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Next step for Hillsborough schools facing biggest challenges: Hire more teachers

 
Jessica Hessler, left, principal of McDonald Elementary School, and Jennifer Watson, right, fifth-grade teacher, interview Gabriela Seipp, center, during the Showcase of Achievement Schools last week at the Hillsborough County Instructional Services Center. [MONICA HERNDON   |   Times]
Jessica Hessler, left, principal of McDonald Elementary School, and Jennifer Watson, right, fifth-grade teacher, interview Gabriela Seipp, center, during the Showcase of Achievement Schools last week at the Hillsborough County Instructional Services Center. [MONICA HERNDON | Times]
Published June 25, 2018

TAMPA — As chief of diversity for the Hillsborough County School District, Minerva Spanner-Morrow tries to keep her expectations realistic.

"We want the best of the best and I know that's very difficult," she told principals last week as they prepared to interview teacher candidates. "We want the best of the best, even the second best, but not the third best."

Her goal at the hiring event: To staff schools identified as having the highest needs by the time the school year starts Aug. 10.

Under the leadership of assistant superintendent Tricia McManus, Hillsborough is aiming to do for these 50 schools what it couldn't fully accomplish earlier for seven other targeted schools: Give children in poverty the same chances of success as their wealthier peers.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: ACHIEVEMENT PLAN IS ROLLED OUT TO COMMUNITY

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: PLAN FOR STRUGGLING SCHOOLS DRAWS QUESTIONS

District leaders hope to achieve this equity by funneling more services to schools where kids face disadvantages. They are guided by a new policy: Confront "the institutional racism that results in predictably lower academic achievement for students of color."

A community advisory group meets monthly to weigh in on what is called the Achievement Schools project. But the real work is happening behind closed doors.

The district has ripped apart the eight sub-districts that oversaw its more-than 200 schools. Now, there are six sub-districts — one of them dedicated just to the 50 Achievement Schools. Located largely in Tampa's urban core, the Achievement group also includes schools as far away as Ruskin and Plant City.

Civil rights leaders expressed skepticism at first, given the limited success at seven schools targeted earlier with similar objectives under the "Priority" and "Elevate" initiatives. Their criticism resulted in a name change, from Achievement Zone — considered derogatory — to the simpler Achievement Schools.

Principals at the hiring fair said they are giving McManus and Superintendent Jeff Eakins the benefit of the doubt.

"I'm very excited," said Anthony Jones, who is moving from Walker Middle, an international baccalaureate magnet amid million-dollar estates, to Sligh Middle, just south of the struggling Sulphur Springs neighborhood.

"It's a great opportunity to come to a new school environment," Jones said. "There are a lot of great things going on at Sligh."

Eakins uses the phrase "answer the call" to describe leaders like Jones, who in some cases take district-sponsored graduate courses as they prepare for their new assignments.

Others have years on the job.

Jaime Gerding took over at F-rated Booker T. Washington Elementary two years ago. She spent the first year working largely on student behavior and routines.

Her school's 2017 test scores were among the lowest in the district. They improved this year. But, like six other schools, Washington needs at least a C to avoid a state-mandated takeover by an outside consultant.

The grades are due in July. Gerding said she has been assured that even if a consultant takes over, she would stay on as principal.

Washington, where 99 percent of students are in poverty, is also part of the former "priority" and "Elevate" group.

Gerding said things are better under the Achievement Schools system. She's getting more help from her area superintendent in recruiting teachers.

"Even within the last month, we've had a complete new model of support," she said. "Principals have a voice at the table."

In designing the Achievement system, Hillsborough looked to other districts including Miami-Dade, which has seen success with its Education Transformation Office, or ETO.

Like Hillsborough, Miami-Dade uses a three-tier approach that continues helping schools even after their grades improve, to avoid backsliding.

But David Moore, Miami-Dade assistant superintendent, noted some key differences. It started out small, for example, with 19 schools. And Miami-Dade pulled back from its move to group them together for administrative purposes.

"It was very hard to convince teachers to go into schools that we ourselves classified as being an ETO school," Moore said, "It had a negative flavor to it."

Returning the schools to geographic districts made everyone feel accountable for their success.

McManus defended Hillsborough's special sub-district, saying research showed benefits from grouping the Achievement schools together.

Still, she said, "We're going to continuously evaluate what we're doing."

Like Miami-Dade, Hillsborough plans to have each principal meet four times a year with Eakins and his cabinet to discuss the year's data and suggest strategies for improvement,

"Our goal is to get to yes," she said.

She also hopes to find funding so teachers at the Achievement schools can be offered bonuses or other non-cash incentives. Miami-Dade offered bonuses that added up to as much as 40 percent of their base pay and attracted top teachers to 14 schools the state deemed "in a state of educational emergency."

Hillsborough already offers extra pay at low-income "Renaissance" schools. But only 35 of the 50 Achievement schools fall into that category.

Moore of Miami-Dade said that from what he has heard about the Hillsborough initiative, the district is headed in the right direction.

"They are listening to community, which is always important," he said, "Although we started small, we started small eight years ago. Things are significantly different now."

The state is more demanding now and money is tight. Still, Moore noted that once skilled leaders are in place, those skills cannot be taken away.

"We've just stuck with it and really have been reflective in how we've done the work. We have been consistent in efforts to continually improve and we made the improvement in these schools everyone's priority."

Contact Marlene Sokol at (813) 226-3356 or msokol@tampabay.com. Follow @marlenesokol