Inside Report for Dec. 25, 2012

Pointe Coupee High handling criticized

Pointe Coupee Central High School has struggled to bounce back since control of the failing school was yanked from the School Board and placed under the umbrella of the Louisiana Department of Education.

The state’s 2008 takeover of PCCHS was fueled by three years of substandard scores by its students on high-stakes tests.

The school’s oversight was first ceded to Advance Baton Rouge, a private charter school company, then transferred to the Louisiana Recovery School District in July 2012.

In the midst of the oversight shuffles, there have been a slew of administrative changes, various disciplinary problems and, according to School Board officials, very little improvement in student performance.

Residents should be outraged by what has occurred at PCCHS over the last few years, parish School Board member Chad Aguillard said at the Oct. 25 board meeting.

“I believe that if what has gone on at that school would have gone on under local control, you would have seen an uprising,” Aguillard told the board. “I don’t understand. Where is the outrage?”

Aguillard accused RSD of withholding the release of Pointe Coupee Central’s School Performance Score because it would prove student performance hasn’t improved in the years since the state seized the school.

LDOE spokesman Barry Landry said the school’s score wasn’t included in the 2012 report because of the school’s temporary closure after the 2011-12 school year while oversight was shifted to the RSD.

“And that’s the same with any school,” Landry said.

Board member Frank Aguillard, no relation to Chad Aguillard, criticized charter schools and some of the alternative educational choices now available to students, like virtual schools, for being exempt from state standards in spite of receiving state funds.

“I just wish people realized everyone needs to be held accountable to the taxpayers’ money — not just local school boards,” Frank Aguillard said.

RSD and state Department of Education Deputy Superintendent of External Affairs Dana Peterson appeared before the School Board on Nov. 15 and apologized for not updating the board on the agency’s efforts to improve PCCHS. Peterson said RSD’s plan for Pointe Coupee Central involves stabilizing the school and then, possibly, returning it to local control.

But Peterson stressed the RSD’s faith in charter schools, touting the agency’s success in New Orleans as proof the charter school system can work.

Peterson explained that Pointe Coupee Central didn’t receive a baseline score like most public schools, but instead received a Growth School Performance Score of 54.5 percent from grading range of 0-200, still an “F “school by state standards.

That score is attributed to Advance Baton Rouge’s oversight, he added.

Pointe Coupee Central’s new principal, William McInnis, who was hired by the RSD over the summer, assured the board he will reveal his detailed vision for improving the struggling school.

Peterson said RSD would not make any decisions around permanently chartering the school without input from the community.

“I know we take a hit as an organization because we have to make some tough decisions regarding failing schools,” Peterson said. “But I think we’re showing that the strategies we use around school improvement can work.”

Terry L. Jones is the Westside Bureau chief for The Advocate. He can be reached at [e-mail].

Comments

1) Comment by ScotB - 28/12/2012

I don't know much about the other schools that are being taken over, but I know that giving scholarships to kids at PCCH will not re-segregate schools. PCCH is almost 100% minority, so a scholarship for one of those kids will give them a chance to integrate. The same would be true of the two elementary schools who have a failing grade in Pointe Coupee. I understand the desire to fix the existing public schools, rather than send kids to a private school. How long do we wait? How many kids' lives do we sacrifice during the waiting period? We've been waiting a long time so far and Pointe Coupee has more adults who attended these schools living in poverty than almost any other parish. What about the kids?

2) Comment by BthechangeUwanttosee - 28/12/2012

To:Iamhopeful2 I hope you and the coalition of public educators represent and include Delmont Elem. School in Baton Rouge. Their voice and the proposed school closing affecting them that is pending for the future should be heard and included in this upcoming D.C. venue. If not, get involved, contact them and add them to the list too. This type of support would be highly beneficial. Good luck and hope you are successful in meeting with the president.

3) Comment by Iamhopeful2 - 28/12/2012

A national coalition of public education activists seeing this type of school destruction, takeovers and "transformations" particularly in minority and low income schools has been granted a hearing before the Civil Rights Division of the U.S.Dept of Education Jan. 28-29 in D.C. A request for a meeting with Pres. Obama was Leo made. The goal will be to show beyond a shadow of a doubt the the so-called reform movement and privatization of our public schools has NOT been successful but is re segregating our schools and failing those students and communities who can least afford the damage. These highly qualified educators, parents and community activists are asking for a moratorium of school closings and investigations into incidents just like this. I will definitely put this as one of many Louisiana examples on my testimony list.

4) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 26/12/2012

@redstickhornet: Thank you for your kind words. @joey esposito: You quoted me correctly, I was suggesting that anyone could )and should hypthesize based on the facts, that the school should have shown much improvement. The patterns and the directionality of all the data is what I was suggesting to you had nothing to do with any hypothesis. And @redstickhornet hit the nail on the head, with the comment that the school's scores would have gone up even if there was no improvement in teaching at the school, simply by improving the demographics, based on any predictions using standardized data from the state. Important to note that all of this concern with one school should not overcome the entire narrative of my comments below, since it is THIS truth that is NOT being told by the media, who are thereby at least complicit in the failure of the public to wake up to the truth about the "reforms."

5) Comment by redstickhornet - 26/12/2012

Also these reboots cost something right? I do understand what joey e is pointing out, but 8 pts in 4 years is not the kind of transformative change these promised taxpayers, especially if it is true that the school's numbers have dropped greatly. Of course, we should not declare this causes that here...Odds on though, "selecting" the student body (and a mass exodus) of the original student body could represent a significant portion of the change from 38 to 46.

6) Comment by redstickhornet - 26/12/2012

Keep preaching rev. sister deutsch and rev. brother noel!!! Keep schooling them. They can cannot change math with PR, you tube videos, and *****

7) Comment by deutsch29 - 25/12/2012

Let's "play math": Prescott Middle SPS increased 8 points over 4 years. The increase is not linear ( 1 point, then 3 points, then 4 points). Let's give Prescott the benefit of the doubt and say that the SPS will continue to increase, at, say, 8 points a year. Based on this year's scale (and yes, that scale has changed and will again), it would take Prescott TEN YEARS to reach an A. If Prescott continues its climb at 4 points per annum, then the climb will take NINETEEN YEARS. However, John White and BESE will "dumb down" the scale next year so that 80 to 100 is an A (which begs the question: is "progress" merely "capricious whimsy of whoever is in charge of the scale"?), then Prescott may have an edge to "become" an A school in a mere five years assuming that as-of-yet unseen 8-point gain, or nine years assuming a four-point gain per annum. These calculations make the argument, "At least there's SOME gain" ludicrous, eh?

8) Comment by joey.esposito - 25/12/2012

I used "hypotheses" due to your use: "So, one could hypothesize that with a smaller percentage of students qualifying for free meals, a smaller percentage qualifying for special education services, and a smaller student body (leaving EBR middle schools highly over- crowded), Prescott should have had a growth significantly higher than EBR's growth."

9) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 25/12/2012

Again, the context you leave out is the evidence that the Recovery School District and the entire Advance Baton Rouge agenda is a bust. The state is taking over every one of their schools. That is my point. By the way, nothing I stated is anything but fact, there is no hypothesis in there. All of the evidence comes from Department of Education website data. Such data IS getting harder and harder to get, since the state is working hard to prove a falsehood, that the Recovery School District is a great success. Total *****

10) Comment by joey.esposito - 25/12/2012

@Noel Hammatt The only thing I would have you believe is the SPS numbers for Prescott Middle School, which were taken directly from a powerpoint on the ebrschools.org website, have increased in each year of ABR's oversight. One can try to discount the increase by offering any number of hypotheses.

11) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 25/12/2012

@joey.esposito has twice responded with the same information he has below about Prescott. I am sure that somehow he believes that this data, unconnected to any context, is meant to dispute the claims that John Spain and the Advance Baton Rouge Cabal has somehow NOT failed to improve the schools. The first time he did it I ignored it, but today, I think I will provide a context. As most of you know, the school performance scores of a school are mostly related to the socio-demographics of a school. As with ANY system of test score measurements, scores will likely go up over time absent any stark changes in the student population. This is due, in part, to teaching to the test and to "Campbell's Law" which says that the more a particular measure is used to create social pressures, the more corrupted the measure will become. Now, Esposito will have us believe that somehow John Spain and ABR improved these schools after they took them over, after all, the 46 school performance score in 2012 under ABR is certainly higher than the 38 it had prior to being taken over. Now let's take a moment to look at the student body. Percent of students qualifying for free meals went down under ABR, the percentage of students qualifying for special education went down, and the number of students went down most of all, to fewer than half of the students that were in the school before it was taken over. You might say parents voted with their feet that ABR sucked, in the vernacular. At any rate, scores at the school went up by 8 points! During the same period, of course, scores were going up across almost all schools! In EBR, the average growth was 12 points. So, one could hypothesize that with a smaller percentage of students qualifying for free meals, a smaller percentage qualifying for special education services, and a smaller student body (leaving EBR middle schools highly over- crowded), Prescott should have had a growth significantly higher than EBR's growth. Such was not the case, of course, as it lagged well behind EBR's growth. So Joey, the numbers don't really mean whatever you think they mean.

12) Comment by Mildred Citizen - 25/12/2012

You're kidding me, right? These guys feel comfortable criticizing PCCH in the press? There are 5 schools under their school board. 40% of them are failing. The only high school has a D. This is the same crew that a recent article said couldn't figure out how to vote for president of the school board. If there was ever any place that needed scholarships for kids to escape a failed school system, Pointe Coupee is the place. The drop out rate is incredibly high. You almost can't blame the kids for dropping out. Why attend school in a system as poor as Pointe Coupee's? The school system is an employment agency for friends of the board and source of contracts for local businesses owned by friends of the board. They are absolutely opposed to any real change, like most of the leadership in that parish (which is true in many rural communities). If parents really loved their kids, they would move to West Feliciana or Zachary.

13) Comment by joey.esposito - 25/12/2012

School Performance Scores for Prescott Middle: 2008: 38 SPS EBR under Placide; 2010: 39 SPS ABR under Spain; 2011: 42 SPS ABR under Spain; 2012: 46 SPS ABR under Spain.

14) Comment by conglo - 25/12/2012

The DOE has an excuse for the Pointee Coupee school's grades not being on Performanc score, but why BESE member Garvey's school not being on it? At one time Jefferson Community School was getting $87,500 per student. The 1st attachment LA School Grades has Jefferson Community School school listed as School Grade D. Jefferson Community School was left off of the School SPS and Letter Grade for 2011-2012. James Garvey, BESE member, served on the board of Jefferson Community School, a charter school and is still an adviser!!! For four years, Garvey was a member of the Board of Directors of Jefferson Community School and served a term as Chairman of the Board of Directors. He served on the Managing Board of Teach For America's New Orleans Chapter. He's also served on the boards of the Jefferson Parish Education Foundation, the Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission, and the Jefferson Community Foundation. http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2011/09/jim_garvey_announces_he_will_r.html

15) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 25/12/2012

The first two commenters are right on target. Please read the two- part series below this comment for a brief sense of how the media is missing (as is often the case) the real story.

16) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 25/12/2012

At Pointe Coupee Central the overall history of State intervention is even worse. Pointe Coupee's facility was one of the newest and nicest in the parish. When the state took it over the numbers who chose to stay in the school with the takeover by Advance Baton Rouge (ABR) were quite low, and the School Board requested permission to maintain a portion of the building, to house the special program it was designed for. Permission denied. So the citizens of Pointe Coupee were denied the use of the facility their tax dollars paid for. The parents of students in the area left the school in droves, but the RSD refused to allow any use of the facility by the local district. The scores were flat, or went down, and yet Advance Baton Rouge was making money off the operation, and using it to pay ridiculous salaries to its so-called "leaders," who were making significantly more money than the same positions in local districts. All of this was orchestrated by the leaders of Advance Baton Rouge, who had already been caught in a series of quite public lies and back-room dealings. Advance Baton Rouge was started (at least publicly) by the late Brace Godfrey and Christel Slaughter who publicly touted ABR as a way to increase support for EBR schools. I was curious about why we needed another group (we already had the Academic Distinction Fund) and lo and behold, it quickly became clear why it was needed. It was a back door into taking over control of local schools. Advance Baton Rouge, in deals worked out behind closed doors, swooped in to take over three local schools in Baton Rouge, and Pointe Coupee Central. Brace Godfrey got Capitol High School for "100 Black Men" and it was later taken over again by the state after losing lots of taxpayer money. How did they get enough political and fiscal capital to orchestrate such a bold takeover when they had no experience whatsoever? A few key moves in their Machiavellian machinations.They hired Christy Hebert as CEO, and I suspect the Baton Rouge Area Foundation had something to do with this, in the person of John Spain, who you will remember is the key and only board member listed for the original filing of the group taking over the "Baton Rouge Achievement Zone (BRAZ). Now, Hebert was involved heavily in the "For Profit" world of school takeovers in Philadelphia, and with her advance degree from LSU she had obviously been involved in the social circles of privatization for some time. ABR needed seed money for their operation, for, like the BRAZ, there needs to be lots of money to grease the skids of privatization progress. They found the money in a wonderful scheme they set up with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates offered to come into Baton Rouge after Katrina and help with some literacy projects. This is after Marc Sternberg of the Baton Rouge Sternbergs, who was Principal of an "autonomous" school in New York City supposedly cooked up this deal to get Gates money in return for EBR opening some "Autonomous Schools" in EBR. (Marc Sternberg recently became "Deputy Chancellor for Portfolio Planning in NYC, the same place that John White was. Can anyone see who is being groomed as the next Superintendent of Education for Louisiana when John White leaves this Spring?) It was a deal all right: open some autonomous schools (think charter lite) and you get money for literacy. The board was flown to NYC and shown a couple of these schools, including a KIPP school, and then over to Texas to see some schools there. The money did NOT flow directly to EBR though.... and this is important. Instead, it flowed through the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and Advance Baton Rouge. Would be interesting to know how much the two of them made off this deal with Bill Gates. At any rate, within two years Advance Baton Rouge had engineered a deal with Paul Pastorek (Remember Paul Pastorek was a BESE member who had left his law practice in New Orleans to go head up PR for NASA) to take over four schools. I forgot to mention that while the entire ABR-BRAF team and the EBR School Board delegation was in NYC being wined and dined and fed a load of ***** about the New York City "Miracle of Privatization," we had a meeting in the conference room of the Chancellor, Joel Klein, (like Pastorek an attorney by training) and guess who showed up to join the meeting? With no "official" ties to EBR, Paul Pastorek walked in and actually told the group that he had no confidence in the EBR School Board to "make the changes necessary." Now, how and why do you think Paul Pastorek showed up in a Gates funded, and BRAF organized trip to NYC? The fix was long in.

17) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 25/12/2012

This is truly a Machiavellian drama, and keep in mind that John Spain, Christy Hebert, Christel Slaughter, Paul Pastorek and Brace Godfrey all have a role in this. Where do we find ourselves now? Christy Hebert is doing videos for the US Department of Education on effective leadership http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49jfzpN-_ow one guesses from the perspective of someone who ran four schools and failed tremendously (one wonders if the FBI ran across her work in Philadelphia) and runs an organization (Advance Innovate Education) receiving lots of grant and federal money to prepare principals (perhaps to make money but fail students???) and her web site mentions the grants received under ABR but somehow fails to mention that every school failed. Paul Pastorek is off to head up another company, private one this time, while also being placed on the Board of Directors for the Broad Foundation, a secretive group that currently has people in key locations privatizing entire state operations in many states (check to see how many Broad trained "leaders" are making policy in Louisiana, starting with the Superintendent, John White, of NYC notoriety for closing public neighborhood schools and giving them to "boutique" charters to run, is, for a few more months at least, running the states "portfolio of schools" with a trusted group of Broad Foundation-trained neophytes. (Note that he was brought in from NYC to run the New Orleans Recovery School District just before Pastorek left, and was brought into his current position with a BESE bought and paid for by national and local leaders, including Bloomberg in NYC and local businessman Lane Grigsby). Christel Slaughter was directing the the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board's "Strategic Planning" operation (initially for free, but later sent in a proposed contract) and is still involved in the failed Advance Baton Rouge. John Spain is still making very good money at BRAF and is orchestrating the takeover of North Baton Rouge schools via his newest scheme, the Baton Rouge Achievement Zone. Merry Christmas to all, and to all the hope that coming year finds a local media that WAKES UP and quits parroting the press releases of these people who have nothing but their own profits in mind as they play this state and town like a fiddle. More to come in the New Year! To all teachers out there, who unlike the "reformers" in the above story actually DO care about all children. May this Christmas bring you the gifts of peace within, because there is no sign that the media, or this state, is going to bring you the peace we need to actually focus our attention on the children in our care.

18) Comment by lovemykids - 25/12/2012

Don't worry, Jindal and his accessories will fix everything!!! It will be a Christmas miracle.

19) Comment by iluvbtr - 25/12/2012

Prescott Middle; DISTRICT: RSD-ADVANCE Baton Rouge. 2012 SPS: F -- STUDENTS PERFORMING AT OR ABOVE GRADE- LEVEL: 25.3%

20) Comment by iluvbtr - 25/12/2012

@Noel Hammatt--Thank you for connecting the dots in your insightful commentary. As an online reader of The Advocate, I get more information from your comments than I do from the journalist. It appears that the old axiom of "follow the money" holds true with regards to the State's privatization agenda (education, prisons, etc.). Now that the train has left the station, can it be stopped?

21) Comment by deutsch29 - 24/12/2012

Dana Peterson is promoting a lie. There is no "RSD success." In the 2012 data released by LDOE, of the schools designated as "RSD," 27 schools have an F; 16 have an D; 8 have a T (off the hook for this year); 4 have a C; 5 have a B, and NONE have an A. Of those designated as "Recovery School District," 12 have an F and 3 have a D. THERE ARE NO Cs, ***** or As.