A Man and His School

It was my privilege recently to participate in the rededication of Cassidy School. Just renovated, Cassidy School was also celebrating its 75th anniversary.

Last summer, a research assistant and I spent the better part of a week in Superintendent Stu Silberman's office pouring over old Fayette County Board of Education documents extracting information on M A Cassidy, Lexington's progressive school leader at the turn of the last century. The analysis is not yet complete, but enough details have emerged to present an interesting story of the development of the Fayette County schools in general, and one school in particular.

Current Cassidy School principal Rhonda Fister opened the program and made introductions - including one very special introduction.
Superintendent Silberman also greeted the crowd.

Then it was my turn to tell the story of a man and his school.

The Rededication of M A Cassidy School
on the Occasion of its 75th Anniversary

18 November 2010

Photos of the event by Amanda Ferguson

Good evening ladies and Gentlemen. As always, it’s great to be back at Cassidy. Tonight, I hope to share with you a few of the reasons why I feel that way.

First I’d like to thank Kelli Helmers and the best PTA I know, for the invitation to speak tonight, about this school I love, and the inspirational man for whom it was named.

And I’ve got to acknowledge Charleen Hiten – THE most senior staff member in the Fayette County public school system. For 47 years, and counting, Charleen has greeted visitors, put on Band-Aids, organized the school, and kept the books – all in good order. We thank her for her uncommon dedication.
Leadership is key to any successful enterprise and I‘d also like to thank Rhonda Fister for taking such great care of the place; and Stu Silberman for his stewardship of the district. Both the school and the district are in good hands and achieving new heights.
Our greatest superintendents have been men and women of vision. Able to foresee the increasing needs of American industry, they worked tirelessly to meet the rising demand for an educated workforce, and to make Kentucky a better place.

The most visionary educational leader in Kentucky at the turn of the last century was arguably Massillon Alexander Cassidy.

So great was the public affection for Cassidy, that upon his sudden death in 1928, the school children of Lexington and Fayette County collected sufficient funds to erect an impressive monument. An unnamed Italian artist was commissioned to fashion a monument, including a marble bust of Cassidy, which stands in the Lexington Cemetery near that of Henry Clay’s.

Cassidy’s eulogy was delivered by Dr. A W Fortune, pastor of the Central Christian Church who said it was the optimism of M. A. Cassidy that created confidence in the public school system.

“His genial spirit created an atmosphere of good will which has characterized our schools,” Fortune said. “M A Cassidy loved people and enjoyed mingling with them. He had a big heart and was sympathetic in his attitude toward all. He had the confidence of children and…He had the confidence and love of his teachers.

We honor M.A. Cassidy because of the conception of education which he impressed on our children… He believed the supreme function of education is the development of character. He said, “Learning without character is a vain and noxious thing.”

“The worth and strength of the nation depends far less on the form of its institutions than upon the character of its people,” Cassidy wrote. He believed it is the function of the public school to serve the nation through development of character. He believed the time to develop character is in the early years. He was convinced that it is infinitely better to start boys and girls in the right direction than it is to let them drift in the early years and try to redeem them when they are grown. As Cassidy understood, and we understand here at the elementary level, “One former is worth a thousand reformers.”

Like other visionary leaders Cassidy was a man of his time. He understood the changes that were occurring around him and set out to educate the larger community to meet those challenges.

From the start, Lexington attracted a relatively educated set of settlers who were sufficiently interested in the cultural arts that the town came to be called, “Athens of the West.” As early as 1783, John “Wildcat” McKinney opened the first school near the fort at Lexington. As the story goes, Wildcat earned his nickname by chasing a real wildcat out of the school house before class one day. Today, those who attend Thursday Night Live or the Farmer’s Market at the new pavilion next to the old Fayette County Courthouse on Main Street are once again playing in McKinney’s school yard.

Over the next 40 years, a handful of tuition-based schools were opened for white children, the closest by Waldemar Mentelle, at the other end of Henry Clays’ property near Ashland, commemorated today by Mentelle Park. The first “Sunday afternoon” school for free blacks was organized by Lexington merchant Col. Patterson in 1798. The school taught various “trades” like masonry and carpentry at a time when many of the skilled artisans in Lexington were blacks. In 1810, Lexington’s 4,300 residents ranked 35th largest in America.

The first tuition-based city school was established, in 1835, when William Morton bequeathed $12,000 to establish a school. The Morton name has been the oldest - in continual use since that time - and since 1938 has shared a campus here on the city’s “old circus grounds” with Cassidy School.

It was not until 1848, following the crusading efforts of State Superintendent Robert J Breckinridge that a fledgling state-wide system of free schools was established. For the first time free common schools could be built using public funds derived from taxation. Several private schools were also opened around this time but only Sayre, which was formed in 1854, has endured.

Since the time of Socrates - and I believe it is still true today - nothing relates more completely to the success of the educational enterprise than the quality of the teacher. Numerous studies strongly suggest that there is a direct relationship between the knowledge of the teacher and the learning of the student. Lexington was fortunate for its ability to attract “good teachers” which was a major stumbling block for much of the rest of the state. A teacher could only teach what they knew or had books to support.

The instructional method, since antiquity, considered the brain to be like a muscle. If you want to get strong, you lift weights, repeatedly. In school, scholars were led to develop “mental discipline” by memorizing large passages of text through endless repetition, choral reading and recitation. Physical discipline could also be harsh for wayward students, and there was no choice of what to study, as it was thought that all students needed the same curriculum.

But a new progressive way of thinking about schools emerged in the late 19th century spurred by a series of articles published in the Forum Magazine. While “muckraking” journalists like Upton Sinclair, was exposing corporate wrongdoings to the American public, Joseph Mayer Rice was doing the same thing to the public schools. His investigation of 1,200 American teachers revealed, “political hacks hiring unqualified teachers who lead children through mind-numbing drill, rote repetition and meaningless verbiage.” The response from the public was massive and the first education reform movement was launched.

Into the fray stepped Massillon Alexander Cassidy and his high-minded effort to make schools child-centered – and to democratize intellectual capital by making it available to all. Cassidy expanded the function of schooling into such areas as health and occupational competencies. He sought to apply scientific research to improve teaching and began “tailoring instruction” to different types of students variously identified within the school population.

Born August 22, 1856, at Morristown, Tennessee, Superintendent Cassidy was the son of “an educator of some note” from Virginia, Jeremiah Alexander Cassidy, and Martha Matilda Jackson Cassidy. He was educated in private grammar schools, graduated Regan High school inMorristown, and received a Master of Arts degree at the University of Kentucky. Professor Cassidy, as he came to be known in Lexington, had been a teacher and journalist in Tennessee and practiced law in Knoxville.

Cassidy was chosen superintendent of Fayette County schools in 1885. He served both the city and the county schools until 1901, after which he remained superintendent of the Lexington Schools until his death in 1928.

The Cassidy family tells a story from his youth. At the close of the Civil War, when Cassidy was a young teen in Tennessee, he was said to have served the Confederate cause. One day he came home to see his mother. Union soldiers were patrolling in the area and came to her home in an attempt to find him. His mother, Martha, saw them coming and had Massillon climb down into the family's well, with its cedar bucket and windlass, to hide. When the soldiers had finished searching the house and grounds, the Union Captain, despite his obvious power, politely asked Martha for a drink of water.

Massillon's mother said, "On one condition: Provided that I can have the first bucket load." The Captain agreed.

When the soldiers cranked up the first bucket with Massillon aboard, the Captain smiled and said, "Madam, I am a man of my word. You can keep the first bucket load."

Cassidy, it is said, came to believe he was spared from an uncertain fate by kindness and the meaning of a man's word - a lesson about honor he carried throughout his life.

Cassidy’s later writings carry overtones of religion and science as was expected of this new breed of progressive schoolmen. Educational leaders of his time made use of religious imagery to underscore the importance, even reverence, with which they undertook to educate the masses and lift the common folk into a civilization full of possibilities for those of good character who were willing to work hard. Along with the efficient use of scientific management the schools were seen as America’s best vehicle to fulfill its destiny as a nation. Schools became the instruments of democracy; to be run with “authority” by professionals who knew best how to run them - in loco parentis. The schools began to be consolidated and curriculum tracking and electives emerged. The system offered “equality of educational opportunity.”

Judge Charles Kerr's 1922 History of Kentucky cites Cassidy's leadership of the Lexington schools as comparing favorably "with those of any other city in the country." His innovations were frequently replicated "in various other sections of the country which have realized the value of elevated educational standards."

During his tenure, he rallied to get children in school and dramatically increased enrollment, "from a few hundred pupils to about 7,000." Kerr writes, "The City of Lexington has long enjoyed the reputation of having one of the best administered and most up-to-date systems of schools found anywhere in the country ... and was one of the first cities in the United States to reorganize its schools on the 6-3-3- plan" – which relates to 6 elementary grades; 3 in junior high; and sophomore through senior years in high school.

The list of Cassidy’s innovations in the schools was long:
• Cassidy condemned nearly every school in the county as his first act as superintendent
• employed teachers who were college graduates
• instituted the penny lunch
• manual training for boys
• "domestic economy" for girls
• Indoor restrooms,
• "opportunity classes ... for irregular children"
• "open air schools"
• "kindergarten in all white schools and some of the negro schools"
• opened building for community use including laundries in the basements of schools for both children and parents" and a community center with a swimming pool and auditorium
• he introduced the "moving picture apparatus" to instruction
• held the first county graduation ceremonies in Kentucky
• formed the Fayette County teachers' Normal Institute in 1887
• appointed a Catholic school trustee in 1896
• formed the Fayette County Colored Teachers' Institute in 1901 with Prof J H Johnson.
• removed the colored board of trustees for not reporting school census
• was regarded as the father of Kentucky's progressive school laws from 1893 - 1905.
• Called for tax increases to better support the schools on several occasions
• was a member of the Democratic Party, the Masons and the Presbyterian church
• And was described in the Lexington Leader as "familiar to every teacher in Kentucky"

Cassidy won wide recognition in educational and other fields. He was a member of the National Educational Association and served as president of the Kentucky Educational Association and of the Southern Educational Association. Cassidy also was widely known as an author, contributing short stories and other articles to various magazines. He won recognition nationally as the author of the Golden Deeds system of character building, which was used throughout Lexington schools.
Cassidy died of a sudden heart attack at 2:45 o’clock after working at his offices downtown that morning. He was 72 years old.

Despite the Great Depression the east end of Lexington was growing rapidly in the thirties. Chevy Chase was being developed and contained many desirable homes for Lexington’s young families. Hollywood and Ashland Park were already established neighborhoods and there was need for a school in this section of the community. M A Cassidy School was completed in 1935 to meet this demand.

Dr Henry H Hill was the director of the building program for the Lexington Public Schools under Cassidy. When he was appointed superintendent in 1930, he named the district’s next new building in honor of his predecessor. Professor Cassidy had won a place in the hearts of Fayette Countians following forty-three years of dedicated service to educating the young.

Annelle Kelly, Cassidy School’s first principal wrote, “The building is a modern red brick structure consisting of six classrooms, large kindergarten room, library, small museum room, office and lavatories. Initial plans were made so that rooms could be added as the enrollment increases.” Interestingly, the land on which it rests once belonged to the Great Compromiser (Kentucky statesman) Henry Clay. The total cost of the building and land was $103,267.00. President Roosevelt’s Public Works Administration paid for 30 percent of the cost and the building was erected by PWA workers.

During the first year (1935-36) the total enrollment was 108. There were three grades and a kindergarten. It was planned to add one new grade per year. Since there was no cafeteria, auditorium or gym, there was only one daily session which ran from 8:30 to 1:15 in the afternoon with a midmorning lunch. It was not until Morton Junior High School was built in 1938 that Cassidy’s school day was lengthened to two sessions and the students shared use of the Morton’s gym, cafeteria and auditorium.

A few years later a new library and one classroom were added to the building. But by September 1956, a large number of children, who were born during the post World War II baby boom, were ready for school, and a new ten classroom wing was built including a cafeteria and gymnasium.

According to the Cassidy Chronicles, published by Cassidy students in 1989, from the start Cassidy School was considered modern and progressive. “The school used phonics in the teaching of reading, rather than the Look-Say method.” During World War II, in lieu of classes one day a week, students planted victory gardens, and collected paper and metal to assist the war effort. The Halloween Carnival was a favorite for years. School children enjoyed the band, orchestra and fully stocked library. City Council member Bill Farmer recalled for our young researchers how much Cassidy emphasized hands-on activities. At one time, the school sponsored both basketball and football teams.

School principals included Mignon Newbern (46-50), Owen Cammack (50-52), Briscoe Evans (52-56), Jeannette Pates (56-65), Emmet Hardy (65-66) Dorothy Friend (66-89), Richard Day (89-04) and Rhonda Fister (04-present).

In the 1968-69 school year, the school was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and exceeded all of the goals that had been set for its improvement. Cassidy received a comprehensive rating from the State Department of Education. The school boasted many fine programs and strong community support. The Cassidy PTA was similarly recognized as the best PTA in the state, honorable mention at the national level and among the first schools to be recognized by the National PTA for its high level of parental involvement. Cassidy had become a model for other schools to emulate.

To prepare for a renovation in December of 1976, the entire school population was moved, for the entire school year, to that other school named for Cassidy - Picadome. Picadome School derived its name from the first two letters of the names of four men: State Superintendent Pickett; Superintendent Cassidy, and District Trustees Douglas and Meyers.

By the mid 80’s a national wave of school reform had begun again. Following a report called A Nation at Risk, schools began a number of efforts including increased testing of school children. The state developed the Kentucky Essential Skills Test and began recognizing the best schools through the Flags of Excellence program. To receive a Flag of Excellence, 80% of the student body had to exceed the national average on the test while maintaining better than 95% attendance. Cassidy received a flag every year of the program and routinely ranked at the top of district ratings.

Four more classrooms were added in 1988 as major changes were about to take place in schools across Kentucky because of the Kentucky Supreme Court’s declaration that the entire state system of schools was unconstitutional. By 1990 the Kentucky Education Reform Act took effect. A host of new initiatives were implemented including the Primary Program and School Councils. By the mid nineties, the state had implemented a high-stakes accountability system based on test scores reported by subgroups. The operating philosophy in the schools changed from “equality of educational opportunity” to “equity of student achievement outcomes.” Overnight, Cassidy went from being the school with the highest average performance, to being the school with the largest achievement gap. Much of the school’s subsequent effort went toward closing those gaps. In 2006, the school was recognized by the Fayette County Educational Foundation for having closed 80% of the achievement gap.

The current school reform movement echoes the challenge Cassidy faced a century earlier. In his day, a grammar school education was no longer sufficient and high schools were built in every county in Kentucky in response. Today’s educational leaders face a similar, but still higher, goal of increasing the percentage of Kentuckians who have Bachelor’s Degrees or advanced technical training required by today’s industries.

Remarkable recent advances in technology and communications have once again raised the bar, but this time the competition is not just state to state. It is global. I shudder to think of the future of a Cassidy child who goes out into the 21st century world armed only with a high school diploma. What kind of job might they expect to get? I am comforted by the knowledge that Cassidy parents are already planning for the advanced education of their children.

In 2009, the state legislature called for a new testing system, which will be based on national standards, to replace the CATS test. The new system promises to take less time to administer and it will collect student test data from 3rd grade through graduation on each student. It will also include the ACT, and end of course exams in Algebra, Geometry, Biology and U S History. The arts will be assessed through a program review.

In the meantime, several state education groups have continued to report the performance of our schools under a revised version of the CATS system. By that reckoning, things are going better than ever at Cassidy School. In the most recent testing, Cassidy kids finished with a nearly perfect Transition Index of 123. That’s number one in Fayette County, and number two in the state. Way to go, y’all.

At the district level, Superintendent Silberman reported this week that 24 Fayette County schools have reached proficiency. Overall the district has moved 76 percent of its students into proficiency while achievement among most subgroups of student have improved. The superintendent credited the district’s success to the same group of folks who have always come together wherever successful schools exist: hard-working teachers, dedicated administrators and a community that values a great education for its children.

Silberman also credited the nickel tax, approved in 2007, for securing state-of-the-art educational facilities for the future. We find no better example of that than Cassidy’s $11 million makeover.

In the words of architect Susan Hill of Tate Hill Jacobs, "Buildings are not just about the architecture, they’re really about the life of the community that's gone through them. They're about the lessons learned, the stories shared, friendships made – and [this] building embodies all of that. A new building would never do that, even if it was built on the same site."
I feel quite certain that MA Cassidy felt the same. He knew that we public school folks are in the people business.

Soon after his death, Cassidy’s friends began receiving his annual self-designed Christmas greetings in the mail – complete with one of his famous poems. It was entitled,

My Picture Gallery

I’ve strolled in halls where famous art displayed in all its splendor,
stirred deep emotions in my heart- repulsive mixed with tender.

But in my heart there is a hall adorned with finest pictures,
on every side they deck the wall with no revolting mixtures.

A single artist painted them on canvas that’s eternal,
and every one that artist’s gem, whose joy is diuturnal.

The artist is well known as Friend, a true and tender painter,
whose colors last unto the end nor with the years grow fainter.

His colors are affections, smiles, and trueness and devotion,
unmixed with any sordid wiles, or any base emotion.

Within my hall, you I behold, and count you as a treasure,
that paintings all by artists bold can never find a measure.

And in my heart hall there’s a glow that comes from sunny faces;
and nothing sweeter shall I know than all your friendly graces.

By Dr Richard Day
Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations
Eastern Kentucky University
Principal, Cassidy School, 1989-2004

Keeping It Old School

$11 million renovation of

M.A. Cassidy Elementary

compliments 75-year-old school's

historic integrity

"Buildings are not just about the architecture,

they're really about the life of the community

that's gone through them.

They're about the lessons learned,

the stories shared, friendships made

– and that building embodies all of that.

A new building would never do that,

even if it was built on the same site."

---Susan Hill: Tate Hill Jacobs Architects

This from Robbie Clark at the Chevy Chaser:

Having been a student teacher at M.A. Cassidy Elementary School while at the University of Kentucky in the early seventies, when Dr. Richard Day moved with his family back to Lexington in 1985, one thing was certain. "I knew where my kids were going to go to school," Day said. "And we bought a house two blocks away." ...

In November, as Cassidy celebrates its 75th anniversary, as well as the completion of a massive $11-million renovation, Day will be delivering a program on the school's history as part of a number of events scheduled to mark the occasion.

Constructed by P.W.A. workers and completed in 1935 during the Great Depression to meet the rapidly growing population of Lexington's east end, M.A. Cassidy Elementary School was named after Massillon Alexander Cassidy, who worked for 43 years with Lexington-area schools, serving as superintendent for Fayette County and Lexington city schools (sometimes concurrently), beginning in 1885. Along with his longevity in the school system, Cassidy is remembered for his progressiveness, instilling a number of programs and social innovations, such as penny lunches, indoor plumbing, "opportunity classes for irregular children" – a precursor for special education – and junior high schools...

Susan Hill, an architect with Tate Hill Jacobs Architects, the local firm which handled the renovation project, said the work was envisioned to cover the school's needs for the next 30 years. "That's the charge. Whenever you do this kind of renovation, except for ongoing maintenance, it should not have to require another major renovation for 25 to 30 years," she said. "It's $10 million that went somewhere."...

M.A. Cassidy Elementary School will be hosting a 75th anniversary ceremony and open house to show off the new renovation on Nov. 18. Doors to the school will be open at 5:30 p.m., and an optional dinner will be served at 6 (dinner is $6). A program about the history of Cassidy will begin at 7 p.m. For more information about the event, contact the Cassidy PTA at http://www.cassidypta.org/.

Photo above by Robbie Clark: Recent renovations include an entirely new wing (left) on Cassidy Elementary, Lexington, KY.

Thanks and congratulations to the Board of Education, Superintendent Stu Silberman, and Mary Browning and all of the operations folks, and Rhonda Fister and the Cassidy School faculty and staff, on a successful project !

Congratulations Cassidy !

Forgive my unabashed bias, but congratulations to the students, faculty, parents and leadership at Cassidy School on their cool Transition Index of 123. Very nice.

This finish places Cassidy back on top among elementary schools in Fayette County.

Other Fayette County Notables include:

Rosa Parks @ 122
Veterans Park @ 119
Scapa At Bluegrass @ 118
Meadowthorpe Elementary @ 117 !
Maxwell Spanish Immersion Elem @ 114
Dixie Elementary Magnet @ 114
Glendover Elementary @ 113
Stonewall Elementary @ 111
And check out ....Ashland Elementary @ 111

And ...All above 100

Athens-Chilesburg Elementary
Clays Mill Elementary
Picadome Elementary
Yates Elementary
Julius Marks Elementary
Sandersville Elementary
Lansdowne Elementary
Liberty Elementary
Squires Elementary
Northern Elementary
Garden Springs Elementary

Overall, the FCPS elementary scores looked pretty strong to me. Yes, I know the popular rhetoric is that we must do more quicker. That's true enough. But some historically unproductive schools have really turned around and that means more children of poverty are getting off to a better start in life.

We all do better when we really try.

In fact only one Fayette County elementary school showed a steady decline in performance and that was the Booker T Washington Academy. The data say that school is going in the wrong direction.

Somewhere....Peggy Petrilli is smiling.

Check out the numbers for your favorite schools at KASC.

Lexington 9 Year Old Dies After Accidental Shooting

This from H-L:

Child accidentally shoots himself with handgun

A 9-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself in the head at a home on Folkstone Drive, near Alumni Drive and New Circle Road, died Tuesday afternoon.

TaShawn Watson was pronounced dead at the University of Kentucky Hospital at 4:49 p.m., according to the Fayette County coroner's office.

Police were called at 4:15 p.m. to 592 Folkstone Drive about an accidental shooting. When officers arrived, they found the boy in the basement with a single gunshot wound, said Lt. Scott Blakely of the Lexington police.

Blakely said the child's mother had been upstairs, and two children were playing in the basement when they apparently found the father's handgun.

"The gun went off while they were playing with it," Blakely said. "It appears to be a very tragic accident."

This from WLEX:

News of the tragedy left the otherwise quiet neighborhood shaken."I'm grieving for the family and I just want to let them know that we're here for them," said Julie Scalos, whose son Nicholas rode the bus home with Cassidy 3rd grader TaShawn Watson every day."Any other day he would have walked home with them. Sometimes he stops in there to play. It just so happens that we had somewhere to go tonight. So I made him come straight home from the bus stop. But any other day, he could have been over there playing. It's just really scary," she said...

Police say TaShawn's mother called 911 just after four o'clock Tuesday afternoon to report the nine year old had been accidentally shot in the head. Police say TaShawn and another boy were playing in the basement. They found a gun in the garage, and it fired."I talked to his mother a little while ago," said neighbor Delores Sorrell. "Her hand was real bloody and I asked her if she had been shot. She said, 'it was my son' and then she sat down on the sidewalk and started crying. I felt real bad for her," Sorrell said.TaShawn died about a half hour later at U.K. Hospital.

Police are calling it an accidental tragedy. For parents of kids who knew TaShawn, this is a painful reminder of the importance of educating little ones about gun safety."I feel real bad for the family. I can't imagine what they're going through right now," said Scalos.

Grief counselors will be on hand at Cassidy Elementary on Wednesday to help students cope with the loss.

A Shout out to Cassidy and Meadowthorpe

Well, the new test scores are out and I'm not sure I know what they mean. But whatever they mean, a couple of "my old schools" came out near the top. And that doesn't mean nothing; not to me at least.

Congratulations to the faculties of

Top Ten

Cassidy School

and

Meadowthorpe Elementary!!!

My other "old school" is Ryland Heights Elementary in Kenton County, sitting at a pretty cool 91.5.

Actually, the Council for Better Education, the Kentucky Association of School Councils and the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, created an index score, to bridge the three year period while SB 1 is being enacted. The group shared that formula with the Herald-Leader, and H-L used it to create the rankings.

This from the Herald-Leader:

Test results mixed in Fayette County

Fayette has 4 of top 5 elementary scores

Results from statewide student tests released Wednesday offer the Fayette County Public Schools both some things to cheer about and some things to mull over.

Among the county system's bright spots: it had four of Kentucky's top five scoring elementary schools; five elementary schools and one middle school in the top 10; 25 schools exceeded the benchmark of 100 on the statewide transitional index.

On the downside, Fayette high schools continued to struggle. Once again, no public high school in the county reached adequate yearly progress goals under the No Child Left Behind program. Other concerns: index scores fell at six schools; district reading targets for African-American students were missed; and six schools that made NCLB targets last year failed to do so this year...

And this:

Majority of schools have made progress

The percentage of Kentucky public schools that met federal goals fell slightly from last year, according to statewide student test results released Wednesday, but education officials said that could be misleading.

The results show that statewide, 696 Kentucky public schools — or 60.2 percent — made Adequate Yearly Progress goals for 2008-09 under the federal No Child Left Behind program. For the 2007-2008 school year, 72.9 percent of the state's public schools made AYP.

But state education department officials said during a briefing in Frankfort on Tuesday that new, higher goals for reading and mathematics probably helped depress scores and contributed to the lower percentage of Kentucky schools meeting AYP for '08-'09.

Overall, 464 schools failed to make AYP this time. Even so, 228 of them did make 80 percent or more of their goals, officials said.

Statewide, 110 Title 1 schools will face consequences under NCLB.

One school, Jefferson County's Thomas Jefferson Middle School, now has failed to meet NCLB standards for nine consecutive years. But it faces no stiffer consequences than schools that have missed only seven years.

Similarly, Jefferson County's Knight Middle School ranks near the bottom of Kentucky's middle schools and has languished there under the same leadership for most, or all, of those years.

Nineteen years into KERA, Knight's estimated index for this year is 60.1; down from 61.1 in 2008; and down from 63.4 in 2007 - and they only met 6 of 16 NCLB targets.

When critics ask why Kentucky educators would put up with these situation year after year without a change in leadership, or an even more radical restructuring, I say - it's a good question.

This situation cries out for a charter school.

It also makes me wonder what it takes to get fired in Jefferson County.

Cassidy School Gets a Face Lift

The Herald-Leader ran a short piece this morning on the renovation of my old stomping ground, M A Cassidy School in Lexington. Renovation of the building had been on the planning board for about a decade without sufficient funding to get the job done. That changed last year when Stu Silberman pushed through a local "nickle" tax to allow for better care of facilities in Fayette County.

An $11 million renovation and expansion has begun at Lexington's M.A. Cassidy Elementary School. Four portable classrooms are being used right now, and additional portables are being placed near the rear of the building for use next fall.

The school was built in 1935 and named for Massilon Alexander Cassidy, who was superintendent of Lexington Schools from 1885 to 1928 and was among the most prominent educators in the state.

Cassidy circa 1949.

In 1956 Cassidy School underwent a major expansion project with the addition of ten classrooms, a gymnasium and cafeteria.

In 1976, Cassidy students were briefly moved to the Old Picadome School while the building was remodeled.

In 1988, four more classrooms were added.

Cassidy circa 1991.

Room for Learning

This from Business Lexington:

Public school renovations
keeping many
construction companies in the black

With its bonding capacity increased sixfold by last year's approval of a property tax increase dedicated to facility improvements, Fayette County School District is preparing to launch an aggressive renovation schedule early next year, and for some local building companies and their subcontractors, the timing couldn't be better.

Between February and April, the school district will collect bids on five major renovation projects at three elementary schools and two middle schools, with a preliminary estimated cost of $55 million, thanks to the voters' 2007 approval of the district's request to increase local property taxes by roughly 5.5 cents per $100 of assessed value.

The school board's call for the tax increase garnered supported at that time from a consortium of local business leaders and groups, including the Home Builders Association of Lexington, the Lexington-Bluegrass Association of Realtors and Commerce Lexington's Board of Directors.The increase, known at the time as the nickel tax, is expected to generate an additional $167.6 million in bonding capacity for the school district this year to address an extensive list of bricks-and-mortar needs.

Overall, the district expects to spend $317.2 million over the next 10 years on its building and renovation program, which has historically contracted primarily with locally based architects, consulting engineers and general contractors.

The first five renovation projects on the school district's to-do list will take place concurrently at Arlington Elementary, Cassidy Elementary, Russell Cave Elementary, Leestown Middle, and Bryan Station Middle School, said Bill Wallace, AIA, director of facility design and construction for Fayette County Public Schools, but district facility plan proposals call for renovations to be launched at 22 schools in the district over the next six years."It's quite a bit of work, so we're really going to be testing what our local workforce has to offer," Wallace said...

2008 CATS Scores released

First, a little shout out

to my friends and colleagues

at Cassidy School,

recognized as Pacesetters,

and ranking 16th

at 111.6

You still make me proud.

This from KDE:



(FRANKFORT, Ky.) -- Results from the 2008 administration of the Kentucky Core Content Tests (KCCT) show improvement in most scores for all grade levels and subject areas, and fewer schools are in need of assistance as a result of their performance over the 2007-2008 testing cycle.


Scores from the April 2008 administration of the KCCT, the primary component of the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS), were released today. Nonacademic data, which is another component of school and district accountability indices, was released in May. ACT results for juniors, which contribute to high schools’ accountability indices, were released last week.


Every two years, schools are classified as Meets Goal, Progressing or In Assistance, depending whether they have met their unique goals for the biennium. The ultimate goal is for all schools to reach proficiency – 100 on a 140-point scale – by the year 2014.


More than 431,000 students in grades 3-12 participated in the 2008 assessments, which covered seven subject areas: reading, mathematics, science, social studies, arts & humanities, practical living/vocational studies and writing. Schools are held accountable for their students’ performance on the tests, for nonacademic factors (such as dropout, attendance and retention rates) and, for high schools, 11th-grade students’ performance on the ACT.


Schools must meet dropout rate and novice reduction requirements. The dropout rate requirements are that a school must have an average dropout rate of less than 5.3 percent over the biennium or an average rate that is at least one-half of one percent lower than its average rate of the previous biennium.


The novice reduction requirements are that a school must reduce its percentage of novices so that, by 2014, it has only five percent of its students in the novice category.



Schools are expected to have accountability indices of 100 (on a 140-point scale) by the year 2014. During this cycle, 91 schools have reached or exceeded 100 on their 2007-2008 combined indices...

Charter School Promises Fall Short in Texas

So far as I know, I was the first principal in Kentucky to ask the Governor for permission to turn Cassidy School in Lexington into the state's first charter school.

My goal was simple - to focus only on Cassidy - and offload some of the burdensome state and local initiatives (ie. primary program) that I believed were actually making it harder for us to meet our goals.

Ed Ford, who was Secretary of Governor Paul Patton's cabinet, told me that Kentucky was not ready for charter schools. End of story.

So I don't have any particular antipathy toward charter schools in and of themselves.

But what I didn't know (or care about) at the time was that the state constitution requires the General Assembly to provide quality schools across the state. Making Cassidy even better while others floundered did nothing to meet this goal.

Viewed from the state level, any law governing the schools must work toward providing quality schools for each Kentucky student regardless of where children live or the wealth of their parents.

Some say charters are the way to accomplish this. The argument is that business opportunity will bring out entrepreneurs and competition will raise the quality of instruction for all kids. But so far, everything I read about charter schools tells me that, where they exist, they are performing about as well as the public schools - and no better.

Some are great. Some are terrible. Most are somewhere in between.

Where we do find success (in either setting) - we either find a highly supported (or select) student population; or a strong principal, a longer school year, and a faculty that is working their butts off.

But counting on charters to fix broken schools across the state is not likely to produce the promised long-term benefit. As more and more entrepreneurs understand how difficult the work is, and how narrow the fiscal margins, they're looking for better opportunities to make money.

This is the circumstance in Texas where entrepreneurs were invited to step in and establish charter schools - but nobody showed up.

This from the Dallas Morning News:

Failing Texas schools face dwindling options

AUSTIN – Fixing the worst schools in Texas is about to get harder.

A 2006 law meant to spur improvements at low-rated schools gave the state two options for campuses that rack up five consecutive years of "unacceptable" ratings – closure or the use of outside managers to run them.

In practice, though, there's just one choice.

The state did not attract a single bid – from either a private company or a nonprofit entity – after soliciting proposals for several months for an outside manager.

"At this point, we have no one to call on," said state Education Commissioner Robert Scott. "Because there are no takers, we are left with just one option – closure" for chronic underachievers....

Residual Pride

I haven't been the principal of Meadowthorpe Elementary School since 1989, or Cassidy School since 2004, but I'm still happy when I see "my" students doing well.

Meadowthorpe tops Region 20

Congratulations to Meadowthorpe Elementary School, which captured first-place honors in the Governor’s Cup regional competition.

The Governor’s Cup, the state’s premier academic event, was founded in 1986 as a way to promote, recognize and reward outstanding achievement.

In the elementary division (grade 5 and below), students take part in a district and regional competition. The March 20-22 regional finals included Quick Recall and Future Problem Solving team contests and individual assessments in six subject areas.

For complete details, go to http://www.kaac.com/ and click on Governor’s Cup results. Fayette County’s elementary schools are in Region 20.

FINAL STANDINGS (top 10):
1. Meadowthorpe Elementary School
2. Cassidy Elementary School
3. Rosa Parks Elementary School
4. Dixie Elementary Magnet School
5. Ashland Elementary School
8. Athens-Chilesburg Elementary School
9. Garden Springs Elementary School

Future Problem Solving (team):
2. Meadowthorpe Elementary School
4. Athens-Chilesburg Elementary School

Quick Recall
(team):
1. Meadowthorpe
2. Dixie
3. Rosa Parks
4. Clays Mill

Hume Sportsmanship Award: Maxwell Elementary School

INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT:

Math:
1. David Stevens, Cassidy
2. Elaine Lin, Rosa Parks

Social Studies:
1. Eric Xiong, Meadowthorpe
2. Will Walters, Meadowthorpe

Science:
1. Chris Ward, Cassidy
2. Will Walters, Meadowthorpe

Language Arts:
1. Elaine Lin, Rosa Parks
2. Alice Li, Meadowthorpe

Composition:
1. Chelsea Southworth, Ashland
2. Mariah Mowbray, Cassidy

Arts & Humanities:
1. Erin Christopher, Athens-Chilesburg
2. Max Morris, Meadowthorpe

SOURCE: FCPS press release

Fayette Education Foundation recognizes, rewards achievement at four schools

The Fayette Education Foundation today awarded $5,000 each to four schools for their success in narrowing the achievement gap while raising overall student performance.

Large crowds of students and faculty at Rosa Parks Elementary School, Picadome Elementary School, Maxwell Spanish Immersion Magnet Elementary and Morton Middle School cheered the news that their success would mean additional funds to help continue their outstanding work in raising student achievement.

“Our goal is to get all kids to proficiency and to close our achievement gaps,” Fayette County Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman said. “When we have an organization like the Fayette Education Foundation recognizing schools for positive movement in this direction, it accelerates our progress! We are so grateful to the foundation for all it is doing to help our kids.”

For the third consecutive year, the foundation rewarded schools that have narrowed more than 80 percent of existing achievement gaps; earned an academic index of 70 or higher on the Commonwealth Accountability and Testing System (CATS); and either posted at least a 10-point gain in reading or math, or have reading and math scores above 90. At the middle and high school level, schools must narrow at least 75 percent of existing achievement gaps to be recognized.

Maxwell Elementary posted an overall score of 99.9 on CATS, earned a reading score of 101.8 and a math score of 108.8 while narrowing all existing achievement gaps.

It was a record year for Morton Middle School, where students earned an overall score of 97.4 – a school best – and also posted the school’s highest-ever reading and math scores of 109.6
and 96.3, respectively. There was also great movement on narrowing achievement gaps with the most significant improvements on the race gap in math and the reading gap between students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers.

Overall on CATS, Picadome Elementary had a score of 94.6, with a reading score of roughly 91 and a math score of nearly 108. The school dramatically reduced achievement disparities among groups of students, and completely eliminated both its gender gap in math and its race gap in reading.

Rosa Parks Elementary beat 100 for the first time, with an overall CATS index of 103.8, a reading score of 107.7 and a math score of 116.5. Progress on achievement disparities included closure on all existing gaps.

In 2005 and 2006, two schools achieved the required benchmarks each year. In 2007, the number of schools receiving awards doubled.

“The foundation believes that a strong education system is fundamental to a successful community,” Chairman Stephen R. Byars said. “We must continually work to provide innovative and enhanced learning opportunities for all children.

“It’s not just an issue for the school system. It’s the responsibility of the entire community. And I’m pleased to report that the community is stepping up to the challenge.”

The Fayette Education Foundation achieved its initial goal of raising $1 million ahead of schedule, and it continues to raise money for innovative, successful programs that can be replicated throughout the school district.

Previous schools that have received the award are Cassidy Elementary School and Jessie Clark Middle School in 2006; and James Lane Allen and Veterans Park Elementary Schools in 2005.

The Fayette Education Foundation was formed in 2003 with the goal of closing the achievement gap while raising overall achievement for every student in the Fayette County Public Schools.

By raising money for programs not funded through tax dollars, the foundation is mobilizing and enhancing support for innovative and effective student learning practices. The “It’s About Kids,” “Ride for Kids” and “Back to School” campaigns resulted in more than $300,000 in donations and pledges. More than $190,000 in grants has been distributed to schools.

FCPS press release.

In loving memory: Lynne Woolwine

The children of Cassidy School in Fayette County lost a great kindergarten teacher this week. I lost a friend and colleague.

Lynne Woolwine, 58, wife of George M. Woolwine, died Wed, April 11, 2007 at Hospice Care Center. Lynne was born in Circleville, OH, the daughter of Rosemary Boggs Hughes and the late McClure Hayden Hughes.

Lynne was a graduate of Virginia Intermont College. She received her BA and then completed post-graduate work in elementary education at the University of Kentucky. She was a member of Kappa Delta Sorority and Second Presbyterian Church.

She served as a kindergarten teacher at Athens and Cassidy Elementary Schools.

My deepest sympathies go out to her husband George and her children Katie McAllister and Grant Woolwine.
~
The following homily was delivered by The Rev Stephen Palmer on 15 April 2007.

ORDER OF THE PUBLIC WORSHIP OF GOD
WITNESS TO THE RESURRECTION OF MARY LYNNE HUGHES WOOLWINE

If a single picture is worth a thousand words, a single sentence about the strong, caring, sacrificial, patient, loving life of Mary Lynne Hughes Woolwine, is worth more than a thousand joyous pictures of the generous gifts God gave to Lynnie to share for the common good.

This is the sentence: Like her mother before her, Lynne Woolwine was a wonderfully, loving kindergarten teacher for more than 30 years, the majority of them at Athens and Cassidy Elementary schools in Fayette County.

Think of the photo opportunities!

With the high speed camera in your mind clicking away in rapid action, picture the dozens of holy moments in each school day when the good and kind teacher -- teaches, touches, comforts, encourages, blesses, holds and molds fragile uncertain lives into happy, confident, and adjusted children in her classroom.

Then multiply those moments by a whole school year, including off-duty times when teacher and student, or teacher and parents, or teacher and grandparents, meet unexpectedly at the grocery, a restaurant, a church, or in the neighborhood to chat about "her" children; and then multiply that number of events again by 30 years. It adds up to a wholly, holy, satisfying life of service for individuals and community. What a treasure Lynne Woolwine was, and is, and will be in the lives she has touched deeply and personally.

In the midst of our sadness today, there also is deep, overwhelming joy in celebrating a life of love and hugs, sticky fingers, and moments remembered, cherished, honored, but not recorded anywhere except in the memory of God. We only have glimpses of her goodness, her service, her sacrifice, her generous love. But that is sufficient for the day.

In the 23rd Psalm, God is pictured as a shepherd leading sheep - not as a kindergarten teacher coordinating the activities small excited children all talking at once. Yet both scenes speak volumes about comfort, care, trust, and getting all your needs met in a timely manner. To be sure kindergarten teachers are not God, despite what some children and their parents mutter in moments of intense emotion, but kindergarten teachers are often clear windows through which God’s light and love shines through with warmth and kindness to an unfriendly world.

Kindergarten teachers teach children and the adult world valuable lessons worth practicing, as a mountain of books affirms. Kindergarten teachers are not brainy theologians, considering the character of God; they are in the words of James: "Doers of the word." They love. They just do it!

If God is love, and God is; if Jesus on Maundy Thursday gave us a new commandment to his disciples, and he did; then kindergarten teachers should be honored and appreciated for their efforts to transform the world for God and for good not only through their students, but by all who see their good works. As all of us know, but need to practice daily, Jesus’ new commandment. We are "to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34b-35).

Born on April 14, 1948 in Circleville, Ohio, which is a few miles south of Columbus in Southern Ohio, Lynne would have celebrated her 59th birthday yesterday. She was an only child of parents blessed with thousands of children. Many happy memories came from her hometown life in Circleville, especially her own fond memories of childhood and kindergarten, where her own kindergarten teacher was her own mother, Rosemary Boggs Hughes. And one of Lynne’s kindergarten classmates and long-time friend in Circleville has grown up to be a fine woman and elder in this church, Linda Gorton (who has served our community as a member of the school board.).

The big event in Circleville, then and now, is the 4 day event beginning on the third Wednesday through Saturday of October, known as the Circleville Pumpkin Show, billed as the world’s biggest free show, which features 25-30 amusement rides, 40 floats, 50 bands, 300 food booths, 3,000 pumpkin pies including the world’s largest at 14 feet across -- and 100,000 pumpkin donuts. Naturally, there is a Miss Pumpkin and a Little Miss Pumpkin contest. And last October, the Circleville Pumpkin Show celebrated its 100th Anniversary. Lynne loved the Pumpkin Show, in her own youth and when her own children were young enough to be awed by this huge event of hometown goodness.

As she grew into womanhood she developed the personality of a gentle saint, organized and disciplined but didn’t take her self too seriously, and she clearly, specifically, directly and honestly disciplined others firmly and lovingly when necessary.

She created a sense of cozy-ness for herself and others, especially her family and the friends of her children. Her family celebrated her ability to be a great teacher -- a calm, positive and patient person in adversity or stress, motherly without being overbearing, and who wasn’t overly serious about the small stuff. Her outgoing, easy demeanor was a gift to her children and her children’s friends, who affectionately called her "Mama Woolwine." She was a kid magnet and often shared cookies and hugs from kids who were not her students at school or church.

She was a people person, with a wonderful sense of fun and humor.Even before she and George married, he learned to take her spunky or feisty side seriously. Wisely she had taken a woman’s self-defense class early in life. So when they were dating and she was showing him some of the moves: George wasn’t giving her the proper respect she wanted for her accomplishments, and then somewhere out of the blue, she flipped him over and he was lying flat on his back and looking up at her. Don’t think he made that mistake again. Sometimes Lynne relaxed by doing needlepoint and knitting, going though periods of making sweaters, ties, belts. And for more than 20 years the multi-generational family vacation spot was Destin, Florida where the main event was the crystal clear water on the Emerald Coast and the sugar white sands. This was the place for recreation and re-creation of the Spirit.

Her two not-so-secret weapons in dealing with kids, her family and the friends of her children was that she gave them what they wanted and needed most: love and boundaries. Everyone soon learned that while she loved generously, she drew some lines in the sand at potty humor, clutter, unnecessary messiness and what she specifically labeled "inappropriate behavior." Her mantra was "you can't define it ahead of time, but you know it when you see it." Like Paul in First Corinthians 13, she knew the value of love - not a sentimental, undisciplined love that says anything goes - but a structured love with backbone that is kind, patient, and rejoices in truth.

She lived a life of love to a very high degree. She wasn’t perfect, but then none of us are. Her children suggested a strong image for her in recent years (when they were becoming young adults) would be that of a mother hen, sitting on the nest, helping the eggs to hatch but not getting up fast enough to let them fly away when they thought they were ready to move. That is often the perspective of young adults.They may be right, at least, exactly right at this moment in their lives. Someday, maybe they will learn that the love we all cherish most comes from those loved ones who hold us too close and who get in our way because they love us so much. Kind of like the way God does sometimes -- holds us too close when we think we are ready to move on, or do everything on our own timetable.

All of us have two basic needs in life: to love and be loved. Thanks be to God that Lynne’s life helped us to see and feel that clearly and deeply. That she died quietly and peacefully in the presence of her husband George and her son Grant with a smile on her face after 3 years of pain and suffering with cancer was a wonderful miracle. That we can remember and rejoice with her, with broad smiles on our faces and in our hearts, is another miracle of grace -- that her suffering has ended, while our joy and gratitude for her life of showing us how to love -- will continue forever.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Service conducted at 2:00 p.m. April 15, 2007
Second Presbyterian Church
Lexington, KentuckyBurial in Lexington CemeteryService conducted by:The Rev. Stephen Palmer - The Rev. Darla Blatnik
Pastors at Second Presbyterian Church