Schools for Tomorrow Blog

According to the Boston Globe, Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick is preparing legislation that sounds a lot like Colorado’s innovation schools bill. Let’s hope it passes with fewer compromises than its Colorado cousin. 

No, not poverty rates or educational attainment. It’s all about autonomy. Could there be lessons in Bolivia for those within Denver Public Schools who are fanning the autonomy flames?  Might they lose control of the process? Just an addled, early-morning thought.

Denver Classroom Teachers Association President Kim Ursetta  forwarded an e-mail she sent Monday to Montclair School of Academics and Enrichment Principal Shannon Hagerman and the school’s DCTA representative Giselle Hummel. It disputes media coverage of Montclair’s autonomy bid (including on this blog), which accuses the union of failing to respond to the school’s proposal. here’s what Ursetta wrote (and copied to us, the Rocky, the Post, the DPS school board, and Supt. Michael Bennet):

Gigi,
As I shared with you a week and a half ago when you came in, we would be happy to meet with you. After receiving your proposal on Monday April 21st, I emailed you and Shannon (on 4/22) and asked you to send me some dates that would work for your team. Since I did not receive a response, I emailed you both again on May 8th. Unfortunately, neither of you responded to that request. I shared my "Sent Mail" box with you when you came in to my office on May 22nd. I would be happy to print those emails if you are unable to locate them.

I got your voicemail today, and returned your call, asking you to give me some times that you were both available. You told me that you needed to check with Shannon, and get back to me. I hope that we hear back from you soon, so that we can talk about your proposal. Like we discussed, we are more than willing to meet regarding this proposal.

Thanks for your cooperation!

Kim

Stay tuned for the next chapter

Montclair School of Academics and Enrichment wants to be the third Denver school to be set free from district and union rules and regulations. The Denver school board has approved the request. And the Denver Classroom Teachers Assocation?  Leadership is doing its best ostrich imitation. Read here for the details.

This week’s Gadfly points to a fascinating article from the Baltimore Sun on Baltimore’s implementation of weight student funding, and principal autonomy.

The bottom line is that more budget authority for principals is not easy for them to manage.  They have hard choices to make.  And, as is necessarily the case, some schools gain funds under WSF, while others lose funds, though the district has worked hard to keep these changes from being too major right away.

Interestingly, some schools have difficulty jettisoning jobs that are not particularly important or necessary to school success, but that relate more to personal relationships – it is harder to do this at the ground level, perhaps, than at the district level.  But, it also follows the theory that the principals know better what they do and don’t really need, to make their school work better.

The experience in Baltimore is important because lots of urban districts are now experimenting with various forms of weighted student funding, including DPS.  I think it is an equitable, potentially efficient, and important reform idea, and districts should try it, but one shouldn’t underestimate the challenges districts and principals will face, nor the need for better training of some new kinds of principals, to make it work well.

Another DPS school is seeking autonomy. Read all about it.  

I was pleasantly intrigued to see the teachers union in Denver announce its interest in opening a (charter?) school under the district’s request for proposal:

Denver’s teacher union wants to open the state’s only union-run school with a preschool through eighth-grade program that would emphasize math and science.

The Denver Classroom Teachers Association outlined its proposal in a letter of intent filed Thursday with Denver Public Schools, as part of the district’s outreach to develop new schools.

“A group of teachers came together and we have been meeting about what our ideal school would be like, said DCTA President Kim Ursetta.

As the Denver Post article noted, applicants who want in the first round have until today to submit formal interest in opening a school. (The later application cycle has a June 27 deadline for letters of intent.) My major concern is that the innovation school side of Denver’s RFP—as opposed to the charter school side—requires operators to use the district’s curriculum. What good is that?

Anyway, is the DCTA’s involvement in the process a good thing? I share the Blogfather’s view on the matter:

“The more different types of choices the better,” said Alan Gottlieb, vice president for policy and business engagement at the Public Education & Business Coalition. “If they want to try to run a choice school on their own terms and prove that it works along the lines of (Denver School of Science & Technology), great.”

Alan also has posted his “Bravo” to DCTA here.

As they sit down to meet about how to make their “ideal school,” DCTA should look closely and learn from the problems faced by the United Federation of Teachers-run charter school in New York, “after an ultimatum by parents upset by what they say is a lack of security guards, poor communication with administrators, and high teacher turnover.”

All aboard, union leaders. If the proposal is accepted and the arrangement moves forward, it will be interesting to see how their experience will be shaped by operating a Denver school. Will they act as labor? Or will they act as management? Or will they be both at the same time? I cautiously hope that the experience with competition might favorably tweak the union’s position on choice-based reform, but – trust me – I’m not holding my breath.

In the end, DCTA should be held to the same standards, the same criteria to measure performance, as other school operators in this process. For the sake of the kids, may competition (to the extent it’s allowed) yield the best in all innovation and charter schools.

There’s an interesting op-ed piece in today’s Denver Post calling on Denver Public Schools and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association to enshrine autonomy in the teacher contract now being negotiated. The piece was co-authored by representatives of Colorado Succeeds, a business organization supporting education reform, and Metro Organizations for People, a grassroots community organizing group.

 A coalition of seemingly disparate interests can be a powerful force. Let’s hope these two groups can push through the kind of meaningful change to the teachers contract called for in the op-ed.

Why does a little voice in the back of my head keep whispering "When pigs fly?"