A. The challenge of good neighborhood schools under this plan is to get everyone in a given neighborhood involved in making “their” schools a great school. This is the mission and direction we are headed. Fewer people are able to opt out or flee what they perceive to be a less than adequate school setting for their child.

This plan will keep students close to home, build neighborhoods and relationships stabilize staff, administration and students in a building, build relationships and familiarity between student and teacher, reduce transportation costs and travel-time for students.

Weakness: other decisions have been made before having a Student Assign Plan (SAP). The SAP was supposed to be simpler yet became very political. We should phase in this type of broad sweeping policy so parents and student have time to plan and react in positive constructive ways. Rushing such a policy as this cause great disruption – we should take this under more serious consideration.

Strengths: the leadership of District staff to attempt real engagement of a broad spectrum of stakeholders across the city.

Another weakness or strength is the need to have a plan for the implementation of the recommendations coming from the various audits and reviews we have conducted on special education, advanced learning opportunity, and bilingual education. There will be several large hurdles with the service delivery models for these programs.

B. I have recommended equitable distribution and access to accelerated learning opportunities across the District such as Spectrum and AP, dual languages, and International Baccalaureate program. All of these would result in setting higher expectations for our students. One of the biggest barriers to success of students is that we don't believe they can succeed. Poverty, racism and limited English proficiency can be overcome. By setting high expectations for all students we can have greatness across the city and not just in a hand full of schools. I would also recommend that strong instructional leadership be available in all schools.

A.)

If a school is currently strong, then parents who want the best education for their kids will send them to THAT school. If the neighborhood school is weak then they will not be the choice for parents who are making thoughtful decisions. We cannot afford EVEN ONE weak school – the bad apple spoils the barrel. Parents of means (no matter what ethnicity) will jump to private (lessoning our market share and our revenues from the state for education) and parents who do not have those options wiil be outraged by their “choice.” If you do not believe in your school’s ability to educate your child, you too become the victim of the system. This is how we get to the “us” versus “them” scenario, which is so counterproductive. Clearly, without strong schools in every neighborhood, we lose parent advocates to independent schools and weaken our ability for quality outcomes in schools with little or no monetary or volunteer support.

We cannot expect parents to embrace a neighborhood assignment plan without providing the SAME top quality educational offering in EVERY school prior to eliminating choice.

A classic example is the district reserving seats for APP students at Garfield (disallowing over 60 students who live in the reference area this year from attending GHS for Fall 2009). Once APP ends in 8th grade, these students SHOULD be able to attend high schools with all the SAME academic and arts offerings that Garfield has in their neighborhood reference area. If we created insanely great high schools, these students would be MORE than adequately served at EVERY high school in the district. The problem is we are not requiring rigorous course offerings and a wide menu of enrichment in the arts at EVERY school from Kindergarten on.

B.)

* Immediately change bell times to ensure students are being taught during the times when they learn.

* Wrap the school day in public private partnerships (many of which exist already). An extended school day would eliminate most juvenile crime, teenage pregnancy and juvenile drug abuse - while save our city millions of dollars. EVERY school should, from kindergarten on, should REQUIRE: * Foreign language immersion * Rigorous academics * Daily Physical Education, competitive sports, arts, drama, music * Fiscal literacy * Citizenship courses * Vocational strands* Entrepreneurial competitions * Environmental protocols * Wellness instruction

As a board member I would immediately move to review ALL non-profits operating in our schools and create efficiencies and collaborative strategies to make sure these groups are benefiting our children at the highest quality level.

* Create revenue streams to fund early childhood learning. We can repurpose School and Family Levy monies and also work legislatively to create state and federal funding for pre-school for EVERY free and reduced lunch child in our district. This levels the playing field at entry level, allowing us to create rigor from first grade.

* Utilize Technology to assess our children in REAL time and create client centric communication with parents, students and the community at large.

* Prepare our children for a global marketplace by teaching language to EVERY student and expand our International Baccalaureate offerings. These schools ONLY cost $200,000 more per year to operate at the elementary level, this is small change and we can reallocate current monies to create 20 IB schools in the next 5 years and 40 in the next 25.

At first glance the strengths of the SAP are a more predictable and orderly plan for student assignment. Transportation costs to the District will be reduced and parents will have a clearer picture on where their kids will be going. Neighborhood engagement is strengthened when kids attend their nearest school. At issue is the re-segregation of schools in neighborhoods that are not racially/culturally diverse. If all schools are funded and staffed equitably and more importantly strong, inclusive leadership at all schools is put in place then the issue of an “excellent” school in your neighborhood becomes less of an issue.

We’ve endured a great deal of trials and tribulations with our previous student assignment models and will continue to experience difficulties until we apply suggested strategies for the research and aggregated data the District has so abundantly funded. How are we utilizing this data to create equality within our schools. In my experience in dealing with the enrollment process with families, if not handled with more cultural sensitivity that responds to the needs of people of ALL cultures, it will continue to re-segregate schools with extreme disparity of resources in minority impacted schools. It is a tragedy for any student to be socially inept in a multicultural society. It is a social skill needed to engage in positive interaction with other cultures worldwide. A strength may include a sense of ownership of the neighborhoods when assigned to neighborhood schools which in turn builds a respectful bond among the communities. I remember when our neighbors were involved in the lives of neighborhood children by knowing their whereabouts when parents were too busy to pay attention. They were a source of information when it came to the safety of our neighborhoods. It created camaraderie within our neighborhood watch. To ensure access to excellent schools in every neighborhood, the School Board must be accountable in moving in the direction of equitable resources such as qualified teachers, school supplies, and rigorous academic programs being distributed to ALL schools.

The new Student Assignment Plan (SAP) is a set of policy changes that I have worked on closely for over two years. This plan recognizes the crucial role of parental involvement in school success, the need for retaining alternative options, the unsustainably under-enrolled schools that have resulted from competing for students and the high costs of administration, transportation in our present Open Choice policy. The SAP addresses all these issues and is simple. It offers predictable choices to all families and focuses intervention on those schools that aren’t meeting performance standards. Without maps and an implementation cycle it is difficult to know the weaknesses of the SAP. I am committed to public engagement and deliberation on both these remaining pieces of the SAP. It will limit choice and transportation options and require the District staff to be more nimble and proactive in providing capacity where needed. A key question is whether the Superintendent will intervene decisively enough in those schools that need the most transformation to gain the confidence of the surrounding community. The experience thus far, with the Southeast Initiative, would seem to call for more reconstitution of a school rather than incremental changes to insure a strong trajectory toward rigor and achievement. It is too early to contemplate changes to the policy, however I would like to see Program Placement more closely aligned and integrated into the SAP. This would insure greater geographic equity of alternative, CTE, Advanced Learning, International Education and other programs widely viewed as embodying educational excellence.