Report of the School Without Walls High School Parent Community

Report of the School Without Walls High School Parent Community

In Support of Recommendations

Executive Summary

On November 7, 2013, a working group created by DCPS leadership issued recommendations on key aspects of the decision to merge Francis Stevens Educational Campus (FS) and School Without Walls High School (SWWHS). Those recommendations were:

1)No students from SWWHS take classes at FS, after considering the challenges for students, teachers, staff and administrators. We specifically considered proposed plans to use available space at FS for students in the junior class, although we believe the concerns to be applicable to any subset of students.We found that every scenario considered provided little to no student benefits and, instead, caused significant inefficiencies and challenges that unnecessarily constrain student academic opportunities.

2)We now understand that the budgets will be split starting in the next budget year. We agree with this decision and it is consistent with our recommendation.

3)We concluded that shared leadership and shared key administrative functions do not work well, at least in the current environment. With a high school approaching 600 students, and an educational campus experiencing major transformation, each school needs its own dedicated leadership.

4)On enrollment, we recommend that SWWHS plan should address the ideal size of SWWHS – including a potential increase in enrollment – in a way that takes into consideration alternatives to the current schedule, options for space at GW, and the impact on comprehensive high schools.

In creating the above recommendations the working group relied on supporting analysis that was not published at the request of DCPS. We now believe it is important for the community to see our full analysis, and therefore are releasing the following report. The analysis in the report was not finalized by the working group. Accordingly, this report is solely being issued by the SWWHS delegation who served on the working group, and we have deleted material that was specific to Francis-Stevens.

Background

In January 2013, DCPS announced the merger of Francis-Stevens Education Campus (FS) with School Without Walls High School (SWWHS). This decision was made following the proposal to close FS and other under-enrolled schools in the city. The FS community argued to keep its school open and asserted that the demographics of its in-boundary population was growing and would eventually fill the school. Although the current in-boundary enrollment stands at 23 percent, much of this population is found in the preschool-kindergarten classes.

DCPS announced it was merging the two schools, and that SWWHS would use space at FS to meet an increase in enrollment. This decision was made without input from the SWWHS community. SWWHS called a town hall meeting in February 2013 to discuss the potential problems, possible solutions, and to determine whether we, as a community, could offer DCPS some constructive feedback on the subject of the merger.

Among the concerns expressed at the town meeting were negative impact on school culture and performance, as students and teachers would be split; class scheduling would be based on geography rather than student need and interest; and access to teachers, extracurricular activities and George Washington University resources would be limited, due to the bifurcation of the high school.

After contacting DCPS leadership about concerns, DCPS Chief of Schools John Davis told the SWW community in a May 23, 2013 letter that DCPS would:

·  Delay having high school students attend classes at FS for the 2013-14 school year, while the merger implications were studied.

·  Create an additional leadership position at each campus, because of concerns about the plan to share a principal. The new administrator position – an associate principal position – was created to oversee the individual schools on a “day-to-day” basis with the full decision making authority of a lead administrator.

·  Form a working group to consider the potential use of FS facilities for SWWHS students for the 2014‐2015 school year.

Meanwhile, DCPS moved forward with some merger decisions, including changing the name of FS to School Without Walls at Francis Stevens, merging the budgets of the two schools and sharing several key staff positions.

In the letter, Mr. Davis stated a goal of increasing enrollment at the high school, although he noted that some believe the small size of the high school was integral to its success. Therefore, in addition to considering the feasibility and impact of SWWHS students using FS campus, the working group was asked to consider the appropriate size for SWWHS. (See Appendix.)

Working Group on the Merger

The working group, facilitated by Jennifer Smith, first met in June 2013. The working group comprised the facilitator, and four teachers and eight parents, drawn equally from FS and SWWHS. The group met bi-weekly from July through October. Jennifer Smith is an executive with Flamboyan Foundation, an educational institution. She was formerly principal of the DCPS Capital Hill Cluster School.

To provide the most helpful information to DCPS, the working group requested additional information from DCPS leadership. Specifically, we asked for plans or guidance regarding DCPS’s thinking about the merger. We met with Chief of Schools John Davis, Instructional Superintendent Thomas Anderson and Principal Richard Trogisch. We also reviewed the SWWHS master schedule to help inform our recommendations regarding having high school students attending classes at FS. We sought advice from educational experts. We reviewed the SWW town meeting findings. While we requested that DCPS provide us with experts in operations and legal areas to help us consider the implications of movements between two campuses a mile apart, we received no such help in these areas.

The working group examined four main areas:

▪  Use of FS space by SWW students,

▪  Budget,

▪  Management and administration, and

▪  Enrollment.

Based on our work, we arrived at the above-listed recommendations. We presented them, along with significant details that led us to the recommendations, to Mr. Davis in a meeting on November 7, 2013. We did not receive a response to our recommendations for several weeks, and on December 17, 2013, the SWWHS HSA held a general meeting. Mr. Davis attended the meeting and answered questions from the community. He noted that he continued to think that expanding the high school by having students take classes at Francis-Stevens was a good idea but that DCPS did not have a plan for addressing the clear logistical problems. Our parent community was vocal and clear, that we did not believe the merger was a good idea, and we saw no educational benefit for our students.

Current Status of Merger

Mr. Davis finally issued a response to our recommendations on December 20, 2013. In a letter to the community, he stated that SWWHS students would not be required to attend classes at FS during school year 2014-15. He also stated that he was concerned about the leadership issues, and would address them. He did not address the budget or enrollment issues.

In February 2014, we learned that Mr. Anderson is supporting Mr. Trogisch’s request that the two schools budgets remain merged. However, communication from Mr. Anderson to the LSAT leadership in March indicated that a decision had been made to un-merge the budgets.

Further, we have not learned anything regarding how DCPS will address the continued issues that exist based on shared leadership and more to the point no dedicated leadership and advocate for the SWWHS.

Use of Francis Stevens Space by SWWHS Students

We examined the possibility of having SWWHS students taking classes at FS during the instructional school day. Uppermost in our discussions was the notion that the academic and instructional experience of the high school students must not be undermined or compromised.

We considered several means of accomplishing this objective, including whether to divide student time between campuses or have teachers travel between campuses. We also considered Mr. Trogisch’s proposal to send the junior class to FS, by splitting them into two groups and having each group attend classes there two days each week and alternating Fridays.

Based on considering numerous approaches, it is our conclusion that it is impractical to separate students from the high school to take classes at FS. We reached this conclusion for the following reasons:

·  With many classes encompassing students from multiple grades, we cannot find a practical way to have a select number of students attend class all day at the FS campus. An analysis of the current year schedule shows that 75 percent of classes are comprised of students from two or more grades. This does not include advisory classes, which meet once a week contain kids from every grade.

·  One option is to hire additional teaching staff to maintain the current course offerings at the high school and duplicate those same classes at FS. This seems cost prohibitive and does not address the impact of loss of interaction with students of different grades.

·  Based on projections of space available at FS for use by the high school, it would only be practical to send a portion of a student grade to FS. (Mr. Trogisch has reported there are up to five classrooms with a combined capacity of about 100 students that are available for SWWHS students.) We have concerns about this isolation for both students and teachers. For half their school year, students would attend classes entirely with a pool of up to 75 students and never interact with their cohorts in the other group of juniors. It would interfere with students’ ability to participate in clubs and tutoring, particularly in activities that occur before the start of the school day. It would hurt their ability to seek extra sessions and guidance from teachers.

·  For teachers, as well, we see possibilities for isolation. Identifying four or five teachers and permanently locating them at FS would constrain their ability to seek support and guidance from other teachers in their departments. The same holds true for access to counseling staff.

·  An important component of high school is extracurricular activity. College admissions counselors describe a student’s commitment to sports, music and the arts, academic and community service activities as an important selection criteria. SWWHS students participate in multiple sports and clubs, and, in fact, are encouraged to start a club if one does not exist. Many SWWHS clubs take place before school starts in the morning (ex. strength training, debate, ethics club, stage band and Model UN), during lunch hours (ex. National Honor Society, debate, service clubs) and immediately after school (ex. school newspaper, French club, African culture club, dance, cheerleading). High school students taking classes at FS would be shut out of these activities.

·  Travel to and from athletic practices and games would become cumbersome. For travel across the city, students go in groups. For buses and parent carpools to games, it makes little sense to duplicate or incur additional costs or cross-traffic challenges for parents.

·  In exploring the option to have certain staff assigned at FS and have students shuttle to and from the FS campus during the day, we concluded this would require substantial time in transit, which does not seem feasible, given that the high school allots just three minutes to transfer from class to class.

·  An all-day shuttle service could address isolation issues (although not extracurricular activities, given tight timelines). While DCPS failed to provide any assistance or information regarding possible shuttle service, we reasonably conclude this would be an expensive endeavor.

·  Travel between the campuses at lunchtime is challenging at best, with less than an hour available. Students with any kind of physical challenge would be entirely precluded from this option.

·  The stated sole purpose that the option of one grade level at the FS campus serves is freeing up space at the SWWHS campus.

(In the appendix, we have prepared a fuller report analyzing the implications of sending students to FS for classes.)

If FS continues to succeed in growing its population, at some point it will not be able to accommodate students from SWWHS. (In a new development, DCPS has announced plans to locate two additional special education program at FS: a program for intellectually disabled middle schoolers, and another for K-2 students with autism. The impact of this decision on space availability for the use of SWWHS is not known.)

Finally, it is our understanding that FS is scheduled for large-scale renovation and modernization in 2014-15. School Without Walls completed such a renovation four years ago. Asking the SWWHS student community to participate in another move to a temporary location while the capital improvement project is underway seems illogical and not in the best developmental interest of students.

Management and Administration

The working group concluded that the present administrative configuration – a shared principal and an associate and assistant principal at each campus – has not to date been effective in supporting the educational needs of SWWHS or FS, nor has the sharing of other critical resources

School Leadership

The current configuration does not provide adequate or consistent support for each campus. Specifically:

·  The Principal has been absent from key meetings, including most LSAT meetings, and all but one HSA board meeting, and milestone events. A new family orientation meeting at the high school was cancelled at the last minute with inadequate notice to families. A chaotic back to school night, and having to move the open house for the SWWHS on the day of the event are other examples of a lack of coordination and attention to detail.