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Rick Davis: In five years, little or no progress has been made on Pinellas black student achievement

 
Rick Davis is president of the Concerned Organizations for Quality Education for Black Students.
Rick Davis is president of the Concerned Organizations for Quality Education for Black Students.
Published Aug. 28, 2015

Little or no progress has been made

Recent coverage in the Tampa Bay Times of the five failing elementary schools in south St. Petersburg has generated a firestorm of reaction and commentary across our community. Appropriately so.

This heightened awareness has elevated a much-needed dialogue and, hopefully, created a new sense of urgency for the school system leadership. It is important to remember, though, that black students have been failing in Pinellas County Schools long before Unitary Status (the end of forced busing). Many of us recall the heated conversations with then-superintendents Scott Rose, Howard Hinesley, et al, during the Community Alliance meetings on this subject.

A major difference now is that many of today's black students in the elementary schools are concentrated in south St. Petersburg. This has raised the visibility of this lingering challenge and, of course, driven those schools' grades down. No matter. The district, as required by the Florida Constitution and confirmed by Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court in the Crowley case, has a responsibility to provide a quality education to black students, irrespective of the racial composition of the schools, neighborhoods, economic status and parental involvement.

That the circumstances at these schools are more challenging should not be an abdication of the district's fundamental responsibility. This should not be interpreted as an attack on the under-resourced teachers at these schools, but on a failure of the system and its leadership over time.

The Bradley case was filed in federal court in the 1960s (following the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954), and in 1971, desegregation was ordered under the equal protection provision of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. After integration was achieved, statistical tracking disclosed an academic achievement gap between black and non-black students. The Crowley case, filed in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court, asserted that black students' academic needs had been neglected in violation of the Florida Constitution's guarantee of a quality education. That case was settled in 2010 with an agreement by the district to establish and maintain programs necessary to fulfill this constitutional requirement.

As part of the settlement of the Crowley case, Concerned Organization for Quality Education of Black Students, Inc. (COQEBS) became the court-approved entity to monitor and enforce the Pinellas County school district's commitment to providing quality education for black students. For the last five years, COQEBS has had numerous meetings with the superintendent and district officials regarding the fulfillment of this promise.

COQEBS has consistently advocated for research-based and/or evidence-based solutions to the challenge. We believe that this approach will avoid the "quick-fix" and the "flavor-of-the-day" solutions that have proven ineffective in the past. There are no silver bullets, and efficient solutions must be comprehensive, sustainable and continuously evaluated for their effectiveness. The Pinellas School Board must commit the district to a program of sustained equitable funding necessary to provide for the establishment and maintenance of the necessary academic programs and solutions.

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During the nearly five years since the settlement of our case, little or no progress has been made. We have continued to be frustrated at the lack of accurate and timely information from the district, and we have also been frustrated with the lack of any meaningful progress in the closing of the achievement gap. We have concluded that the district continues to fail to meet its obligations regarding the education of black students, as required by the 2010 settlement agreement and by the Florida Constitution.

At the beginning of the 2014-15 school year, Superintendent Mike Grego announced the implementation of the "Scale up for Success" program at these five schools. We expressed concerns at the lack of an implementation plan, the lack of evaluation methodology and other issues.

A copy of Scale up for Success Initiative — Research Evaluation Report was provided to us at a meeting with the superintendent on Aug. 22, following the Tampa Bay Times article. We are in the process of reviewing this document to determine the fidelity of the implementation of the program, outcome measures after the first year, and any district plans going forward.

I was moved by many calls from individuals who share our concerns with this challenge and wanted to know how they could help. However, given the systemic nature of this problem, it is COQEBS' belief that the district must employ and fund a comprehensive, sustainable approach. Those of us at COQEBS are committed to high quality education for all students, black students included, as provided by the Florida Constitution.

Rick Davis is president of the Concerned Organizations for Quality Education for Black Students.