ABR to seek other operators
The largest charter school management group in Baton Rouge has agreed to seek other charter school operators for its five schools over the next 19 months, said the president of the group and the superintendent of the state-run Recovery School District.
“The student achievement is not where we want it, and this is a plan to take it to the next level,” said John White, superintendent of the Recovery School District and Gov. Bobby Jindal’s choice to be the next superintendent of education for the state.
The board overseeing the nonprofit Advance Baton Rouge agreed to the transition plan Thursday, though a final memorandum of understanding between Advance Baton Rouge and the Recovery School District is still being worked out, said Jeff English.
English, who is president of Advance Baton Rouge’s board, defended ABR’s work over the past three years, but said the group is agreeing to the change because it’s in the “best interest of kids.”
“We’ve done a good job of changing the culture of these schools, stabilizing them, and getting some academic growth, (but) not as much as we’d like,” English said.
“I think these schools are poised with some added resources put into them to really take off,” he added.
The plan, to be announced formally Monday, would involve an even quicker transition for Prescott Middle School in Baton Rouge and Pointe Coupee Central High School in Morganza. Both of those schools would be run by staff hired by the Recovery School District for the 2012-13 school year.
The other three ABR schools, Glen Oaks Middle School and Dalton and Lanier Elementary schools, would continue to be run by ABR with additional help from the state until July 2013.
The plan will require the approval of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, and it will be presented to BESE at its Dec. 6 meeting.
In the meantime, English said ABR is notifying its principals and staff of the impending change. Parent meetings are planned for Nov. 28 at Pointe Coupee Central School, and Nov. 29 at Prescott Middle School. Both meetings start at 5:30 p.m.
“I think that this is going to be something where our kids and our parents barely even notice any change — except in the long run (there will be) more opportunity, more resources and, wow, academic growth that follows that,” English said.
English, however, acknowledged that details are still sketchy: He’s not sure how much of a role ABR will play after July 2013, or how much of ABR’s staff and programs the new operators will preserve.
Formed in 2005, ABR began to operate charter schools in summer 2008 when BESE granted it charters to take over management of Glen Oaks and Prescott middle schools, formerly part of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system, as well as Pointe Coupee Central High School, formerly part of that parish’s school district.
ABR was given five-year charters, but has operated for three years, triggering a mandatory state review to determine whether it deserves more years of operation.
ABR added to its network in 2009 when it took over Dalton and Lanier elementary schools.
It’s been a rocky three years.
ABR has changed its chief executive officer twice since 2008, and the schools have all had several principals and other staff turnover during that time.
Four of the five ABR schools have lower school performance scores than when they were in the traditional public school system. Prescott is the only school that has improved overall.
The five schools have each earned an “F” under the state’s letter-grading system where a school needs a school performance score of at least 65 to earn a D.
The current scores range from 40.2 at Prescott to a high of 50.4 at Dalton Elementary. The state average is 93.9.
The minimum score to earn a D, however, is going up this year from 65 to 75.
White acknowledged some small improvements, but he said the Recovery School District schools in New Orleans are doing much better and he expects that they could produce faster academic growth at the schools ABR currently operates.
“We have proven that the model can work,” White said.
White said a slow year-and-a-half transition for ABR should improve the caliber of the charter operators interested in taking over the five ABR schools.
“In the past, when we have tried to do this in a condensed period of time, the decisions have not been optimal,” he said.
White said the planned changes for ABR are the template for what he would like to see for all of the low-performing schools in East Baton Rouge Parish, some of which are still operated by the parish school system.
“We need to face the reality that what we are doing in EBR and in Recovery School District schools in north Baton Rouge is not working and we have an opportunity to do what is working and do it together,” White said.