Posted on: Friday, May 6, 2005
BOE approves $7.9M plan to help struggling schools
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
KIHEI, Maui — The state Board of Education yesterday approved a $7.9 million plan to help 20 struggling schools improve test scores and comply with other federal No Child Left Behind Act standards.
Under the "restructuring" plan, the Department of Education will hire three companies to train teachers and overhaul curriculum at the affected schools. Four other schools will be restructured through a different method that leaves more responsibility with regional superintendents.
The companies will prepare restructuring plans for each school, with the changes taking effect before the start of the next school year.
The effort will be the most intense remedy that the state has applied yet for the schools under the No Child Left Behind Act. The contracts follow years of testing in which the schools consistently fell short of state standards for math and English.
The companies — Edison Schools Inc., The National Center on Education and the Economy, ETS Pulliam — are expected to work mostly with school staff rather than directly with students. The goal is to set and meet benchmarks for student achievement and ensure that curriculum and teaching match the goals.
Two dozen staff members of Kahului School, one of the affected schools, appeared at yesterday's board meeting at Kihei Elementary School as an expression of their commitment to academic improvement.
In a sometimes emotional voice, Principal Fern Markgraf described a dedicated teaching staff and recounted a number of academic programs that went into effect in recent years.
Board members offered their support. "The board doesn't view you as a failing school," BOE member Denise Matsumoto said. "We're rooting for you."
Principals at some of the target schools earlier said they would welcome the extra help.
The companies will be expected to ensure that test scores improve in one year. By the second year the schools will be expected to meet state targets for "adequate yearly progress."
The affected schools are in every county except Kaua'i. All have significant numbers of children living in poverty. Most of the campuses are in rural or remote areas. Some also have a high number of recent immigrants who speak little English.
Also last night, dozens of high school surfers and their coaches urged the BOE to adopt regulations to implement surfing as an interscholastic sport. Many expressed frustration that no interscholastic leagues have taken up the sport, a year after the BOE approved surfing as an official school sport.
"It's been obvious to us that the DOE refuses to allow surfing as an interscholastic sport, no matter what we do," said Kim Ball, who organizes an annual school club surf meet on Maui. "If Henry Ford had taken his automobile to get approved by the DOE, he'd still be riding horses."
Attorney Jan Apo urged the board to lobby the Maui Interscholastic League to sanction surfing. "Tell the MIL we voted for this and this is what the BOE wants to be done," Apo said.
