ACPS School Board Opposes Legislation in Letter to Governor
Alexandria City Public Schools' board sends a letter to Gov. Bob McDonnell saying proposed legislation would harm a local school.
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Members of the Alexandria City School Board sent a letter to the state governor opposing legislation they say would usurp their power and adversely affect Jefferson-Houston School.
Additionally, they requested a meeting in Richmond with Gov. Bob McDonnell to discuss the matter.
The board late last week said while it welcomes the governor’s efforts to “improve education at Virginia public schools, including advancing educational achievement at the lowest performing school…we strongly oppose the Opportunity Educational Institution legislation.”
The measure, which the Senate and House have adopted “will not produce the results we all want,” they wrote. State Del. Rob Krupicka (D-45), a former Alexandria city councilman and ex-member of the state Board of Education, strongly opposes the proposals.
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City Councilman Tim Lovain, who has children in Alexandria's public school system, said he is concerned about the legislation.
"It violates the principle of local control of education," he said. "Jefferson-Houston has its problems but they are more likely to be solved in Alexandria than in Richmond."
The legislation is headed for passage at a time when Alexandria is putting major resources into improving the Cameron Street school, including constructing a $44 million new school building and improved grounds.
Board members expressed concern that the measure abrogates school board oversight, which they noted are powers granted by the commonwealth and included in its Constitution.
“Instead these bills transfer local authority and local taxpayer funding to a vaguely defined state authority with no oversight, accessibility, or accountability to the parents in the communities in which the schools reside,” says the letter.
The measures, Senate Bill 1324 and House Bill 2096, create a new body that would take over consistently failing schools in an effort to improve them. There are currently about seven Virginia public schools that fall into this category.
The board outlined several concerns with the measures (see attached PDF of the letter), and School Board Chairman Karen Graf told Patch that she is particularly concerned that the measures give no local oversight when a school’s control is turned over to the new body and that there’s no clear language on how localities acquire a school back from it.
She is planning to discuss the issue with school officials overseeing other Virginia localities such as Norfolk that also would be affected by the legislation.
“While the Alexandria School Board is accountable to the voters as well as to the Virginia Board of Education, the Opportunity Educational Institution established in this legislation has no timetable, no metrics, and no accountability by which the citizens of Alexandria can judge its effectiveness or take appropriate action on behalf of their children," wrote board members.
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Derek Zeller
1:16 pm on Monday, February 11, 2013
Funny how politicans think that the state is better than the local goverment yet they turn and say that the feds are better than the states...seems VERY hypocritcal to me now that it effects THEM personally.
Gail G
3:46 pm on Monday, February 11, 2013
There are certainly legitimate questions about the process of state takeover of a school. It's perfectly reasonable for the new school board to oppose this legislation and the takeover of Jeff-Ho in particular until those questions are answered. On top of that, this school board is brand new and deserves a little bit of time to see what they can do. Unfortunately, many Alexandrians - myself included - are so fed up and disgusted with ACPS that they have no faith in or patience with ACPS anymore. The slightest hint of "same old, same old" will set people off. The honeymoon for the new school board is already over. We voted out the old school board because we wanted significant change and we wanted it years ago. In order to instill confidence, the new board is going to have to do something big.
Peter
4:17 pm on Monday, February 11, 2013
Personally, I don't have any issues with this legislation. So it takes the power away from a local body that was consistenly failing, FANTASTIC!!. Yes, this is a new board, but it does not change the fact that J-H is not what it should be. Let this focused team shake things up a bit! Its how change is made, not by promoting status quo.
Take this as a way to free up some of the board's time and energy and focus on fixing other issues within the ACPS and then work to bring J-H back under their control once it is in better shape.
Edmund Lewis
10:19 pm on Monday, February 11, 2013
Take a good look at what is going on at Jefferson Houston. Scores have plummeted under current ACPS central office leadership. https://p1pe.doe.virginia.gov/reportcard/report.do?division=101&schoolName=537
Over the past five years questionable programs and organizations have been brought into Jefferson-Houston. Programs and organizations with personal ties to the superintendent and the deputy superintendent. The Hawn Foundation, Success for All, and now a contract with American Institutes for Research (AIR). At Thursday's school board meeting, while discussing the current contract work with AIR, one of Jefferson-Houston's administrators let it slip that an AIR consultant working as a turnaround partner at Jefferson-Houston "goes back 30 years" with the superintendent. http://acpsk12va.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2 View the video from the February 7 meeting. At 2:53:31 of the video you will hear the reference and the superintendent's immediate interruption moving the discussion away from his personal relationship with someone who works for a company with an almost $400,000 contract with ACPS. Stunning.
Gail G
12:13 pm on Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Thank you, Edmund. I looked into AIR. There is a Daniel Sherman who is a principle there. I wonder if he is any relation to Mort.
Gail G
2:17 pm on Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Hmmm. There is a Daniel Sherman from Tenafly, NJ, where Morton Sherman used to live. Is that the same Daniel Sherman at AIR, which now has a contract with ACPS? There is also a Renee Sherman affiliated with AIR.
http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/daniel-sherman.asp?cycle=04
Kim Moore
9:24 pm on Tuesday, February 12, 2013
I tend to think that any legislative action focusing on only one or a few schools in a district will create an unmanageable situation for the local school board.
Sherry Henderson
4:51 pm on Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Problems with Alexandria City Public Schools have now been going on for decades, so it's time for a 'new' set of eyes, and brains, to come forward, and have the Commonwealth seize control of Jefferson-Houston. It's obvious that Mort Sherman and his lack-luster cohorts at ACPS haven't been able to turn things around at Jefferson-Houston, but, to be fair, no one has for such a long time. It's laughable for anyone to think that anyone in the City of Alexandria can fix Jefferson-Houston, or any failing school, for that matter, because the past track record of ineffective attempts have been embarrassingly disastrous for both students and parents. There are way too many people in the City of Alexandria with a 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' attitude about the entire Alexandria City Public School system. And, Mort Sherman must have a whole lot of embarrassing and compromising pictures of city officials, just so he can keep his job. Parents of students in public schools in the City of Alexandria should be outraged at the dreadfully ongoing problems with Alexandria City Public Schools, and those who do complain are easily and summarily dismissed, as they have been for so many years. The District of Columbia was once recently run by a 'control board', which, in turn, dramatically changed the fiscal outlook for the city. The Commonwealth of Virginia should, in turn, take over management of City of Alexandria public schools, now, more than ever, before more students suffer.