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--- Monday --- June 23, 1997 --- Vol. 7 --- No. 49 ---
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THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
CLASSROOM COMMERCIALS __________ __________
The 30 June issue of BUSINESS | SPOTLIGHT |
WEEK features articles on "the | |
all-out marketing assault on | HOW TO SUCCEED |
your child's heart, mind, and | AT [SCHOOL] BUSINESS |
wallet." One article is | |
devoted to advertising in | In order to succeed at |
schools (Wechsler). Channel | the business of school, you |
One led the way when in 1989 it | need a business sense and |
offered schools a daily TV news | technology that administra- |
program that included | tors know how to use, say |
advertisements for products | some Mich. ed leaders. |
such as Reebock sneakers and | |
Mountain Dew. | New Detroit Inc. |
"Marketers have come to | President Bill Beckham is |
realize that all roads | heading up an independent |
eventually lead to the | audit of the city's schools |
schools," says Ed Winter, co- | to get to the bottom of |
founder of Channel One. Why? | inefficient business prac- |
BUSINESS WEEK observes that | tices, including: "phantom" |
since young people have more | teachers, day-to-day subs |
access to media -- from cable | who end up on a school's |
channels to home computers, | payroll long after the |
school is "irresistible" | regular teacher returns; |
because students are held | and an inability to track |
captive for at least five hours | overtime pay. (#1) |
a day. | |
Many corporations offer | Lawrence, Mass., school |
schools free, ready-made lesson | officials also could use a |
plans of varying quality that | business course or two. |
to a varying degree hype their | The state board of educa- |
products, which school leaders | tion is taking steps to put |
often accept due to tight | the district under receive- |
budgets. See BUSINESS WEEK at | ership for financial |
www.businessweek.com OR America | mismanagement. (#5) |
Online: Keyword: BW |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"That bridge is not as firm as it should be."
William Aldridge, Detroit school district's deputy superintendent
for financial affairs, on communication between district and
school staff. (#1)
_______________________________________________________________
| (c) by the Education Policy Network, Inc. |
| 1255 22nd Street NW; Washington, D.C. 20010; 202/632-0952 |
| EPN, Inc. hereby authorizes further reproduction and |
| distribution with proper acknowledgement. |
| Publisher: Barbara A. Pape |
|_______________________________________________________________|
============== TABLE OF CONTENTS ==============
CITY HALL
BUSINESS SENSE: What's needed in Detroit. (#1)
SHUT DOWN: Chicago goes for reconstituting some schools. (#2)
STANDARD BEARERS
AN "A+" PROGRAM: Missouri H.S. gets grant for second year.(#3)
TAKING OVER
WE WANT DETAILS: Ohio Republicans on Cleveland takeover. (#4)
ON THE ROAD TO RECEIVERSHIP: Mass. eyes Lawrence schools. (#5)
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==== CITY HALL ====
*1 BUSINESS SENSE: WHAT'S NEEDED IN DETROIT
Mich. state education leaders contend that "woefully
inefficient business practices" plague Detroit public schools
(Robles and Cha, Detroit FREE PRESS, 6/7). According to the
paper, New Detroit Inc. President Bill Beckham is directing an
independent audit of the district to be released soon.
Beckham: "When you're talking about changing a culture ...
you're talking about behavior. How do you train employees ... to
operate in a new environment?" Beckham's solution is to train
employees to use computers for administrative and financial
management.
The paper points out that a major problem in the district is
keeping track of substitute teachers, which school officials call
"'phantom teachers' who wind up on the payroll without the
central office's knowledge." The phantoms are day-to-day
substitutes who are kept on the school's payroll long after the
regular teacher returns. Principals delay sending the district's
payroll department forms that take the subs off payroll in order
to maintain a higher teacher/student ratio. A computer system
was installed a few months ago to "pinpoint personnel," but it is
not currently working, reports the paper.
Another example of administrative inefficiency: The
district's inability to track overtime by department or school.
According to the paper, overtime pay has jumped from $4.9M in
1991 to $9.9M in 1995. A computer system was installed to track
it, but overtime expenditures have not fallen as much as district
officials had hoped. "This district's biggest expense is people,
yet it's the area where we have the least control," said Clifford
Cox, the outgoing deputy superintendent for information services.
Cox plans on opening a computer consulting firm.
The FREE PRESS also notes that a "culture change" is needed
to spur improved communications between district and school
employees. "That bridge is not as firm as it should be," said
William Aldridge, deputy superintendent for financial affairs.
*2 SHUT DOWN: CHICAGO GOES FOR RECONSTITUTING SOME SCHOOLS
Eight Chicago high schools and two elementary schools are on
the Accountability Council's list to undergo either
"intervention" or "reconstitution." (Martinez and Poe, Chicago
TRIBUNE, 6/10). Leon Jackson, chairman of the advisory panel,
conceded that various factors contribute to low-achieving
schools, but teachers and administrators "have to be held the
most accountable."
Under intervention, the school board holds a public hearing,
closes the school and evaluates every school employee. The
school is reopened with new staff members, or former employees
who passed their evaluations. Employees who do not pass are
fired without the usual due process, reports the paper.
Reconstitution, the less severe measure, involves reassigning
rather than firing staff.
The schools under fire suffer from low student academic
performance. For example, the high schools in four of the past
five years had only 7% or less of their students reading at grade
level. In addition, the schools showed less than a 3 percentage
point increase in reading scores over the past four years,
reports the paper.
If the school board accepts the recommendations, Chicago
would join a small but growing number of cities that have
resorted to such extreme measures, including San Francisco,
Denver, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Houston, writes the paper.
However, Chicago would be the first city to put so many schools
through an intervention or reconstitution process.
"This is a pretty bold step, but we have schools that are
not showing progress and not improving and we have to use every
instrument at our disposal," said Chicago schools chief Paul
Vallas. "Sometimes you just have to start over."
The TRIBUNE'S series on schools, "Probation on Trial: One
Schools' Journey," can be found at www.chicago.tribune.com/news.
==== STANDARD BEARERS ====
*3 AN "A+" PROGRAM: MISSOURI H.S. GETS GRANT FOR SECOND YEAR
A St. Louis, Mo., high school was awarded state funds to
operate the "A+ School Program" for its second year (Levy, St.
Louis POST-DISPATCH, 6/12). Hazelwood West High School won
school board approval last week for a state grant of about
$450,000 for three years, with a local match of half of those
funds.
"A+ School Program" stemmed from the 1993 Outstanding
Schools Act. The program requires that high school students
complete work and graduate, are offered high school work that is
rigorous with specific learning goals, and go to college,
vocational or technical training school or are hired for a "high-
wage job with developmental opportunities for work skills,"
reports the paper.
According to the paper, students who participate in the
program for three of their high school years and who meet
attendance and achievement requirements will receive two years of
free tuition, fees and books at any of the state's two-year
public colleges.
The state grant is to help pay for costs of coordinators,
laboratories, workshops, equipment and supplies. Schools must
continue the programs on their own after the three-year grant
runs out, writes the paper.
==== TAKING OVER ====
*4 WE WANT DETAILS: OHIO REPUBLICANS ON CLEVELAND TAKEOVER
Several Ohio state Senate Republicans want more details before
they sign on to a bill that would give Cleveland Mayor control of
his city's public school system (Marrison, Cleveland PLAIN
DEALER, 6/18). "There are some in the caucus who want a clearer
picture of his plan before they sign on to the bill," said Teri
Geiger, chief of staff to Senate Republicans.
While the mayor has not testified before any of the numerous
hearings on the bill in an effort not to appear to be campaigning
for control of the schools, Arnold Pinkney, a Cleveland
businessman working closely with White, has met with senators to
discuss the bill. According to the paper, Pinkney explained the
mayor's intention to bring a "business approach" to school
district leadership by hiring a top-notch chief executive officer
to run the schools. White also plans to allow each school to
have its own budget and use student performance to evaluate
principals, reports the paper.
The bill, sponsored by Republicans Representatives Michael
Wise and William Batchelder, would give Cleveland's mayor control
of the schools by allowing the mayor to appoint a nine-member
board to oversee the schools. Senate President Richard Finan
expressed his confidence that despite some GOP concerns over
details, enough support exists to pass the bill, possibly by the
end of this week. Finan: "I don't see any other way. We are in
a disaster up there, and when you're in a disaster you adopt some
pretty vigorous policies."
Senator Eugene Watts (R) remains skeptical of the plan
without hearing about any details. "What we want to know is, is
there a plan? If so, share it with us. If not, maybe we'll have
to give you one," he said. Watts added: "If we're going to
delegate that responsibility to Mayor White, we want to know
what's going to be done. Does he support increasing academic
standards? How is he going to end the truancy problem? Will he
support a no-pass, no play [sport] rule? Will he end social
promotion?"
*5 ON THE ROAD TO RECEIVERSHIP: MASS. EYES LAWRENCE SCHOOLS
The Mass. Board of Education last week agreed to initiate a
process that could lead to placing Lawrence public schools under
state receivership (Hart, BOSTON GLOBE, 6/17). According to the
paper, Lawrence is the first district to face a state takeover
since the passage of the Education Reform Act of 1993. An act of
the state Legislature put Chelsea and its schools in receivership
during the late 1980s.
A state audit found that Lawrence school officials
"misspent" about $9M in state funds, writes the paper. A state
attorney general review will determine whether criminal charges
could be waged against the superintendent and members of the
Lawrence School Committee.
"The auditor's findings of excessive administrative costs,
inadequate administrative controls, substantial spending on non-
instructional items, and questionable and unreported staff fringe
benefits are deeply troubling," said state Education Commissioner
Robert Antonucci.
Besides allegations of financial mismanagement, the district
is charged with academic abuse. The high school this year lost
its accreditation "five years after it was first placed on
probation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges
and seven years after it received its first warning from the
agency," writes the paper.
Antonucci also pointed out that statewide exam scores at the
high school have remained the same since 1988 and only 49% of the
city's 10th grader took the standardized state test last year,
which was the state's lowest proportion. A state fact-finding
team appointed by Antonucci will have 30 days to collect
information that answers two questions: Why are Lawrence schools
under-performing and what are the prospects for improving, notes
the paper.
Lawrence School Committee member John Housianitis
disapproved of the state board's decision to start takeover
procedures. "This whole effort really, smells," he said. "How
do you decide that this is an under-performing district and then
go ask the people? I don't intend to sit back and let the
schools fall into the hands of people who don't even care about
our children."
Lawrence Mayor Mary Claire Kennedy was disappointed in the
board's decision but conceded that they were left with little
choice. "I don't think the board had any choice, given the fact
that the high school lost its accreditation while the city was
getting millions of dollars," she said. Kennedy has called for
Superintendent James Scully's ouster, but explains the difficulty
with getting the board to fire him. "He has lived here all his
life," she said. "We all know him well and he has a lot of
supporters."
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