Thursday, May 26, 2005
Board did its best with emotional school issue
From the RoundTable blog
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Stockburger is chair of the Roanoke School Board. The Blue Ridge Technical Academy study group, on whose recommendation the Roanoke City School Board acted May 18, was a further step in the board's process of carefully looking at this multifaceted issue.
The board listened to the school's stakeholders, including the students, parents and community. We genuinely appreciate the time and energy everyone has put forward relative to the academy issue. Those efforts were not ignored.
The issue was a highly emotional one, and one with which the board struggled. No decisions were made in a cavalier fashion, and no views were dismissed, even when those views were offered in a highly disrespectful manner to staff and board members.
However, we also looked at the data, which provide a more objective view of student achievement at the school. If we say that we are in the business of educating young people, then we had better pay close attention to what the data tell us about all our schools, and try to look beyond the emotions, as difficult as that is.
At the same time, we are deeply concerned about individual students, and we are not duped into thinking that every situation or issue is reflected only in numbers.
As a public school system, we are accountable for making data-driven decisions to the extent that we are able, and making fair decisions with the entire system - all of our students - in mind. That includes making career and technical education decisions (of which Blue Ridge Technical Academy is one) based on what is actually taking place, on outcomes.
We have attempted to do this, resulting in the board's decision on May 18. Clearly, the decision will not please everyone, and would perhaps not be the same decision made in a "perfect world." We believe we made a reasoned, fiscally responsible decision supported by data and student need, and we made it in the context of the entire system, as well as in light of how we can best support and enhance individual student achievement through career and technical education.
While the academy presented the district and the students who attended the school an alternative to a traditional high school, there were some hard questions that needed to be asked relative to instruction: Was the academy meeting its objectives? Were our students achieving?
We realize that many of the students are very happy with the relationships at the school and with the facility-based attributes. However, while it is true that the students at Blue Ridge scored above the district in English, history and math, they did not score a pass rate for science (the pass rate was 67 percent: 41 took the test; 23 passed) which has kept the academy "in warning" under state SOL requirements.
However, the reality is that only six students in the entire school took the English SOL test, and only six were required to, as the enrollment is so small; none passed with an advanced score. Small numbers also took the other tests.
When considering the resources required to sustain the academy and its very small classes, with a large faculty relative to student enrollment, the expectation may be reasonable that all students pass all SOLs, and the school would not be in warning.
As a comparison, teachers at Patrick Henry and William Fleming often have 120-plus students to prepare for SOL testing, and both schools are fully accredited. Were it possible to spend an amount equal to that spent on Blue Ridge students on every child in the district, and to provide the optimum facility for every child, keeping class sizes under eight to 10 students, then all our students would most likely be achieving and all our schools would be fully accredited.
There are students at Blue Ridge for whom achievement is a struggle; there are students in our other schools who struggle as well. Finally, attendance at the academy is below the average for the district. In listening to the parents and community, we realize the value of career and technical education. We also understand there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution when it comes to educating students.
That is precisely why the two new high school facilities will reflect a more customized approach to education and incorporate the "small learning community" concept.
The study group recommendation is for the next year; it is not the long-term solution to how we will best educate our students in a career and technical education track. The long-term goal is to determine how to best offer career and technical education to as many students as desire it, and at a point in their high school careers where it makes sense academically.
As the academy began as a charter school, students enrolled from other localities; they were not required to pay tuition. Instructional and other costs were met through the Roanoke City Public School budget.
Parents of students attending the academy who reside in other districts have indicated that they are reluctant to send their students to high school in these other districts.
While we welcomed all students to Blue Ridge, it became an increasingly expensive proposition to fund a regional charter school. Charter school status puts limitations on accessing career and tech funding.
We will now do everything possible to help transition those students out of district to the new program. We thank the academy advisory board for its continuing help with Blue Ridge Technical Academy.
The academy advisory board, in concert with the school district career and tech advisory board, will focus on creating a sustainable plan for career and tech education. While it was the financial dilemma that brought the Blue Ridge issue to the forefront, it would be unsound for us not to take a comprehensive look at how the school is doing and where it might go in the future.
The board looks forward to doing all it can to make the transition to the next year a smooth one. Then we will diligently begin work on a comprehensive plan for career and technical education in Roanoke City Public Schools, incorporating the best of the technical academy with what we have learned since the issue hit the spotlight this spring.
