated Accountability School Improvement program does not allow the state to manage or take over any public schools.
"All options are carried out through local authority and control," she said.
Commenting on the situation, Patricia Levesque, executive director of the school-reform organization, Foundation for Florida's Future, said "all options should be on the table."
We need greater state oversight to ensure students are not in persistently failing public schools. Students have only one chance to receive a quality education. Every moment spent in a failing school, a moment of learning is lost," she said.
"All options to assist a child to get a better education should be on the table, includingcharter schools, other school choice and even closure and relocation of the students to other schools."
Levesque added, "We would also like to see more parental involvement. For example, California provides parents the option to vote on what they would like to see the school board do to turn around a school.Florida parents should have that authority also.
The Florida Education Association, which has generally opposed such reforms, did not respond to Sunshine State News' request for comment.
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Reach Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 559-4719.
