Earlier this spring, Gulfport Elementary found itself among the latest Pinellas schools to be designated a "turnaround" school, meaning it joins a list of troubled schools in predominantly African-American areas south of St. Petersburg's Central Avenue (Gulfport Elementary is technically in the city of Gulfport, but students from St. Petersburg attend school there).
That means it received two "D" grades in a row or one "F" grade, and the school has to come up with a plan to boost its grade.
The criteria by which some schools get that designation is based largely on standardized test scores, and whether that's really a fair or accurate way to determine the effectiveness of teachers and schools is finally coming into question.
A top Gulfport official is hoping state education officials will reconsider Gulfport's designation.
In April, Gulfport Mayor Sam Henderson sent an email to State Representative Kathleen Peters, R-South Pasadena, as well as State Senators Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, and Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, to dispute Gulfport Elementary's status as a turnaround school for the next academic year, citing the havoc it could wreak on the lives of students, faculty and staff. Here's an excerpt from the email, dated Apr. 6:
“This past Friday, it was announced that GPE would be a turnaround school next year. This means that administrative and teaching staff are required to re-interview for their jobs or opt out of the re-interview process and seek employment on their own – and they must choose which path they will take by this Friday. That's right, on (sic) week to make a critical life/career decision. Unfortunately, school staff has not been provided with the information they need to make this choice i.e. interview criteria, additional training requirements, how pay and hours will be affected, how performance will be measured, or how relocation to other schools would be handled. To exacerbate this, the announcement came during a critical testing period for students – the very mechanism by which schools, teachers and students are measured. Further, the City of Gulfport was not formally made aware of this decision by the state or PCSB."
The email went on to say Superintendent Michael Grego, District Superintendent Bob Poth and PCSB Chair Peggy O'Shea were unable to answer his questions concerning the “process, ramifications and nuances of this redesignation and its impacts to the students, teachers, staff, families and the community.”
Henderson posed the question that if the people in charge weren’t clear on the process, how can the individuals directly involved understand it and succeed in improving?
Dr. Ricardo Davis, President of Concerned Organization for Quality Education of Black Students, Inc. (COQEBS) believes that the lack of involvement of teachers and principals is precisely why previous plans to improve failing schools haven’t been successful.
In his email to lawmakers, Henderson requested an additional year to achieve a higher school rating, but Davis said if the system isn't working, one year wouldn't make a difference.
“A delay in the designation will have no effect on what is happening in the classroom,” said Davis. “If the state is at the point of designating it as a turnaround school, if they don't already have a system in place success will be rather doubtful in a year.”
Davis, who has been involved with education in St. Petersburg for over 20 years, believes that when children are failing there is no magic bullet; it will take two to three years if there is the right combination of programs, implementation, evaluation and flexibility to adjust. But the rules in place don't allow for more gradual change.
Per the State of Florida Department of Education, any school receiving two consecutive Ds or an F must have a turnaround plan submitted to the state.
There are four options that a school can choose from. Two of them involve replacing established leadership within the school. One involves turning the school over to the state and making it transition into a privatized or chartered school. The fourth allows everyone to maintain their respective positions and the district must then defend their position to not make changes.
In the past three years, at least three charter schools in Florida have been shut down down due to poor financial management, and have been indicted for grand theft, money laundering and aggravated white collar crime.
Gulfport Elementary was given a week to make a decision.
“At a minimum, I request that the period for staff and teachers to make their decision be extended significantly – at least long enough for all affected parties to be brought up to speed on the process and properly armed with the information they need to make a decision of such magnitude,” wrote Henderson.
Previous turnaround plans, such as the current Scale up for Success model implemented in 2014, failed initially due to their lack of involvement with all individuals who were responsible for implementing and enforcing the plan, Davis said.
Last month, the St. Petersburg Branch NAACP openly called for Grego’s resignation over the district's treatment of five struggling south St. Pete schools that were the subject of an extensive Tampa Bay Times report last summer.
Both Henderson and Davis agree that new faculty, staff and leadership will face the same obstacles as current employees with the added lack of familiarity with the students and the community.
Mayor Henderson and Gulfport Elementary School Principal James Pribble have been unavailable for comment.
This article appears in Jun 9-16, 2016.