Fair grade

Schools deserve a delay in ratings.

The Texas Education Agency is preparing to roll out its updated A through F school rating program for districts next year. This letter grade system was crafted to reflect various performance factors, including student scores on the STAAR. But if grades are assigned to school districts and campuses still recovering from Harvey, there’s a very real risk that an F will simply stand for Flood Victim.

TEA should give school districts severely affected by Hurricane Harvey a one-time break from receiving these grades.

Harvey was a lifechanging event for many students, teachers and families. Teachers and school personnel are still dealing with insurance claims. Tempers in the classroom can be testy due to post-traumatic stress.

Too many students and teachers are relegated to temporary beds and spend their nights worrying about finding the next stable home rather than the lesson at hand.

Take Refugio Independent School District. Almost every classroom was damaged by Harvey.

“I believe every member of our staff and students has been affected in some ways by Hurricane Harvey, many to a large degree,” Superintendent Melissa Gonzales told the Victoria Advocate.

These grades are high stakes, not only for school personnel but for entire communities. An F grade for a district could cause property values to fall in the neighborhood. Failure five years in a row allows the state to shutter an entire district or replace an elected board with outside managers.

There are 23 schools in Harvey-affected counties that fall in this category. This includes Kashmere High School in north Houston — a neighborhood where families still suffer from the fallout of uninsured losses, FEMA denials and lost wages.

State accountability measures are meant to improve the quality of education for students. But if grades are perceived as unfair and punitive, they’ll have the opposite effect. They’ll discourage educators and reduce the quality of students’ education.

Around the country, grades for schools and districts have generated significant controversy. TEA owes it to its constituents to make sure that unusual circumstances don’t muddy the results of Texas’ grading program. Rating schools after Harvey is like giving students a test interrupted by a fire alarm. The results simply won’t reflect the reality.

So consider Hurricane Harvey as a test for the TEA: Does the agency have the judgment to administer its grading program in a flexible manner?

Area superintendents, teachers and school personnel earned an A for their compassion, strength and commitment in the aftermath of Harvey. That’s a lesson their students will never forget. Nor is it one that can be reflected on any state-mandated test.