PED rejects APS plans for 3 failing schools
State education boss says students are ‘underserved’
Denied. Albuquerque Public Schools’ plans to turn around its three worst-performing schools were rejected Wednesday by the New Mexico Public Education Department, which gave APS one more chance to resubmit.
PED provided the district three more weeks to submit more acceptable plans, telling the Journal that APS submissions didn’t significantly redesign or restructure the three schools needing “more rigorous interventions,” or MRIs, in every way.
Now, plans for Los Padillas, Whittier and Hawthorne elementary schools — all of which have received five or six consecutive F school grades — have to go back to the drawing board with feedback from PED in mind. The new deadline is April 11. Christopher Ruszkowski, PED secretary-designate, sent letters to Superintendent Raquel Reedy about the three schools’ applications, outlining eight areas on which the schools need to focus.
The response letters stated that each of the applications “lacks the requisite urgency, clarity, and cohesiveness to dramatically improve student achievement outcomes.”
APS had four options to reform the three schools: close the school, restart as a charter school, “champion and provide choice,” or restructure and redesign.
The district chose the restructure and redesign approach for all of the MRI schools.
In its applications, the district proposed keeping much of the same staffs and helping pay fees for professional development. It also suggested bringing in community members to enhance students’ learning in a “genius hour.” But PED contended this could decrease the amount of time students spend with a teacher.
“The plan does not fully prioritize the needs of our students,” Ruszkowski wrote about each school.
The PED letters said each school should, instead, select principals with multiyear track records of increasing student performance to be compensated at higher salaries than any other principals in the district, among other suggestions.
All teachers need to have a track record of being highly effective or exemplary by the start of next school year, and they should be paid more than any other teachers in the district, according to PED. And the agency said students should get more instructional time with their teachers, adding any supplemental learning opportunities should occur in addition to that student-teacher face time.
PED also recommended the suspension of the district’s collective bargaining agreement for the next three years for the schools.
“In an urgent school turnaround situation with our students’ futures at stake, the superintendent and school principal will need the freedom to manage all aspects of the district and school, and the freedom to make student-centered decisions pertaining to scheduling and staffing,” according to the letter.
Albuquerque Teachers Federation President Ellen Bernstein called that recommendation “anti-teacher” and “anti-union.”
“It’s a thinly veiled attempt to take away rights of teachers and the school,” she said.
About half of APS teachers are ATF members.
Ruszkowski offered to meet with district administrators to discuss APS options.
APS spokeswoman Monica Armenta said the administration is “grateful for and appreciates the Public Education Department’s feedback” and “APS looks forward to meeting with the Public Education Department.”
Armenta said the Board of Education and Reedy will review PED’s comments and meet with the principals to decide the next steps.
Reedy and Board of Education President David Peercy declined to comment on PED’s decision Wednesday.
If PED denies APS’ new proposals, the agency will decide what measures the schools should take, which could include closure, installing new leadership of the school or promoting student transfers to other schools with district-provided transportation.
If PED accepts the district’s plans, it will appoint an advisory council to ensure the schools follow the MRI plan and provide oversight. The five-member council would be made up of educators with “a track record of substantial student achievement growth,” including exemplary teachers and high-performing principals. It’s been about six years of failing grades for these schools, which are three of the state’s four worst performing. That’s enough time for a full group of children to complete an elementary program there.
“We can all agree that an entire generation of students has been underserved,” Ruszkowski wrote in his letters to the schools. “I know that we all fundamentally believe that this need not be the case for any student in APS, or for any student across the state of New Mexico. It is a moral imperative that no student be underserved in this manner and for such a long period of time.”
Dulce Elementary School in the Dulce Public Schools District in Rio Arriba County also made the MRI list. Dulce’s application was also denied and must be resubmitted by April 11.