“We should all be hanging our heads”: school board votes to hire external operator for failing schools if they don’t improve by the end of this school year

Alachua County School Board Member Kay Abbitt speaks at the November 7 meeting

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the November 7 Alachua County School Board meeting, the board voted to hire external operators for Idylwild Elementary and Lake Forest Elementary, the only two schools in the state that are in the second and final year of a district-managed turnaround plan, if they do not achieve a grade of C or higher in the 2023-24 school year.

Slide from Bureau of School Improvement presentation

Three options: External Operator, Charter, or Closure

Chief of Teaching and Learning Jacquatte Rolle explained that Lake Forest Elementary and Idylwild Elementary are in the second year of district-managed turnaround, and they both need to earn a grade of C or higher in the 2023-24 school year to be removed from School Improvement (SI) status. If they fail to do that, the options for the next school year are closure, conversion to charter schools, and selection of an external operator; Rolle said district leadership has selected the external operator option.

Member Sarah Rockwell made a motion to accept the recommendation. 

Member Tina Certain showed a slide from the Lake Forest School Improvement Plan from 2016-17; the second part is from the School Improvement Plan from 2021. The slide showed the following grades for Lake Forest:

  • 2012-13: F
  • 2013-14: F
  • 2014-15: F
  • 2015-16: F
  • 2016-17: C
  • 2017-18: D
  • 2018-19: D
  • 2019-20: D
  • 2020-21: no grades assigned
  • 2021-22: F
Document shown by Member Tina Certain at November 7 meeting

Certain: “Why would we wait another year to do those things and take drastic actions?

Certain continued, “How long do we expect the parents and the students for this school to be patient with us, to improve that?” She asked the other board members whether, if their children attended Lake Forest, they would be satisfied with new comprehensive walkthroughs and check sheets and the promise that “we’re gonna be all right and give this one more year, and if not, we’re going to do an external operator?… Why would we wait another year to do those things and take drastic actions? Why would we pay an external operator,… why wouldn’t we make those changes, like, now? Do that stuff now?… You see the trend of the low performance of this school.”

Certain said she was disappointed that Lake Forest was not included in the district’s application for year-round schools: “We should do something different at that school.”

Abbitt: “Why hasn’t it been a top priority for the past two, three, or four years?

Member Kay Abbitt chimed in: “My question is–why hasn’t it been a top priority for the past two, three, or four years? I mean, they’ve been failing for a long time, and now, all of a sudden, we’re worried about the parents and students?… Something does need to be done. There are six or seven schools that something needs to be done with, which I’ve been saying since I got on the board. And there has been some progress… but you can’t expect to keep on doing the same old thing–switching administrators, putting in a new program… So it is a mess, and the best thing that could happen is that someone comes in and takes over and tries to do something different with it.”

Member Leanetta McNealy agreed, “This has been going on for some time. However… this school has shown tiny bits of improvement… I don’t want to throw it back to the parents, but when we have elementary children who cannot get to the school and they live across the street from the school…” She didn’t finish that sentence but said teachers don’t want to go to low-performing schools because of “the stress, the low pay, the behavior, the attendance, the academics that we have changed over and over again… If we don’t have the right folk in front of the children that need it most, we’re in trouble… I’m hearing, ‘Well, if you place a teacher there, they’re gonna get up and leave.’ So be it. We only need folks who are at the schools who want to be there, who are passionate about the work.” She said that parents aren’t showing up for meetings at those schools, so school personnel need to go to their homes and speak with them.

Member Sarah Rockwell mentioned the district’s application for the state’s new pilot program for year-round schools that was approved on the consent agenda, and added, “I just want to clarify something with that. My understanding is we couldn’t apply for year-round schooling for either Lake Forest or Idylwild because if they are under that external operator, then they couldn’t be part of this year-round pilot.”

Rolle said she had just received clarification that day that the schools could be part of the year-round application and that the deadline had been extended, so they could add those schools if the board provided direction to do that.

Going back to the discussion about Lake Forest and Idylwild, Certain said, “If we say these challenges are too much for us to surmount, do we continue along that path with having this school? If we can’t [fully staff a school with certified teachers], do we want to take the chance and have another year?… Do we think we’re being fair to the students that are at that school and their families?… If we’re saying that we can’t get folks to go and work in the school… that we can’t fully staff it and we can’t get people that want to be there to do the hard work… If we don’t feel that we can move the needle, is that something that we want to do?”

Hutchinson: No sustainability plans in place to sustain resources

Transformational Principal Karla Hutchinson said she had gone to failing schools and raised their grades, “and all of those schools, those grades went back down… We, as a district, have not had sustainability plans in place to sustain those resources and the things that have taken place within those schools… We have some consistency occurring within our district now… We have those supports from the district going into those schools; that makes a difference… I’m very concerned with our schools, but it’s not just our SI schools. The problem is bigger than that. We have the highest achievement gap in the state because our African-American students aren’t performing.”

Hutchinson: “We’re the only district in the state that has to make this choice. We have the only two schools in the state.”

Hutchinson said that these schools would have met the requirements for an external operator “some years ago” if it weren’t for the pandemic, the transition of the statewide assessment, and the hold-harmless year, “and we have the choice. The choices are closure, charter, external operator–and we’re the only district in the state that has to make this choice. We have the only two schools in the state.”

Hutchinson said other counties that hired external operators in the past had success with that and were able to sustain some of those practices and implement them district-wide.

Chair Diyonne McGraw said she was willing to knock on doors and “build a relationship with our community to make sure this happens” and encouraged her fellow board members to also volunteer. 

Abbitt said that all sounded good, but the board has been saying similar things for the past year. She renewed her frequent advice to take certified teachers who have been assigned roles as literacy or math coaches and assign them to a classroom at an SI school where there is a long-term substitute “or someone who is not qualified to teach reading… That could just be part of their job, they just teach reading to these kids, and then they can leave and go do whatever else they need to do… I know for a fact that there are coaches, at one SI school in particular, who–they can’t even get them to come in and model a lesson for these teachers that have no education experience… We need those personnel in classrooms, teaching our kids.”

Abbitt: When 11 out of 70 can read at grade level, “we should all be hanging our heads”

Abbitt said, “No one agrees with me up here about this at all, and I’ve gotten a lot of really nasty emails about it, but we’ve got to stop talking the good talk and do something for these kids.” She said Lake Forest is unlikely to pull their grade up to a C during this school year. “When you have kids sitting in a third-grade classroom, and 11 out of 70, which was last year, can read at grade level, we should all be hanging our heads. It’s a disservice.” She said that moving to year-round schools and adding another hour to the school day could help. She said a teacher told her that brand-new teachers should be in A schools, teachers rated “effective” should be in B and C schools, and “highly-effective” teachers should be in D and F schools, “but it’s work, it’s change, and nobody wants change.”

Abbitt continued, “We sit up here and say, ‘Oh, we’re for the kids.’… Ok, well, five years of this? ‘We’re for the kids’? No, we’re not. And I’m embarrassed that I’ve sat up here for a year, and the only thing I can say is, ‘Well, you know, I think we have bodies in the classroom now.'”

Certain asked Rolle to confirm that the math and literacy coaches are required in SI schools. Abbitt countered that the district can have those coaches but also use them to be “a consistent reading teacher for a class. Even if you only had two of them go into two classes, that’s two classes of kids that might have an improvement in reading at the end of the year.”  Rolle said the coaches “should be coaching in the classroom. They are to be used for teacher development.”

The board voted 4-1 to approve the external operator plan for Lake Forest, with Certain in dissent. They voted unanimously to approve the plan for Idylwild.

ACEA President Carmen Ward: “I would not grade Lake Forest as harshly as they may be graded from a possibly biased, racist, standardized test”

During the citizen input period at the end of the meeting, Alachua County Education Association President Carmen Ward said, “I just want to say that there are a lot of really excellent teachers at Lake Forest that come to work every day committed to those students, and I think we can look at test scores and give them way too much value… I would not grade Lake Forest as harshly as they may be graded from a possibly biased, racist, standardized test, that impacts a whole community of students at that school… I do want to agree with Ms. Hutchinson that too many times we have our schools really improve when they are supported, and then that’s not sustained, and then we see them fall again. And we know what works. I don’t think there’s a magic bullet and an external operator that’s going to come in and do better than the excellent teachers we have at our school… I wish we would transition to a reality where we didn’t pay so much attention to high-stakes tests that are not really a fair measure of a student, of a teacher, of a school, of a district.”

McNealy responded, “A grade does not define a school. But unfortunately, the people in Tallahassee who decide whether we have a school, or close it, or go to external operator, or make it a charter–you need to be saying those things to [Florida Department of Education Commissioner] Manny Diaz, Governor DeSantis, and all of his team in the cabinet that handle us here in the district. We know how hard our teachers work, and we appreciate their service, but is it enough? For certain schools, I can tell you, no, we are going to have to funnel all kinds of money, and resources, and most importantly, get to that parent. The parents don’t even understand what the implication is, but I appreciate your comments.”

  • I feel so badly for the teachers who work so hard day in and day out, who so desperately want to help the children in these schools. But, with no participation or cooperation from any sort of responsible, caring parent or guardian, there is only so much they can do. God bless them for their patience and perseverance.

  • Why not convert to charter schools?? Are you afraid that option would expose you incompetent agenda? Don’t hire someone to blame your failures on.

  • If you ever wonder why these schools are such miserable failures, look no further than Alachua County Education Association President Carmen Ward, an “educator” who apparently believes that:

    – Grades and test scores are not valid ways to measure educational progress (what should we do instead, Carmen–ask students how their pronouns feel today?)

    – There is a magical racism beam that is only aimed at Lake Forest and Idylwild Elementary schools, causing their students to fail the same standardized test that all the other schools in the state take.

    Leaders don’t make excuses, Carmen. That goes for Leanetta McNealy and the school board members as well.

    Every time their failures are thrust into their faces, they try to blame Gov. DeSantis and/or Tallahassee. Well, every other public school and school board in the state seems to be able to succeed, so clearly the problem is YOU and the policies you support.

    • As a grandparent of a special needs girl, who is of normal range intelligence, strong dyslexia which hurts both math and reading which encapsulates everything. She is reading much better and struggles with math. For history we have her read books of the time period and characters in a semi-fictionalized manner. We are home schooling in our home and much progress has been made.

      Without strong aggressive grandparenting, she would be lost.

      Point is there are many young students who do need extra help every day, and they can grow up to be perfectly nice and productive people.

    • Hello Dad, Excellent points all around. I WOULD WAGER THAT THESE SCHOOLS WASTE 60-90 MINUTES PER DAY ON USELESS CRAP THAT SHOULD BE REPLACED BY CRITICAL THINKING DIALOGES OF THE LEARNING MATTER OF THE DAY. AVOID ALL DEI / CRT – FRANKFURT SCHOOL / AVOID ALL SEXUAL DISCUSSIONS / BAN ALL OUTSIDE GROUPS RELATED TO LGBTQP AND BAN LGBTQP PRESENTATIONS / BAN ALL MEDICATIONS WITHOUT CONSENT OF PARENT OR PARENT’S DOCTOR IF PRESCRIBED / BAN ON ALL GOVERNMENT EDICTS RELATED TO PERSONAL HEALTH, WHICH MEANS NO DAMN CLOT SHOTS AKA FAUCI OUCHIE / BAN PUSHING VACCINES OF ANY KIND AS WE AS PARENTS WILL NEVER KNOW THE EXACT CONTENT OF THE KILLER JABS. There we go, I just created at least an hour per day.

  • Things worth noting:
    McNealy agreed with Kay Abbitt, “This has been going on for some time. However… this school has shown tiny bits of improvement… I don’t want to throw it back to the parents, but when we have elementary children who cannot get to the school and they live across the street from the school…”
    Hmmm…been saying that for a long time but never thought she would admit it. The parents are part of the problem. Tell them there’s a sporting event and they’ll be on time.

    Transformational Principal Karla Hutchinson said she had gone to failing schools and raised their grades, “and all of those schools, those grades went back down…”
    If she did so well, why was she removed and if she’s not able to “transform” schools, why is she filling a position she’s not able to do as she’s tasked?

    Maybe if they would have focused more on raising the academic achievements of the students instead of putting their efforts into the dumbing down of other schools, I mean, equitable distribution of resources, the students would be more successful.

    All of you parents who have children in the Alachua County School District, you should be concerned. The district’s priorities are not for every school or for every student. Carmen Ward has already said some groups are will be graded with a certain racial bias, you can bet that’s what they’re telling some students and therefore it’s not their fault they’re not successful.

    Don’t be surprised if Alachua County follows the lead of Oregon by not requiring basic skills in math, reading and arithmetic to graduate. The future of our country isn’t looking too good.

  • ACPS must clean up at top, if they expect the bottom to improve. So many “pretend” jobs are created, with many of the individuals doing nothing but walking around all day.

    Many coaches have very limited teaching experience and refuse to come in and support teachers because they are “too busy.”

    Important questions regarding curriculum that teachers often ask are ignored or take months to answer. Just ask any teacher about the online Benchmark and other Illuminate testing procedures.

    Behaviors are deplorable! Teachers getting hit, kicked, shoved, and verbally abused by parents and children daily. A common response from ACPS leaders, especially at the elementary level is they are just kids. These behaviors routinely receive no consequences. If a teacher did any of these things to a child or parent, he or she would be on the local news by 6 pm.

    SI school teachers have it especially tough. Constant state monitoring, “required” planning with little or no pay, after hours training, tons of paperwork, and more. To top it all off, if SI teachers earn extra pay for the above-mentioned. They often wait a full month or more to see the pay.

    ACPS, as implied by Abbitt, needs to look at the top before it criticizes the bottom!

    • I agree. Many of these people at the top, making much more than the teachers who show up everyday, are paid to sit around and do nothing. I guarantee you none of the failing kids nor many of the teachers at any of these schools know Hutchinson by name or face. But she says SHE has turned schools around? From a fancy chair in a quiet office with no children in sight?

      As for the people who actually are walking around doing all these walk-throughs, what for? No feedback is given to teachers. No help at all. Just walking around intimidating everyone.

      What you said about SI teachers is right on point. All of these extra requirements that take away time to actually plan effective instruction. These top ‘leaders’ are making the problem worse at every turn.

  • The voters wanted the same failing ideology by voting for Left leaning School Board Members during the 2022 election. I’m not sympathetic to the parents or the children. Alachua County voters currently on the School Board.

    Voters did not choose for real change that Daniel Fisher and Mildred Russell and Ray Holt offered. Elections have consequences.

    • Daniel Fisher and Mildred Russell and Ray Holt are all White, which is why they probably did not get elected.

  • Bring back paddling. I attended public schools long ago and we had paddlings then. I know that and other discipline measures worked. We still had class clowns and even bomb threats, walkouts, but they were nipped in the bud. And we didn’t have school shootings, then.

  • Kick the disruptive kids out of school. If a kid brings a weapon, send him/her to jail. EXPEL those who fight. And fire Shane Andrew and Jackie Kurtz.

  • I was so disappointed that Daniel Fisher, Mildred Russell and Ray Holt lost. I campaigned for all of them. But I am sympathetic to the parents and children caught in this terrible school system. I think voting for progressives is a symptom of failing schools, as well as a cause.

    It’s a vicious cycle. A difficult cycle to break.

    If a family has the means to homeschool, that’s a wonderful, rewarding choice! Of course, that removes more kids with really involved parents from the classrooms, but at least some children in that scenario are rescued from failing schools. I homeschooled our children, and am so thankful I had that opportunity. We sacrificed a lot financially to be able to keep me home with the kids, but we have never once regretted our choice.

    I’m hoping that the Fatherhood Initiative that Gov. DeSantis is championing will help improve the home life for many children – it’s understandably difficult for kids to concentrate on school when homes are unstable. Absent fathers are a HUGE part of this problem.

    • CM, you touch on the greater issue facing children; the ‘man in the house’ rules of the welfare state which pays single moms with children if unmarried and no father/male in the house.

      LBJ’s Great Society programs of the mid-1960’s had a cause and effect influence on family structure. Pre-GS programs in 1964 showed about 7% of children were born to unmarried mothers. Today, about 40% of newborns go home to single mother homes and those without ‘man in the house’ are subsidized through welfare programs.

      Those programs have served, perhaps unintentionally, to undermine families and their participation in the education of children.

      • BINGO! The elephant in the room that we aren’t allowed to speak about depending on your ethnicity of course.

  • So the “president” of the teachers union says, “I would not grade Lake Forest as harshly as they may be graded from a possibly biased, racist, standardized test”. And this is in two schools where the children don’t even show up to learn. How can the tests be “biased” and “racist”? We have a black run failure of a school board, black teachers, all supported by far left Democrat politicians. What can possibly go wrong?

  • Admitting to a problem ongoing for 11-years is not a solution especially for the kids from those two schools who are now juniors and seniors IF they stayed in school that long.

    McNealy: “A grade does not define a school.”

    Here is part of the problem; shaping perception and thought through empty platitudes.

    A grade, McNealy, evaluates performance and learning performance is what is at issue.

    The ‘grade’ of the schools’ performance DOES ‘define’ how much failure the Board chooses to tolerate.

  • Blaming this multi-year issue on “a possibly biased, racist, standardized test” is a cop out by the ACEA President and School Board members. This is a learning issue, not a test issue. Why, why, why has the school board allowed this situation to last. Address and solve the problem if you want to be a school board member. You owe it to the children and teachers. Pointing fingers at the State is ridiculous. The state is only requiring action because the School Board has allowed this situation to continue for years.

    • Carmen Ward is enjoying her “union subsidized” salary while pandering thoughts of racism to the teacher’s union and parents. She’s an embarrassment and only causes more division within the district.

      Some of Abbitt’s ideas may bear a second look but her thinking and suggesting moving “highly effective” teachers to failing schools is a disaster in the making. If they think they have a problem with staffing now, just try to do that. There will be a mass exodus. Those teachers have earned the right not to have to expose themselves to a bunch of unruly, undisciplined, unwilling-to-learn students.

      “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.” You can’t teach someone who doesn’t want to be taught either. Some in the meeting already alluded to that.

      • There’s an old saying that goes something like, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

  • No rocket scientist needed to solve this ‘puzzle’. Just look at the three amigos who’s running the Asylum.

  • 1. Fire the Teacher’s Union. The job of a union is to negotiate salaries, benefits. Unions must have zero input into the curriculum nor the books, and somehow that has changed drastically over several decades and unions have appointed themselves as leftist indoctrination specialists.

    2. Demand parental participation in child’s education. Find out what is happening in each household of “low ability” students to cause the level of failure. Get CPS and police involved, and most important is home tutoring, or small group tutoring. Do not remove any child from a loving parent, only neglectful and uncaring parent, because Foster system is next worse thing to torture and death.

    3. Evaluate each low performing teacher and determine if the problem is the teacher, the student or the parents and resolve the issue.

    4. I have a grandchild with school based learning. I live in Florida and poor girl would never be given a proper chance in the system and jut be given F grades day in and day out. How humiliating that was for her. She is a smart girl and learns a lot, just not well in the manner of a school.

  • Send the kids from Chiles to Lake Forest for one year. I bet the grade goes from an F to an A. Do likewise with the kids from Lake Forest. What would Chiles’ grade be after a year of this?

  • School board member Tina Certain has not been to visit Lake Forest at all this school year, and visited less than a handful of times last year, so I’d be interested to hear what her thoughts are actually based on. As for Ms. Hutchinson, she got Lake Forest to a C with teachers who were hired under a previous Principal and then was removed when the school dropped the following year.

    Please spend more than an hour at these schools and get to know the teachers and staff we are speaking about.

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