Meadowcreek High revamps reputation

The decorum of the moment was lost in wild celebration.

Air horns blared obnoxiously. Whistlers tooted and waved. Bellowers in the dog pound barked salutes.

Seniors in caps and gowns broke ranks to pose for pictures.

On this day of revelry, the labels of limitation would be defied. The poor, the minority, the English-language learners, the struggling students at risk of joining gangs, committing crimes and dropping out would beat the odds and graduate from Meadowcreek High, the social outcast among Gwinnett County Public Schools.

But then, Mustangs learn quickly that the views of outsiders do not define them. Those who judge Meadowcreek for its overwhelming diversity, its anguishing 43-football-game losing streak and its repeat appearances on the state’s list of failing schools often inspire students to surpass the low expectations some saddle on them.

“When we first moved to Gwinnett, we heard Meadowcreek was bad, it had a lot of gangs, test scores were low, the teachers didn’t care —- people called it Ghettocreek,” said graduate Lakisha Griffin, whose $70,000 scholarship award from Alabama A&M moved her mother to mascara-smudged tears.

“It is nothing like everyone makes it out to be. We don’t let the bad rep faze us.”

In July, the Mustangs are hoping to end another losing streak by achieving Adequate Yearly Progress goals mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. For two consecutive years, Meadowcreek suffered a black eye after failing to make AYP. The state placed the Mustangs under corrective action to improve, a sanction shared by 73 schools.

While some tracked Meadowcreek’s failures, many students soared off radar as scholars: Fifteen Mustangs earned Advanced Placement Scholars Awards. One boasted a perfect 2400 SAT score. Dozens graduated with full academic rides to college.

“They just don’t give those away,” bragged PTSA co-president Joy Monroe, the mother of a presidential scholarship winner. She is quick to defend Meadowcreek, which receives federal funding to educate the poor, on the issue of quality.

“Keeping my children at Meadowcreek is a choice I made,” said Monroe. “I could have transferred them to another school, I could have moved, but when I really looked at Meadowcreek … and not just listened to the word on the streets, I learned that it offered what I needed. Students were achieving.”

In 2007-08, more Mustangs took AP courses on average than any other high school teen in Gwinnett, the state’s largest district. In May, the graduating class received $2.5 million in scholarship offers.

“Our students can compete with any student not only in the state, but in the country,” said principal Bob Jackson.

Still, rather than send kids to Meadowcreek, some parents left the neighborhood of modest homes and low-rung rentals in search of greener lawns and better test scores. Testing and demographic issues created an image problem that overshadowed Meadowcreek’s successes. In 2008, its average SAT score was 1311, lower than Gwinnett and state averages.

“I sold quite a few houses prior to 2007 where the point of families moving was to get their children out of Meadowcreek …,” said Realtor Tom Kim, head of listings at RE/MAX Northeast in Norcross. “There was concern that kids weren’t getting the education they needed.”

Last fall, Meadowcreek had 2,429 students, half of whom were Hispanic. More than 84 percent of the teens were considered poor. In contrast, Meadowcreek opened in 1986 with mostly white middle-class teens and a sprinkling of minorities speaking a dozen languages.

“The biggest challenge was communicating,” said Byron Collier, Meadowcreek’s first principal. “The people we hired knew that we had a monumental job ahead of us.”

By 1999, 60 countries and 75 languages were represented. Middle-class families continued to leave, worried their kids would fall behind. They took their fund-raising clout and volunteer hours with them.

Monroe stayed to help. “Diversity aside, we all speak the same language when it comes to ensuring a successful future for our children, that crosses race and culture.”

Waning parental support and turnover eventually took a toll on test scores. Many of Meadowcreek’s principals stayed for only three years. Teacher transfer requests tripled as No Child Left Behind took hold. But teacher Pam Gibson has remained since 1986 because she felt appreciated by kids. She said students valued education because it wasn’t always free in their homelands.

Angela Pringle, Meadowcreek’s last principal to achieve AYP, gave students what they needed to succeed: more reading specialists, more ESOL teachers, help for their moms and dads. Jackson came in 2006 following her lead, but the school missed the mark again.

Achieving AYP in diverse schools can be more difficult because No Child Left Behind, which aims to close the achievement gap, requires progress in subgroups like those still learning English.

Katie Winchell of the National High School Association said schools making gains may fall short because the bar keeps getting raised. “We see that all the time in California because of our English Language Learners. It is a challenge.”

Meadowcreek has twice as many kids in English for Speakers of Other Languages as other Gwinnett schools.

“We always say don’t make a judgment about [a] school solely based on what you see in the AYP report,” said Dana Tofig, a state Department of Education spokesman. “There are schools in needs improvement that may be very good.”

Meadowcreek is where 2009 valedictorian Chris Sartain, a white student, felt most at home and challenged to excel. Whites make up only 5 percent of the school’s population.

At Meadowcreek, Sartain was always accepted. “I have friends from Vietnam, India, Nigeria, El Salvador.”

In 2008, Meadowcreek achieved AYP in 10 out of 16 categories but failed to meet goals in some subject areas for English Language Learners, Hispanics and the poor. It also struggled on graduation rates.

Jackson launched a plan to boost AYP performance.

Pringle, principal of a new DeKalb school, is rooting for the Mustangs: “I wish them well.”

Still, critics argue that better scores won’t change Meadowcreek overnight. It has a rep: A homecoming football game defeat ended in a fight. And it lacks extras, like a community foundation or visitors’ bleachers in its stadium.

But on Graduation Day, TV court personality Judge Penny Brown Reynolds told Mustangs to ignore naysayers: “You are going to have a lot of haters who are not going to like you. Do not allow anyone to tell you what you cannot do.”