Some of the state’s historically Black high schools are in jeopardy of being closed because of low performance on test scores.

BY STARLA VAUGHNS CHERIN
FLORIDA COURIER

To Miami Central High School Alumni President D.C. Clark, it appears that officials are giving up on struggling schools. His high school alma mater has been an “F” school for the past five years.

Miami Central has had five new principals in the last five years, and Clark says it seems as if the community, especially the Miami-Dade School Board and county commissioners, are “no shows” when it comes to the school.

“A good example of stakeholders missing in action is how they handled suggestions made by a top educator,” Clark told the Florida Courier. “They provided and then took away a very valuable resource in the form of Ms. Mary Jane Tappen, a top administrator sent by the state. She made several key recommendations to improve the overall learning environment at Central, but many of her recommendations were not carried out by the state or the district,” Clark added.

“Until we all look in the mirror and ask ourselves, ‘What can I do to make this situation better?’ it will get worse. Whatever all of us have done it has not been enough.

“Churches have tutorial programs, but they haven’t wedded their efforts with these failing schools. We have to go to the school, the administration, the PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) and ask as a church or sorority what can we do to help out this failing school and help the kids in the neighborhood, whether they attend this church or not. The real church is out here in the street.”

Deceptive progress
Florida has more “A” rated schools than ever, but inner-city, predominantly Black schools are still struggling with “D” and “F” ratings. Of the 2,889 schools graded this year, 2,125 are considered to be high performing (receiving either an “A” or “B” grade), according to school test results for 2008.

Additionally, the number of schools considered to be low performing decreased significantly compared to last year. There are 154 schools that earned a “D,” a decrease of 62 schools compared to last year. This year, instead of 89 schools receiving “F” grades, there were only 45, a decrease of 38 schools compared to last year.

But the picture is misleading, especially when it comes to actual students’ progress. This year only 24 percent of Florida schools made the federally mandated Annual Yearly Progress (AYP). Last year, 34 percent made the mark. Based on the No Child Left Behind initiative, it doesn’t matter if the school is rated “A” or “F”—it’s the smaller sub-groups within a school that determine whether its AYP is met.

In bad shape
The schools that consistently received the state’s “D” or “F” grades are in poorer, mainly African American neighborhoods in large urban areas like Orlando, Jacksonville and Miami, as well as in the migrant worker towns of Belle Glade and Immokalee. Miami Edison Senior High has received seven “Fs” in 10 years.

In Orlando, Oak Ridge, Evans and Jones High Schools earned D grades this year, which in some cases is an improvement. Some of the schools, including Evans and Jones, were identified as struggling by the state back in 1995 – four years before school grades started. Combined, these D-F schools enroll nearly 22,000 teenagers.

Now some schools in Hillsborough (Tampa), Broward (Fort Lauderdale), Miami-Dade, Escambia (Pensacola), Leon (Tallahassee), Orange (Orlando) and Palm Beach counties are scheduled to close because they have consistently failed their AYP.

School officials are considering reassigning students to other schools, reopening struggling schools under district management with dramatic changes, reorganizing them as charter schools with performance contracts, or reopening them under an outside management company with a performance contract.

B

lacks who leave the ’hood blamed
Dr. Willie Kimmons, author of “A Parenting Guidebook for Parents and Grandparents Trying to Help Save Our Children and Our Schools,” places blame for failing schools on the African Americans who have abandoned their neighborhoods and their children. Kimmons is a former college president.

“We are not raising our children, they are raising us. We think it’s cute to give our kids all these material things. We’ve become enablers. Children didn’t ask to be born. God didn’t make any bad or dumb children. Children imitate adult behavior and we have become poor role models,” he told the Florida Courier.

“We must never give up on our children and get back to the ABCs of life. Give them our approval that it’s OK to be a child. Children will lie, but if you have a good working relationship between home and school, you can nip that in the bud.”

Strategic move by some ‘White folks’
He continued: “It doesn’t matter what the parents’ situation is if there is a significant adult in the household. Between the years of 1950 to 1975, more Black people were educated in this country than in the history of mankind, living or dead. White folks said, ‘Wait a minute. If we keep letting them educate themselves, we will be working for them.’

“They went out and found certain ones who wanted to be like them and live next to them and there was ‘pseudo-integration.’ They said ‘We will integrate with you as long as you give up your community schools and you bus your kids four hours to our schools.’ We gave up our community schools and our history. We don’t have anyone to blame but ourselves.”

Teachers not taking time to teach
Ernestine Price, cofounder of Citizens Concerned About Our Children and a member of Broward County Schools’ Diversity Committee, says the best teachers often are sent to better-performing schools and that some teachers aren’t willing to work with smaller groups and teach according to students’ learning styles.

“One of the things we find is a breakdown in the deliverance of the curriculum,” Price told the Florida Courier. “We know students learn on different levels. Some teachers either can’t or won’t deliver the lessons the way students learn best.

“They continue their lessons regardless of whether the children get it or not. They don’t have time to teach it over and over or change what doesn’t work. We need to have teachers in our classrooms that can deliver the curriculum in ways that are most beneficial to the student,” she explained.

A+ alternative
“Some teachers use Broward County as a way station until they can find a better school district. Others have been there for so long they are just counting the days. We need teachers who want to be there teaching our children,” Price added.

Experts suggest smaller learning groups and more parental involvement, especially if their child is experiencing academic difficulty. “A+” Advanced Learning Centers, (ALC) is a tutorial service offered free of charge to schools and students that meet the criteria of No Child Left Behind. Currently, ALC serves Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Orange, Seminole, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

This school year, “A+” ALC will offer services to the following 14 additional counties: Hernando, Citrus, Sumter, Lake, Marion, Alachua, Volusia, Brevard, Osceola, Polk, Manatee, Sarasota, St. Lucie and Martin.

Show ownership of school
“This is where parental involvement is key,” ALC founder Joe Sterensis told the Florida Courier. “Unless someoneis involved, thekids don’t get signed up for extra help and tutoring. Those students that get signed up are usually the cream of the crop. They are unlucky to be poor, but lucky enough to have someone in their home that cares, so obviously then I have a head start when I get them.”

Price suggests that parents, business owners and community organizations regularly show up at the school and show some ownership of local schools.

“You will be proud of the fact that this child couldn’t read before and now they can. I have teachers that don’t mind going to homes and sometimes the parent’s job, because they care. They are constantly asking, ‘What could I do to make this happen?’ The parent can do crack and live under the bridge, but they still want their children to do the best.”