DEL.ICIO.USSkeptical parents question school improvement plan
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Parents and teachers complained to the Gwinnett County School Board on Thursday that they were left out of the loop when the district developed a proposal to improve student achievement that also seeks freedom from state laws governing class sizes and educators’ pay.
More than 650 people packed a public hearing to get more information about the School Board plan, but many did not get the answers they sought.
MIKKI K. HARRIS /mkharris@ajc.com
From left, Maria Thurmond, Beth Feustel and Debbie Alsobrook applaud a speaker from the Gwinnett County NAACP during a hearing on Gwinnett County’s proposed IE2 Partnership contract.
“This is not a question-and-answers session,” board Chairperson Carole Boyce told the audience.
Still, speakers persisted with questions.
A draft of a proposal that seeks greater local control over education in exchange for greater accountability posted on the school’s Web site on Monday did not show how the plan would take shape at individual local schools.
A draft of a board proposal, which seeks greater local control over education in exchange for greater accountability, was posted Monday on the school district’s Web site.
The draft did not show how the plan would take shape at individual local schools. And school officials Thursday night did not offer much insight to those packing the board meeting room.
“If this plan is the right vehicle for student improvement, why not be transparent?” asked Brian Westlake, a Gwinnett schoolteacher. “Make the case to parents and teachers in order to get buy-in. I would like to see a board that treats us as professionals and views this as not simply another necessary step in the process.”
A hearing was required before the School Board could vote on the flexibility plan, which is authorized under the Investing in Educational Excellence law.
The law gives school districts that apply the freedom to bypass certain state laws to create educational programs that meet the needs of students. Districts would enter into five-year flexibility contracts with the state to improve student achievement, or face consequences.
The punishment under consideration in Gwinnett is converting to charter schools low-performing campuses that don’t achieve contract goals.
“What this contract does is simply grant us the permission to be relieved from some of the state rules and mandates that keep us from being as effective as we can be,” schools Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks said. “We might need some flexibility to do some things that these hard times call for.”
Wilbanks said parents and teachers would have an opportunity to be involved on the local school level as principals decide what options they will use to improve student success.
Gwinnett schools seek to bypass certain education laws, such as those concerning funding, class size, teachers’ pay and limitations on the use of aides to staff classrooms, in exchange for increased accountability over student success.
The board is considering voting on the flexibility plan later this month so that the state Board of Education could consider it in January.
“If we miss this window of opportunity, we like would be in a position to have to wait one more academic year,” School Board member Mary Kay Murphy said in a board workshop before the hearing.
Still, parents and teachers asked the board to delay a vote until they had time to understand the plan and make suggestions.
“This is a major shift in policy,” said parent Craig Lownes. “It smacks of a plan hastily created and done to meet an artificial date.”
Members of the Gwinnett branch of the NAACP and the Professional Association of Georgia Educators also asked for more opportunity to comment.
“How can we trust this plan and its makers, when the makers do not trust us teaching and learning experts enough to ask for our input into this radical proposal that will impact us in our classrooms every day?” said Barbara Wilson, co-president of the Gwinnett County Association of Educators. “The Georgia Legislature guaranteed that the flexibility plan would be a collaborative effort.”
