Savannah fires entire staff of failing high school. By the numbers, this school is in trouble.
Now, it is a high school in the Savannah-Chatham County district preparing to fire its entire staff after the school failed to move its dismal graduation rate. Beach High School meets the definition of a failing school because it has been classified as needing improvement for the past seven years by the state.
According to the story in the AJC:
The 200 employees at Beach High School — including the principal — will work there through the end of the year but will not be rehired for that school, said Karla Redditte, spokeswoman for the Savannah-Chatham County school district.
The teachers can reapply for their jobs but only half can be rehired under federal education law, she said. Staff can also apply for other jobs in the school district.
“It is a sad day for us,” Redditte said by phone as she stood outside the 950-student school in south Georgia.
Experts estimate the mass-firing tactic is used to turn around 20 to 30 schools in the U.S. annually.
If a failing school in Georgia refuses to make any of those changes, the state places a special administrator in the school to focus on annual progress measures such as test scores and graduation rates. In Georgia this year, 45 schools have state administrators in them, including Beach High School, state Department of Education spokesman Matt Cardoza said.
Beach has been on the state’s lowest performing list for seven years, he said.
Like the Rhode Island high school that President Obama cited as an example of a dramatic action needed to shake up education, Beach High is taking the option of last resort to improve its performance and prevent state sanctions that could make it ineligible for federal for up to $6 million in federal money, officials said Thursday.
In a recent speech on school reform, Obama said, “We’ll not only challenge states to identify high schools with graduation rates below 60 percent, we’re going to invest another $900 million in strategies to get those graduation rates up. Strategies like transforming schools from top to bottom by bringing in a new principal, and training teachers to use more effective techniques in the classroom. Strategies like closing a school for a time and reopening it under new management, or even shutting it down entirely and sending its students to a better school. And strategies like replacing a school’s principal and at least half of its staff. Now, replacing school staff should only be done as a last resort.”
Under the turnaround model that shoves every school employee from principal to custodian out the door, the new management of the school can hire back half the staff.
According to state data, Beach High has 1,000 students, 77 percent of whom qualify for free and reduced lunches.
In 2006, Beach had a graduation rate of 55.9 percent. (Two years earlier, the rate had been a shocking 37.1)
However, the school was showing signs of improvement. Last year, according to the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, the grad rate was 65.9 percent, compared to the school system rate of 72.2 percent rate
On the Georgia High School Graduation Tests, 22 percent of Beach students failed science; 28 percent failed social studies; 10 percent failed English; and 10 percent failed mathematics. However, when you look at the far worse End of Course test failure rates across all maths, you have to wonder why the state even bothers to give the Georgia High School Graduation test in math since it doesn’t seem to reflect any real competency.
(Please note: I updated these scores Friday morning with the 2008-2009 data. What is odd to me is that Beach improved dramatically on the Georgia High School Graduation Tests last year, but went down on the End of Course Tests overall. Can someone please explain that to me? Having sat through the original discussion of the EOCTs, I have more faith in them than I do the GHSGT, but still wonder how a school could improve its science passage on the high school graduation test by so much, yet do so poorly on the science and math EOCTs.)
While the nation’s average ACT scores was 21.1 and Georgia’s was 20.3, Beach’s average was 15.9
Here are the End of Course failure rates at Beach for 2008-2009:
Algebra, 90 percent
Geometry, 87 percent
Biology, 79 percent
US History, 86 percent
Physical Science, 69 percent
9th grade Literature, 52 percent
American Lit, 40 percent
Economics, 79 percent
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99 comments Add your comment
Philosopher
March 25th, 2010
5:34 pm
This debacle did not begin in the highschool-hope someone is looking a whole lot further back!
old teacher
March 25th, 2010
5:38 pm
You are right philosopher.
V for Vendetta
March 25th, 2010
5:46 pm
I see this as a dangerous trend developing, one that could result in the firing of any and all staff working at a failing high school. I’ve never seen a company fire all of its employees at once, even when on the ropes.
Though I think we need some drastic changes in education, I wonder how much of this decision was made in regards to the well being of the students and how much of it was made with the hope of attracting some media attention and/or federal attention. It’s easy to fire everyone. What do they propose to do to FIX IT?
This is where Philosopher hit the nail on the head: They need to start looking at how they got into this mess in the first place.
lulu
March 25th, 2010
5:59 pm
Definitely, Philosopher! Most of the high school kids I tutor in math are perfectly capable of understanding the concepts of algebra and geometry, but fail in the execution because they don’t know the difference between dividing and subtracting or multiplying by 0 and 1, and heaven forbid any negative numbers are involved! There is NO way these kids in Savannah had failure rates in math like the ones above without being completely incompetent in the basics.
If they think the firings will help, though, they may as well go ahead and fire all of the elementary and middle school teachers as well. Not sure it’ll make a difference, though.
justbrowsing
March 25th, 2010
6:07 pm
I agree Philosopher that it did not begin in the school. Something has to change so teachers are empowered to hold students accountable. Failure to do this amounts to nothing more than unfair dismissal. The types of changes necessary for this school to reverse its entrenched rates of failure would need to be initiated from the top levels of leadership. At the same time, however, I feel that some accountability is necessary and the school could not continue down the same path it was on.
CB
March 25th, 2010
6:13 pm
This will be a story worth following long-term. When a new staff/administration is brought on board, I’ll be very anxious to see what kind of time frame is set for them to make the kind of positive change sought by the school district.
Lee
March 25th, 2010
6:27 pm
Beach HS is 95% black. Need I say more?
BTW, good luck on hiring and retaining any teachers going forward. This is akin to firing the jockey when he doesn’t win the Kentucky Derby while riding a Shetland Pony.
Also, before you politically correct pathogens start calling me racist, show me a school that is 95% White and 70% free/reduced lunch that has worse scores/failure rates and I promise I’ll never bring the subject up again.
Lumpkin Bumpkin
March 25th, 2010
6:28 pm
I am a high school math teacher. Every year my middle school sends me 25% to 30% of a freshman class who failed their CRCT test in math. By the time we get done with them, 90 plus percent graduate and pass all of the standardized tests. We also have over 50% free and reduced lunch students.
The problem is not the students.
Teaching in FL is worse
March 25th, 2010
6:37 pm
Generally, it seems like the education community (of which I am a part) tends to subconciously believe that if we at least look like we’re trying to reform, that’s good enough. Hence, the constant trends!
Fire everybody, hire most of them back. That’ll buy us a few more years. That way, we don’t need to look too deeply at the root causes.
retired teacher
March 25th, 2010
6:39 pm
I think people would find it very interesting to see college from which each of these teachers received their education degrees. You can be sure that there is a significant difference in the qualifications/competency of teachers from various in state colleges of education.
ScienceTeacher671
March 25th, 2010
6:49 pm
IIRC, one of the elementary schools in Savannah did the same thing a couple of years ago. Wonder if it was one of the feeder schools for Beach? It also seems that they’ve had several violent incidents at the school, including a shooting in the parking lot….
Come on
March 25th, 2010
6:58 pm
I’m sorry; but if a school is on the NI list for 8 YEARS and there is no improvement, we should look at the teaching!!! Those failure rates are ridiculous; there is obviously little to no learning taking place in that school. I am a teacher. I don’t want to be scared about losing my job either, but if you are not performing…In any other profession (or most anyway) you wouldn’t have a job. Why do we as teachers think differently?!?!?!?
Hey, It's Enrico Pallazzo
March 25th, 2010
7:01 pm
“The school system is saying that teachers asked for more money for changes like additional training and a longer school day.”
So the teachers are trying to find a solution by asking the district for more training (to make them better teachers, I am assuming) and longer work days (to better prepare for their students) for which they would like be compensated. But the district thinks a better idea is to fire them all, rehire some of them, and bring in new teachers who probably have no classroom experience. Sounds like a good plan. Did Sonny or Kathy Cox come up with that?
Sue Jenkins
March 25th, 2010
7:06 pm
Public schools will NEVER show improvement while the students are allowed to be in charge.
Refuse to allow cellphones in class and insist that students show respect to teachers.
the prof
March 25th, 2010
7:09 pm
Bring back the paddle!
catlady
March 25th, 2010
7:12 pm
There are some things I would like to know: what is the practice followed in this area on retention? How many of the kids are passed on from grade to grade without mastery of the GPS? How many failed the CRCT year after year and yet were sent on? How many years of experience do the teachers have? What are their degrees, and from where? What are the rates of ISS/OSS? (What behavior standards are the students held to?)
I am willing to bet these facts would give us even more information than the 70% federal lunch.
catlady
March 25th, 2010
7:15 pm
BTW, the problems with this school start AT THE TOP. In this case, no lower than the superintendent’s office. Yet he will get rid of those who have been laboring under his leadership and policies.
justbrowsing
March 25th, 2010
7:18 pm
It is interesting that the teachers asked for additional money for training and a longer school day. Sounds like the same thing I read in an article on the teachers of Central Falls. Teachers are entitled to additional compensation for longer school days. The general public seems to feel that everything we do should be motivated for the greater good. Money matters also.
Hank Rearden
March 25th, 2010
7:23 pm
Swap that faculty with the one at Marist and the graduation rates at each school wouldn’t change a bit.
The community served by Beach is a disaster. At present, Beach is nothing but a stop before prison. And as long as the power of the purse is able to sell it’s ’small guv’ment’ snake oil, there’s no need for them to use the N-word.
Clever, eh?
cp
March 25th, 2010
7:24 pm
Ronald McNair Middle School in DeKalb County did the SAME THING about eight years ago. Do you think their scores improved at all? You haven’t heard any update about that in the media, ever. It was the teachers’ fault then, too. Not crackhead mothers, unknown fathers or Grandmas raising children. Of course, to hold back more than 10 percent of each class would be racist, so administrators made sure THAT never happened!
catlady
March 25th, 2010
7:29 pm
filter alert!
Norma Rae
March 25th, 2010
7:30 pm
It all starts with the HOME. Not one politician will ever have the guts to put the blame squarely where it belongs–on parents who are thugs themselves. Teachers can not be held accountable for that.
Coming to Clayton
March 25th, 2010
7:37 pm
Coming to the Clayton County Public School system soon! CCPS is on its 5th year of not making AYP! A state takeover looms and it is time for the citizens of Clayton to stand up and demand changes! Sorry test scores, administrators that don’t care, teachers unable to teach because of behavior issues, illegal class grouping and tracking, special education problems, and don’t forget about SACS! CCPS is next and that might be a good thing!
HS Teacher, Too
March 25th, 2010
7:51 pm
The problem is that many of us teachers know what it is like to have a 17-year-old 8th grader. (And I am talking about a kid without an IEP.) At some point, the problem can’t get fixed without having the impossible: one-on-one lessons with these kids. So they DO get passed on, because they HAVE to get passed on. But then they continue to do nothing, as they’ve always done. Whose fault is that? Home’s? The middle school’s? The elementary school’s? The high school teacher who receives them? It’s an impossible quandary.
Take this: I have a perfectly capable 16-year-old in my 8th grade PRE-ALGEBRA class right now. He is BRIGHT! He is white, for those of you for whom that matters. He is articulate and personable. And HE HAS A 14. Literally, his class average is a 14. Fourteen Percent. As a school, as a team, as an individual teacher, we have done every intervention known to mankind. The child refuses to do anything. We take him from electives to sit in the principal’s office to work on his assignments, and he writes “IDK” for every problem. We bring him in for tutoring and he won’t work anything, even when it’s just he and a teacher together at a table, even when the teacher works examples and asks for simple regurgitation. What more can we do?
So you get a school full of kids like this, throw in a few who not only won’t do, but can’t do … and you’ve got that failure rate. It’s not hard to imagine, unfortunately.
Sigh.
I don’t know the answers. Or, more correctly, I don’t know of any practical answers.
But we can’t say it’s the high school’s fault entirely. And if we close the school and ship the kids off to other schools, the majority of those kids won’t improve to match their environment. They’ll simply bring the scores of the new school down. Why can’t any politicians see this?!
ken
March 25th, 2010
7:56 pm
Norma Rae, straight on! Senator Eric Johnson, the Voucher Nazi, should try focusing his efforts on gettig parents off their hindsides and be responsible! Hey, send the Beach H.S. kids over to Dr. DOoLITTLE’s Go Fish pond in Perry. Maybe they can find work there! Oh, it will be nice to finally have a governor after an 8 year absence.
Ole Guy
March 25th, 2010
8:26 pm
What’s that ole saying about throwing out the baby with the bath water…that school district, or for that matter, any district adopting similar practices, will be hard-pressed to find any but the most-desperate teachers.
Hats off to The Prof…re-introducing that marvel of discipline control, the paddle, would, over time, accomplish much in terms of re-acquiring an educational system which serves as far more than a babysitting service for apathetic parents while, at the same time, introducing a little discipline, and maybe a little direction, in today’s youth. I’m quite certain The Prof (and perhaps some of the readers) will agree that, distasteful as the paddle may seem, there simply are no other effective means of “straightening out” wayward kids. If someone could come up with an alternate plan THAT WORKS, I am sure interest would be universal.
Left to the current methodology of “educational reform”, we are definetely on a slippery slope, recovery from which, in the not-too-distant future, will be impossible.
Race to the top? Was Epic Failure already trademarked?
March 25th, 2010
8:28 pm
Sometimes even the minutest of details can tell the whole story; in this case a story of complete and totally intellectual dishonesty, otherwise known as Obama’s Education Plan.
Go to the local bookstore and find Education Week’s Obama’s Education Plan. Look in the index. Find the word discipline; how many pages are devoted to it?
Yes, that’s a trick question, BECAUSE YOU WON’T EVEN FIND THE WORD “DISCIPLINE” IN THE INDEX!!!!!!!!
How absolutely intellectually dishonest is it to have a “plan” for schools, especially failing ones, and you CAN’T FIND A SINGLE REFERENCE to the word discipline?
Not that Bush’s “plan” before him was any more honest about dealing with discipline, because it wasn’t. But you would think the current administration was aiming a little higher than “equally pathetic, and just as intellectually dishonest” when it came to education.
ScienceTeacher671
March 25th, 2010
8:41 pm
The football team and the basketball team at Beach usually do very well. That’s what is important, right?
Tom
March 25th, 2010
8:42 pm
Did anyone else realize the major discrepancy here? Approximately 15% of the students at Beach failed the math portion of the Georgia High School Graduation test. Yet 80-85% of the students failed the end-of-course tests in Math. Teachers have been complaining about the new Math Curriculum ever since it came out. This year’s senior class, taught all of their math before the new curriculum had a passing rate of 85%. The students under the new math program have a failing rate of 85%. Can’t people understand how Kathy Cox and her State Department are ruining math students all across the state of Georgia?
Hey, It's Enrico Pallazzo
March 25th, 2010
8:48 pm
@ScienceTeacher671 Let’s just hope they didn’t fire the coaches!
HStchr
March 25th, 2010
8:53 pm
Graduation test scores are the ones used for AYP counts. When you have a school with a whopping 70% living at or below poverty level, the solution goes far beyond the staff. You’re dealing with a poorly educated community where kids who can pass the GHSGT in language arts are far beyond most of the community. Poverty and generations of lack of education cannot be solved by clearing out a faculty. The problem then becomes filling those vacancies. They’ll rehire some, but many new faces, most of whom will have no teaching experience, let alone experience teaching kids from poverty, will come in and the scores will be the same or worse. The graduation rate rose dramatically in a few years, signalling that the school was improving. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this goes.
Bottom line: it’s all about the money. The state and local leaders see this as a way to get money and that’s it. How long will the gravy train last? What happens if the school doesn’t see significant gains next year? This is solely for money, and that’s all.
booklover
March 25th, 2010
9:00 pm
Who is going to want to go work at a school like this? How many of the new teachers are going to be highly qualified? How many are even going to last the school year?
I suspect some of the commenters on this board have never worked in or visited an inner-city high school. It truly takes a special soul to teach at a school like Beach.
Of course, those unlucky new graduates have to teach somewhere… I pity them. Good thing Savannah has a few military bases nearby…Beach can trap some of those Army wife teachers who are new to the area and don’t know any better.
Todd
March 25th, 2010
9:06 pm
Why don’t we fire the parents?
Old Physics Teacher
March 25th, 2010
9:11 pm
We have done this to ourselves! We let 20-somethings go directly into graduate schools from undergrad status – they do research using statistical formulas that were developed for entirely different processes that have nothing to do with the worthless data they’ve gathered; we promote incompetent teachers into administration, and we accept conclusions these incompetent people draw from erroneous data. We have been told a simple fact time and time again: the greatest effect on student learning is THEIR PARENTS. Teacher effects rank below peer effects, and we blame teachers as the cause of poor student learning. As Pogo said, “We have met the enemy,and it is us!”
lynn
March 25th, 2010
9:21 pm
In fairness, if you look at their most recent report card, their graduation rate is up to 65.9 percent as compared to their school system’s 72.2 percent rate. The science failure rate on GHSGT improved to a 78 percent passage rate.
Here is the most current report card — based on last year’s data.
http://reportcard2009.gaosa.org/(S(y42gtf55yurtn0bdk4bham55))/k12/reports.aspx?ID=625:2052&TestKey=hs&TestType=qcc&CompareType=Parent
Todd
March 25th, 2010
9:22 pm
Kathy Cox can’t even balance her checkbook!
lynn
March 25th, 2010
9:24 pm
It isn’t going to take simply hiring new teachers. Someone has to change the culture of the school. The community needs to take ownership and care. Students have to want to be successful.
doh
March 25th, 2010
9:27 pm
I teach in Chat. county. Beach is a disaster, the entire neighborhood is a disaster. A few years ago the major elementary feeder school to Beach, Spencer elementary did the same exact thing and fired everyone. The problem isn’t the teachers, nor the curriculum, or the administration, the problem is the community. Drive around that area of Savannah and you can see why the school is the way it is.
The problem in savannah is that the kids start losing it around 4th grade, in 5th it gets worse and by middle school you can tell who is going to make it and who won’t. I teach 8th grade and the skills of my kids are at the level of 3rd graders, why? Because they do not study at home, practice at home, and parents don’t push them at home.
The district is reorganizing the schools this year and opening up a new K-8 building, so teachers at Beach will be hired back and then shuffled to another school in the district. My concern is that I may be assigned to this hell hole of a school.
Just an onlooker
March 25th, 2010
9:36 pm
A high school cannot compensate for the education received in elementary and middle school. It sounds like the community needs to get involved and parents need to start doing their part in making education a priority. The failure rate on the EOCTs is unacceptable because they are so hightly curved by the state. Students should be able to randomly “Christmas Tree” these tests and score higher. There seems to be more issues than just the teachers in this school system. It takes a village to raise your children, and teachers alone do not make a village!!
Beach is NOT Central Falls
March 25th, 2010
9:41 pm
Maureen – the Beach faculty and staff did not ask for more money and a longer school day. That was part of the contract negotiations between the Central Falls faculty and their superintendent. Beach’s situation was totally predicated on the repeated failure to meet AYP. Thanks.
nitastink
March 25th, 2010
10:05 pm
to all of those who gave sensible feedback, kudos. to all of those who have never lived in poverty or been are raised in an area where hopelessness is the norm shut up and don’t judge people. The color of a child has nothing to do with this. the Appalachian area of US has some of the same grim statistics but you don’t see anybody say that it’s because they are white. I’ve lived in Georgia all my life and I am sick of the bigots who are always looking at skin color when responding to blogs. If you are not a part of the solution then shut up. How about we, “christians ” figure out how to lend a helping hand instead of resorting to being ugly. Did any of you consider the fact that maybe one generation of illiterate people begat another generation of the same. Until something is done to find out what is going on with the parents, be they young, old, single or married the problem will not go away. Consider how demeaning and embarrassing it is for a parent when they aren’t smart enough to help their children with their homework. Consider that they can’t get decent jobs because of their lack of a basic education, ie high school diploma. Did anyone consider how embarrassing it is to talk to a teacher who makes you feel dumb and yes it happens, although not necessarily intentional. i did a research paper on illiteracy and these are some of the issues that these parents probably face. How about not judging and being empathetic to those who through their own mistakes or not, messed up royally and don’t know where or how to change things. I would love the opportunity to help bring about a change in this community. Looks like the city of Savannah and the state has let these kids down. It isn’t just a reflection on the beach community it is a reflection on the city and the State. what happened to simple compassion.
@lee, your hood has reared it’s ugly head and no it would not happen in a white school because white politicians would make sure the school had the funding it needs to fix the problem. chew on that idiot
Tony
March 25th, 2010
10:11 pm
Schools with failure rates like this can not simply blame the school staff. This is a community problem. There has to be an underlying disregard for learning among the students and the parents. Else, the outcomes of the tests would be much better.
It is a very sad day that an entire faculty takes the fall for a sorry community.
Dar
March 25th, 2010
10:15 pm
I have read all of the comments and see now just how bad the public schools are getting. The problem is that we leave teachers no choice but to teach to the lowest common denominator — the students who can’t or won’t learn. All of this in the name of equal access. What about the kids who can learn and who want to learn? Don’t they deserve better? I live in a wealthy suburb with good schools. My son, a 6th grader, had some problems with math, so I enrolled him in a commercial program for almost a year and now I pay a teacher at his school $80 to tutor him for 2 hours per week. Just the other day the boy down the street received multiple detentions and an ISS (all in one day) and I don’t have to guess what that does to the classroom environment. The boy’s mother has never even bothered to go in and get the access number for his online grades – I know because he told me that, and other things, before saying that his mom doesn’t care about his schooling. The kid is practically crying for help — I do all that I can, but I cannot do it all. I feel for the teachers and the other students, the ones who want to learn. Screw all of this feel-good equal access stuff. We need a few special schools in the area in which to place these troubled kids with hard-nosed educators who have a free hand to really teach them.
RJ
March 25th, 2010
10:17 pm
“Beach HS is 95% black. Need I say more?”
@Lee, so what? Perhaps you would like a one way ticket to Costa Rica with Rush…
I agree with many posts above, this started years before.
Beach High Teacher
March 25th, 2010
10:18 pm
I teach at Beach…… HS Teacher Too…imagine 5 or 6 of those in a class of 25. If it’s a repeater class, its 22 or 23 out of 25. The OSS rate is not too bad, but ISS is mostly at capacity. The school district says lower the out of school suspension rate…so ISS stays full. Nevermind getting tough on chronic behavior problems like windsor did. These kids cant remember basic supplies or how to wear the uniform properly. It’s a level of carelessness most couldnt begin to imagine. The parents have disconnected home phones, but the kid has a cell phone in class instead of paying attention. They need an alternative school for this campus….near the campus. The 30-40% that dont come to learn need to be kept away from the rest that do. Get the bad apples out and the rest of the bunch will know you mean business.
Dar
March 25th, 2010
10:19 pm
p.s. one more year of public school and then I am moving my son to Riverside Military Academy where he can get a quality education among other students who truly want to learn. I hate to do it. I am a product of public schools all the way through grad school….but I finally have to admit that public schools just don’t cut it anymore, not even out here in the “land of the gilded cages.”
high school teacher
March 25th, 2010
10:28 pm
Please don’t judge all of public education with reports of one school. We haven’t completely gone to the dogs just yet.
Will Teach For Food
March 25th, 2010
10:40 pm
Maureen – Can we get some information on the long term results of situations like this? Sounds like a great story.
Sade
March 25th, 2010
10:53 pm
This might seem drastice but sometimes drastic measures need to be taken. If the parents won’t parent, remove the children from the home and permanently place the them in a group home or orphanage. Cease all gov’t funding of non-parenting parents and give it to the group home where these children will live and the learn the value of an education along with a large dose of ethics amd morals. Stop the never-ending cycle of bad parenting with a good quality education in this blighted area and then you will see a change for the better.
Sade
March 25th, 2010
10:55 pm
typo s/b drastic
Sade
March 25th, 2010
11:06 pm
To HS Teacher, Too – Has the school thought to have this bright articulate teenager tested for a learning disability in math? You have tried everything but nothing is working, therefore you should consider the impossible. There are wonderful students out there who might seem perfectly capable, but for some learning math is an impossiblity, so they have given up trying.
Dar
March 25th, 2010
11:19 pm
@high school teacher. In my opinion, the problem with public schools is that they are forced to take everyone. My son has great teachers and the building and staff are top notch. I just wish that the teachers could spend their time teaching the kids that want to learn. My desire to move my son to RMA is solely the result of the degredation of the learning experience at the school caused by the children of parents who do not care. You read it correctly….these parents DO NOT CARE! I am a single mom with a very demanding career and yet I make the time each night to do homework with my son….I check the online grades and blogs….I hire tutors….and he participates in sports…..you name it, I am squeezing it in. Here in the County of Plenty, there are two parent homes, sometimes with one staying home, who just don’t seem to care how their children behave or whether they learn and that ruins it for the rest.
Tweets that mention Savannah fires entire staff of failing high school. By the numbers, this school is in trouble. | Get Schooled -- Topsy.com
March 26th, 2010
12:54 am
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Philosopher
March 26th, 2010
6:47 am
the prof : Right!! Let’s just line them all up and beat the crap out of them. That’ll raise the IQ’s, they’ll suddenly read at a college level, math will immediately make sense to them and suddenly you’ll have a 100% graduation rate. This problem began with adults and it’s adults who need to take responsibility and come up with the solutions to problems that THEY created! Beating kids may be easy, satisfying and gain some short-term results, but is NOT a solution to this problem.
justbrowsing
March 26th, 2010
6:58 am
In my opinion, when schools exist in communities such as this, it is best to just shut them down. They should not be reopened. The community should be rezoned and the students move to other schools where failure is not the norm. Only then do these students have an actual chance at changing their situations. I would allow current students who want to stay in the school the opportunity to complete their educations there, but would begin phasing the school out by moving the 9th graders for the next school year to other schools to break up the cycle.
justbrowsing
March 26th, 2010
7:00 am
Abrupt firings are dramatic and bring attention to headlines, but are too easy, ineffectual, and misguided.
justbrowsing
March 26th, 2010
7:05 am
I meant ineffective
Joy in Teaching
March 26th, 2010
7:46 am
@ Beach High Teacher
I am so very sorry for what happened to you as a result of the community’s lack of concern for their children. I’ve also taught in those high school repeater classes and grew to realizer that it actually was one of Dante’s circles of hell.
People go into education because they care about children. They understand the doors that an education can open. It doesn’t take long until they figure out that educating kids is no longer the prime objective of schools which is why so many teachers leave the profession within the first three years. . The general public just has no clue as to how powerless teachers really are when it comes to discipline, to holding kids back, or anything else as far as education goes. And Obama clearly has no clue either.
It’s just sad.
Maureen Downey
March 26th, 2010
8:03 am
Beach is not Central falls, The original news story had cited those issues, but then was corrected, so I have taken that information out of the blog. However, I hope the AJC can do its own report as I am getting conflicting information from folks in Savannah about what they were asked to do and what they were willing to do and what they felt they could do.
The question is: Why couldn’t the school turnaround with its current staff? Did the Chatham superintendent feel that the school staff was unwilling, unable or incapable of the changes needed? Or was this the quickest path given the pressure the school was under? (It would not seem so to me as hiring new folks seems like a lot of work.)
If anyone has any answers, please post.
Maureen
Maureen Downey
March 26th, 2010
8:06 am
Lynn, Thanks for the update. However, on the GOSA report card, please note the still dismal EOCT results. I will post the updated grad rate.
Maureen
Gwinnett Parent
March 26th, 2010
8:14 am
The teachers need to do a complete assessment the day before the beginning of class so that they can show how behind the students were to begin with. Also, document everything such as conferences, tutoring, tests, communication with administrators, and discipline problems. When someone decides to eradicate the entire school, the teachers can band together with documentation. Since the school has decided to eliminate staff and start over, they should seriously consider hiring ex-military, especially former Marines. Sounds like a lot of these students need hard discipline. Also, the parents need to be held accountable.
I wonder how much free communication was going on between administrators and staff. Was discipline handled promptly? Did they separate the students by behavioral problems, motivation, and skill?
Was the school more concerned with keeping numbers down as far as violent attacks and not reporting it to the police? Were the students with potential too scared to go to school? Did the teachers have experience handling at risk teens or conflict resolution? Conflict resolution in a war zone(this school) is a lot different than it is in the middle class suburbs.
HS Teacher, Too
March 26th, 2010
8:34 am
Sade — he’s been tested to the heavens and back. And it’s not just math in which he refuses to work. It’s pervasive. I think he is literally waiting until he is old enough to drop out — and at this rate, quite honestly, I can see that as both a waste (for him) and a blessing (for his teachers and classmates).
Lisa B.
March 26th, 2010
8:37 am
McNair Middle School in Dekalb County finally made AYP in 2009 after being restructured a number of years ago. I don’t work there or know what changed. I just saw mention of the school as one that had been reconstituted and hadn’t checked the AYP status in awhile. The DOE website says McNair was an NI5 (needs improvement 5th year) before making AYP last year, so evidently, restructuring the school didn’t immediately solve the problems.
Jennifer
March 26th, 2010
9:15 am
So if you really want to see just how bad the education is inside an alternative education facility…keep in mind these facilities have flown underneath the AYP radar since 2004 when the schools figured out how to manipulate the FAY rule. Take a look at this:
GHST:
Science: 22% Failed @ Beach; 30% Failed @ Elberta High School Alt Ed
Social Studies: 28% Failed @ Beach, 30% Failed @ Elberta High School Alt Ed
English: 10% Failed @ Beach; 20% Failed @ Elberta High School Alt Ed
Math: 10% Failed @ Beach; 20% Failed @ Elberta High School Alt Ed
Poverty: @ Beach 77%; Poverty @ Elberta High Alt Ed 96%
And this is where Houston County sends a good number of students for minor school rule violations. Go figure. And the EOCT are not much better.
Elberta High will never, ever be identified through the AYP process for sanctions. The district knows just how to play the game to keep it that way. Why these local board members want to keep kids uneducated is way beyond me.
Dan
March 26th, 2010
9:19 am
Here is a staff that needs to be fired
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/03/25/teachers-leave-boy-stranded-tree-school-policy/
European style education anyone?
Jennifer
March 26th, 2010
9:21 am
FYI Beach High Teacher. I have not done research on your county alternative school, but if you have one I can be pretty much assured that the results are not much better than the one I listed above located in Houston County, Elbert High.
Unless teachers and districts and the state get serious about trying to educate kids and be accountable for them if removed to alt ed facilities, you are just moving one student into an even worse situation which will do nothing to help him/her as evidenced by the dismal data results. If alt ed facilities were required to be part of AYP in their own way – every single one of them would likely be closed down like Beach.
LivefromLilburn
March 26th, 2010
9:43 am
@Philosopher: You’re right!!!The problem doesn’t start in high school. It begins with parents and translates to schools. If the kids don’t have a strong foundation…guess what?? The house falls. Middle school is where they should be introducing all these grandiose progams (Americas Choice, Ramp up classes, mandatory tutorials and saturday schools). We’ll have more students who haven’t learned anything and teachers without jobs if we keep this “restructing and teaching teachers new techniques” crap up.
Meme
March 26th, 2010
10:06 am
The problem not only begins in the lower grades but it begins at home. Unless education is stressed at home, students will not care.
clueless
March 26th, 2010
10:14 am
Has the state actually taken over any schools yet? I want to see the experts at DOE run a school!
Just a Thought
March 26th, 2010
10:22 am
We just finished the GHSGT this week. I can give you one guess as to why the EOCT scores are lower than the graduation test scores. EOCT does not count for AYP. GHSGT does. When teachers finish the GHSGT they figure if the kids don’t know it by now then they will never know it. There is more emphasis on GHSGT. There is little to no emphasis on the EOCT. I personally wish they would get rid of the GHSGT and focus on EOCTs. Plus, by their junior year these kids are so tested out it’s ridiculous.
One more guess. GHSGT is a broad measure of math skills (more basic) while the EOCT is content specific. Students might show some proficiency on the basic graduation test but not be able to show a deeper level of understanding on the more specific EOCT.
Listen
March 26th, 2010
11:23 am
Here is just a thought. How would a jv team fair against a Varsity team. With school choice, the faculty and staff of BHS had to accept approximately 50% of each freshmen class not meeting middle school requirements for several years. Inspite of this, BHS has made tremendous gains (check those numbers). School choice opens the door for the some of the smartest and brightest students to leave BHS and allow others who have not shown mastery to enter. How would like to be dealt that hand? Everything is not always black and white, there are other factors that some of you are clueless about. And as it relates to the EOCT, students know that EOCT only counts a small percentage of their final grade. Some students do not take them as serious as they do the GHSGT. Juniors have to take two to three EOC test and the GHSGT Battery in same year. Maybe, just maybe, they are tested too much.
Teacher, Too
March 26th, 2010
11:39 am
I think there is a big difference between beating a student and paddling a student. When I was in high school, students had a choice of paddling or afterschool detention. If a student chose afterschool detention, he/she had to walk around campus (outside) and pick up rocks. Then the students had to return the rocks to where (or near) where they belonged. I wanted neither, and the thought of getting paddled or detention kept me in line. Plus, the fear of what my parents would do when I got home.
Education and self-discipline start at home. It carries over to school. Even if parents aren’t well-educated, they need to love their children enough to teach them self-discipline. One doesn’t need to be educated to teach children self-respect and common courtesy.
Philosopher
March 26th, 2010
1:02 pm
@Teacher, Too: Paddling is unnecessary bullying and would not have helped the dismal EDUCATION issues here. If you are too unimaginative to discipline kids without paddling, go elsewhere and to some other profession. If I(and many others like myself)can raise 3 incredibly well-mannered, studious, productive citizens without ever hitting them (or paddling)them, anyone can! Discipline is absolutely necessary-hitting is NOT.
Beach
March 26th, 2010
1:11 pm
Lisa, Beach is also NI5 under the current administration and leadership (including Dr. Lockamy.)
Beach
March 26th, 2010
1:19 pm
Maureen,
With 6 million dollars at stake the district had no choice but to follow the states mandate.
Fire all the staff and administrators! So no one is talking about Bartlett Middle in the same district, where they are doing the same thing! Or Spencer Elementary! 500 Teachers and Staff are now out of work.
Ole Guy
March 26th, 2010
1:29 pm
Philo, regarding the use of paddling as a management tool, I guess the Prof and I are on the same sheet of music. Like having to run to catch the train…no one wants to get all sweaty while in their three-piece, but the alternative is entirely unacceptable. I, and I am quite certain the Prof, wouldn’t advocate a return to the paddle in the classroom just for the pure hell of it. Unfortunately, the pc gods(lawmakers, administrators, etc) have been focused, rhetorically speaking, on staying dry…on not breaking a sweat…in the accomplishments of their jobs. Consequently, generations of kids/young adults/soon-to-be movers and shakers of this blue bb in space have missed the train, the train whose destination is self-discipline and respect, respect for self, for others, and for the tasks at hand.
I’m just shooting from the hip on this one, but I would be most-interested to see some accurate numbers on hs/college graduation rates over the last say 40 years. Likewise the incarceration rates, teen pregnancy, etc. I’m sure we all read of the sad death of the 18 year old kid and his 14 year old sister who were involved in a fatal auto accident not just a few miles from home. I cannot help but wonder if this, and many other senseless deaths, such as the kids who, a few weeks/months ago, broke through some ice and “POOF”…more lives snuffed out MORE THAN LIKELY BECAUSE OF A LAPSE IN SELF-DISCIPLINE…SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.
When the kid has been steeped in a lifetime of endless second chances with absolutely no consequences stapled to the deed, what impact will that have on the kids’ decision-making when there’s no one breathing down his back. (My sincere appology to the survivors of the particular kids in question, for I am simply refering to the environment in which the younger generations are left to “steep”…to develop the “survival senses” in order to flourish)
You’re absolutely right, Philo. Beating up on these kids won’t raise IQs, nor will they raise classroom performance levels. Kids past the age of reason have, for the most part, missed that train. Unfortunately, we only go around once in this here life…no more trains for these kids. If they’ve acquired those survival attributes…discipline, etc…they’re off and running; all we can do at this point is wish em god speed. But if those troubled kids are anything like yours truly back in the day, they’ll never see the adult who cared enough to do the right thing, as distasteful and “sweaty” as it may have been.
Meme
March 26th, 2010
1:47 pm
@Lumpkin Bumpkin – We middle school teachers do not send you students who have failed the CRCT. The administration passes them on so there won’t be an overcrowding in that grade. Don’t blame the teachers for that one.
Elizabeth
March 26th, 2010
1:55 pm
I do not think firing the staff will help becaue too much is out of the teachers’ control. This much of a failure rate has to be more than staff performance, not that anyone will ever see it. I remember when MCNair did that a feew years ago. The difference was that the economy was booming and teachers could easily find other jobe. I remembe thinking that I would not ever reapply for a job at a school if that happened to me. But the economy now means that some of thsoe po[eople willhave to go back. When the economy picks up, however, It will be a different story. Wait and see how few takers they willget to go to those schools then.
Teacher, Too
March 26th, 2010
2:28 pm
Philosopher,
I didn’t say that paddling was necessary. I’m saying the thought of it deterred ME from misbehaving.
If you taught in the schools, you would see that there are FEW consequences that teachers can give to students. And when we do give those FEW consequences, they are generally ineffective because the parents don’t reinforce what we’re trying to accomplish– a classroom that is conducive to learning without the constant behavior interruptions.
I had a parent conference this week in which the parents didn’t seem to think that the constant arguing and disrespect towards the teachers and other students from their son was an issue. Nothing will change and the student will continue to be a behavior problem because the parents accept it.
Just out of curiousity, what are your creative solutions to discipline problems? Maybe you could give us some suggestions other than:
*silent lunch
*change in seat
*isolation
*denial of privileges (computer time, snack machine)
*detention
*phone call/e-mail to parent
*referral to counselor
*referral to administrator
*conference with teacher
*conference with teacher and administrator
*conference with teacher, administrator, and parent
*ISS
*OSS
Chris
March 26th, 2010
2:44 pm
I bet that school is messy they better fire the custdians too. Heck, fire them all at that school until they get 100% graduation rate. Matter of fact, fire the whole county they have bad results also. OK, it does get silly with this way of thinking.
Hey, it's Enrico Pallazzo!
March 26th, 2010
2:56 pm
@ Chris What about the County BOE? Shouldn’t they be fired too? Afterall, they were the ones who hired the superintendent who hired the principal, teachers, and staff. Maybe they need to be held accountable for the poor graduation rates. You are right it does get silly.
Former Beach Teacher
March 26th, 2010
3:15 pm
I taught at Beach in the late ’90s and would not trade my experience there for the world. I still believe in this school. However, for those of you on the outside looking in, you have a lot of things going on in this environment that should be taken into consideration. For the students who are actually fortunate enought to be living with their parent(s), a lot of the parents really are high school graduates themselves but could be classified as functionally illiterate. The parents understand the value of an education; they simply do not have the “tools” themselves to support their children in their educational endeavors. You also have the group of students that are living with grandparents or guardians for various reasons (not all drug- or jail-related). The kids in those situations have abandonment issues they’re dealing with that go way beyond a classroom. Beach is also located down the street from an orphanage which feeds into this school as well as the foster care system. While there are caseworkers and foster parents assigned to these kids, there is no real or vested interest in their (the kids’) future.
Forget the AYP results, NCLB and EOCT’s. The issues I ran up against with those students in that school occurred long before those students ever set foot in my classroom. Firing the entire staff is not going to resolve this…
Science Teacher
March 26th, 2010
3:34 pm
Paddling is not hitting. Get off that PC bandwagon already. Thank God I teach in a system that still understands the attention that a well-administered swat on the backside can command.
bootney farnsworth
March 26th, 2010
4:36 pm
I can understand – sorta – the mass firing of faculty and administrators.
but librarians, custodians, office staff?
classic gov’t overreaction
Thomas County Teacher
March 26th, 2010
5:38 pm
Senator Balfour(R) wants to tie teacher pay to performance. How will they ever get teachers to work in a school like this. They ignore the statistics determining student success, like genetics and parental encouragement. BTW if anyone knows how to get him to respond to an email, let me know
Get it through your thick skull
March 26th, 2010
8:21 pm
IT’S THE DISCIPLINE, STUPID!
CA Civility
March 26th, 2010
11:53 pm
If the facts are as you claim,it is very interesting.
(1) Senator Balfour(R) wants to tie teacher pay to performance.
I wonder if state Senator Balfour would be willing to link his
pay to the leading economic indicators within the state
Georgia (Georgia economic indicators include such data
as employment by industry, weekly manufacturing earnings,
unemployment insurance data, new business starts, motor
vehicle sales, construction permits, and state revenues).
I hope the teachers at Beach High School are not laid off.
I also hope the school is given more authority to develop
discipline policies that will be enforced by the members
in the highest authority in the district. I feel for the Georgia
educators, but at least your budget deficits are not like
those in California-much pain and sorrow for many teachers
in numerous districts this year. Parents,students,teachers,
and administrators try to keep your head up,because the
difficult times will eventually pass.
APS watcher
March 27th, 2010
8:25 am
Expect a well known high school in Atlanta next. This high school has not made AYP for the last 4 years. It was a National School of Excellence… Now, super bright students shun it and it’s graduating seniors represent the last gasp of a once top performing magnet program. Solution? Simple: Require the students to study at home. Require 95% attendance as a prerequisite for receiving any public assistance by parents beginning with pre-K. Require all parents to physically meet with their child’s teacher bi-weekly and set up extended hours on one day for parents so there are no excuses. Require mandatory visits to a home by a social worker if a student misses more than 2 days of school per semester no matter the reason or age. Have a no tolerance policy for disruptive students whereby parents must attend a mandatory meeting with the child’s teacher and administrators before the child can return. Parents who fail to show will lose public assistance benefits and/or have their driver’s license suspended. Give teachers who have 28 students or more in EOCT/GHSGT classes a paraprofessional for help. They are the ones under fire. Make sure that no more than half of a high school teacher’s workload are EOCT/GHSGT classes. Give them an extra prep to tailor their lessons to meet the needs of their classes and make their other classes support for the mandated ones…but whoever listens to us highly educated teachers on the front lines?
ScienceTeacher671
March 27th, 2010
9:03 am
APS watcher, I like most of your suggestions…but I don’t personally think that EOCT/GHSGT classes are that much of burden.
What I’ve found is that students who’ve passed the reading and math CRCTs in middle school will almost always pass the EOCT (as they should, since they only have to get 45% of the questions correct to do so) and students who don’t read or do math well enough to pass the CRCT (but have been socially or IEP promoted anyway) will almost always fail.
Beach Grad
March 27th, 2010
10:22 am
As someone who studied hard, went to EVERY class and managed NOT to get beat up in one of the bathrooms/parking lot/old gym (remember the bats in there!) I can tell you that for some of the ‘teachers’ there, this firing is long overdue. Everyday I saw 2 types of teachers- 1) that cared who had their class under control and taught 2) that had basically checked out and their class was a JOKE to everyone, it didn’t matter that what you did (and here is a little interesting fact- one of these ‘checked out’ teachers later became a principle at another school in Savannah and that school went from a strong academic-based school and became a ‘checked out school’.)
So for what ever it is worth, this graduate of AE Beach and also of Univ of GA (BA), Emory (MA) and Duke (PhD) who made it through (and this was BEFORE any A/C was even thought about) with her head down, legs closed and armor on daily can only shake her head. I guess all the new buildings in the world can’t make a school pass (that money should have been used not on athletics but on more stringent academics).
*interesting fact- Beach actually has several ‘white neighborhoods’ with in it’s district, but most of those parents will take 2nd or 3rd jobs so that their children will get an academic education from a private school and not one that is basically preparing them for a future in either the food service industry or jail.
*another interesting fact, several years ago it seems that someone in the neighborhood like to ‘take out the trash’ meaning kill young girls and dispose of their bodies in Beach’s dumpsters – when you have events like that, what do you think everyone else thinks about it in the community?
Thank G-d that Mr. Mole is long dead, though I believe he is rolling in his grave.
Johnny Too Good
March 27th, 2010
10:35 am
As a resident of SAV and employee of SCCPSS, I agree 100% with APS Watcher ………… we struggle to force feed an education and discipline to students and parents who really don’t care
Ole Guy
March 27th, 2010
6:29 pm
Science Teach, are you implying that there exists a school system which still ascribes to the wood? Ah…BACK TO THE FUTURE!
HStchr
March 27th, 2010
9:53 pm
I have experience teaching in a high poverty school, and I have to agree that it isn’t fair to put all the blame on the parents/guardians. Adults in poverty often lack the resources or time to help their kids as much as they need. As a teacher who voluntarily teaches at-risk kids and loves every one of them, I can tell you that if all the teachers cared and devoted themselves to the kids, we’d be able to save a lot of them and ultimately turn around scores in a school. Part of the problem is that Beach, like many low performing poor schools has a hard time attracting quality teachers who care about teaching the kids they have there. I learned a long time ago that you have to take what you’re given and stop judging the kids. Our job is to reach out and help these kids find a way to a better life, not judge them or their homes for what they are now. They can learn, but we have to quit measuring them with a middle-class, white yard stick that will always show them lacking and unable to succeed. When these kids know you care and have high standards and that you will recognize them for their work, they will work harder than you can imagine.
I don’t think firing the entire staff will work, but I’ll bet you some of the ones leaving need to be somewhere else anyway because they don’t know how to teach these kids and can’t do anything but judge them for not having middle-class homes and values.
T'VILLE DAWG
March 28th, 2010
9:57 am
The problem obviously isn’t the faculty but is obviously young people for what ever reason simply aren’t interested in being educated. We have a lot of that in Georgia, especially in the poorer areas of the state.
Enlightened
March 28th, 2010
3:32 pm
Chicago ’s only public all-male, all-African-American high school charter school in tough neighborhood gets all its seniors into college. Newsworthy, but have we heard about it on the news???? Nope, because it is just too positive. This school demonstrates why it is so important to have high academic expectations for all of the children. The schools that these young men previously attended probably wrote them off as ne’er do wells and look at them now!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/happynews/ct-met-urban-prep-college-20100305,0,3299917.story
Anonymous
March 28th, 2010
3:42 pm
Enlightened: Actually this item was in the national news either last week or the previous week. It was highlighted during the “Making A Difference” segment on NBC by Brian Williams. I saw it…
Lori
April 9th, 2010
11:12 am
When are students and parents going to be held accountable for part of the failure rate? I am a teacher, and I can only teach the students that want to be taught. I have even written answers to a quiz on the board, instructed students to copy the answers, and turn in. I agree that this method is not TEACHING, however, it proved that students don’t care about their grades. copy this off the board, turn it in, and you will get an A. More than half the class didn’t have anything to write with. When given pencils, they still complained when the bell rang that they did not have enough time to complete the assignment. 30 minutes to copy 10 sentences? Please. Yet when more than 90% of those students “failed” the assignment, I was told by a parent that maybe I am too hard. Really? Seriously? Is is no wonder that teachers are leaving the profession in record numbers? Let’s take the blame off of the professional that owes thousands in loans, works 10-12 hour days, supplies paper and pencils to the students, and does everything but dance on the table to get students to participate. Can we please get to the real root of the problem???
Somthing’s buggin’ me «
April 10th, 2010
7:42 pm
[...] new public powers will lead to ‘dark times’ he said. In Savannah USA, and entire workforce was fired – because it was a failing school. In the UK, schools that fail, have simply been [...]
teacher are left behind
August 27th, 2010
11:26 am
And this is the reason why there was cheating in Atlanta City schools…..you are expecting like one the writers said that are cracked addicted kids and unconcerned parents…..And we are expected to Not leave them behind