Fayette County Looking into Transportation Allegations

KSN&C received a short note from Fayette County Schools' spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall in response to a few questions about recent allegations made regarding the Transportation Department.

* With regard to an allegation that:

That an African American bus driver was passed over for a position for which the individual was most qualified. That employee grieved. After that, the employee was disciplined for "not following in line" during a field trip (no kidding) and was removed from the "trip list" - thus reducing the employees ability to earn wages. And that 90-days had passed before the greivance process was completed, rather than the 10-days called for in policy - by which time, the disputed position had gone to a white driver.

On word from Superintendent Silberman, Deffendall says the district is looking into it.

* On the allegation that:

That a Transportation Department administrator is using a district vehicle as their personal car - even to the point that the individual is on sick leave, but the car is at the individual's home and not available for district use.

Silberman said they have checked into the allegation and have found nothing to substantiate that the car has been used for personal use.

* Finally, KSN&C filed an open records request for a copy of all grievances filed and disciplinary reports written in the Fayette County School District, (Transportation and elsewhere) where sexual harassment or workplace bullying was alleged, between the dates of August 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010.

The district will respond once any pertainent documents have been identified.

After Petrilli, Fayette Changes its Principal Evaluation System

Peggy Petrilli’s unsuccessful suit against Fayette County Superintendent Stu Silberman, last summer, unearthed a surprising fact. In the school district, principals rarely — if ever — got marked down on their evaluations. A Herald-Leader editorial complained that, “the district must do a better job of evaluating employees. ... employees who aren’t accurately graded can’t really be expected to improve.”

I fussed about it in the Herald-Leader as well, saying that if leadership is not challenged through the evaluation system, the motivation to do better disappears. I suggested that existing state regulations were sufficient to fix the problem - they just needed to be followed. I never followed up on the district's response until last week when I learned that the district did respond.

This from FCPS's Mike Kennedy by way of Lisa Deffendall:

Beginning with the 2010 – 2011 school year, we will be using a 1 to 5 scale to rate principals and other administrators, instead of the older “meets” – “does not meet” criteria. Note however, that the standards and performance indicators have not changed, but revised versions are expected beginning with the 2011 – 2012 school year. The new scale detailed below;

o 1 - Does not Meet – Corrective Action Plan and Assistance Team required (written documentation of evidence indicating corrective action plan and/or staff assistance required)
o 2 - Growth or Improvement needed - Revise growth plan and consider other additional formative support structures such as a coach, mentor, etc.
o 3 - Satisfactory - Update growth plan and continue receiving formative feedback from supervisors, self reflection etc.
o 4 - Effective – demonstrated leader in area of responsibility, evidence of continuous professional growth, documented improvement in work quality /quantity/productivity/performance
o 5 – Exemplary - model leader, proficient in all areas, etc. (written documentation of evidence of exemplary performance required)

The Boo-Hoo Breakfast

To deal with separation anxiety on the first day of school, I used to advise new "kindergarten parents" to smile brightly at the teacher, give their child a kiss and leave quickly. Then they could cry in the parking lot as long as they wanted.

Over at Dixie Elementary (and in Glasgow), they have a better idea.

This from the Herald-Leader, photo by Pablo Alcala:

First day of school off to a good start despite a few tears

There's nothing quite like the separation anxiety, the sheer emotional trauma, that can grip moms and dads when they deliver their children to school for the first time.

It's crushing enough just turning over one child to strangers. But three?

Not surprisingly, Lexington's Terry Moore couldn't hold back a few tears Wednesday morning after she and her husband, David, dropped off their 5-year-old triplets at Dixie Elementary Magnet School. It was the first day of kindergarten for Olivia, Emily and Aaron Moore.

Thousands of other Lexington youngsters also returned to classes Wednesday morning all across Lexington, as Fayette County Public Schools reopened for the 2009-10 school year.

School district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said that other than some "typical opening day" glitches such as a few late buses, the day went smoothly.

The first part of the day also went well for Terry Moore, but the tears began to fall after she left her triplets in their classroom. Fortunately, she was able relax for a few minutes at what the folks at Dixie Elementary call the "Boo-Hoo Breakfast."

Each year on the first day of classes, Dixie staffers hold the breakfast in the school library, serving coffee, doughnuts and plenty of tissues to help kindergarten parents through the emotional moment of saying goodbye to their children. Some parents get teary-eyed every year, school officials say...

H-T 2 KSBA.

Merlene Davis Tells the Truth...Mainly

Who Controls history, controls the past.
Who controls the past, controls the present.

Arguments over history are almost always arguments over the present and I suspect an article last month by Merlene Davis in the Herald-Leader is no exception.

Davis re-visions the Fayette County Schools Equity Council and bestows upon Superintendent Stu Silberman the nod of acceptance from local civil rights leaders. Hers is essentially a story about race relations in the Fayette County schools from 1993 to the present. Certain heroes of the past are identified, and exalted. Some history is forgotten, while other history is remembered; revising the story for future generations.

I believe the story would benefit from a fuller exploration. Davis seems to prefer to “print the legend.”

Her legend is justified by the unmistakable arc of history - 400 years of oppression of African Americans – from slavery through Jim Crow and the civil rights movement to today’s search for meaning among our multi-racial citizenry with our multi-racial president. And to be sure, Davis’s heroes are deserving of much credit. I can only imagine the courage and personal resolve necessary to fight for civil rights over a period of decades. But that story should be told in a balanced fashion. Her heroes have never been mistaken for Dr King.

As befits her style, Susan Weston posted a response to the Davis column that was at once forward-looking and retrospectively gentle with all parties.

In those earlier days Davis describes, the Fayette issues were far from unique. In every school system that serves black students, there are enduring questions about whether success for those children is truly a priority. What stood out was that, in Fayette, the questions at last got a wide hearing, and the concerns finally got enough attention to generate substantive action. Some other districts now seem to be moving on a similar path.

Nice.

Davis has long been an advocate for civil rights in a town that doesn't always want to hear about its past. As a long-time columnist, Davis baby-sits African American issues to a citizenry that needs to hear it. She also deserves much credit for her support of GLBT equality, which illogically, puts her at odds with much of her core African American constituency; less so her white liberal readers.

But Davis also serves as a mouthpiece for a select group of activists whose work, while vital to Lexington's (and as Weston astutely points out, the state's) future, was at times more about criticizing school leaders than it was about seeking solutions to identified problems. As has been true of other political groups, these leaders wanted the issue more.

And that's what struck me about the article - Davis's loyalty. In politics, loyalty is coin of the realm and being a columnist is a political job of its own sort. But sometimes one’s loyalty conflicts with one’s ideology. Davis seems to lean toward loyalty. I tend to lean the other way.

"Stand with anybody that stands right,

stand with him while he is right

and part with him when he goes wrong."

— Abraham Lincoln

Davis notes that “the numerous squeaky wheels that had demanded academic and cultural turnarounds in Fayette County five short years ago have been oiled.” (More on this later.)

I have no doubt that that is true.

But have the old complaints disappeared? If not, just what oil was used to squelch the squeek?

Davis rightly credits the leadership of Fayette County Superintendent Stu Silberman for “changing the culture“ but also credits those activists who came before and “continually aired the dirty laundry of a district that had allowed children's education to fall well behind personal agendas.” She does not say what the alleged personal agendas were.

Neither does she say who’s minding the laundry these days. Silberman may be one heck of a superintendent, but what do the data say? Davis cites a soon-to-be-released Equity Council report that shows the achievement gap and the over-identification of blacks in special education classes have persisted as problems during Silberman's tenure. I don't know if the report addresses it, but the percentage of African American teachers has declined as well. If those issues screamed from news pages nearly every day in the late 1990s, but the data have not improved, yet the news pages are silent today; who's not doing their job?

Back in those days, Lexington-Fayette Urban League President PG Peeples was admittedly angry.

• There was a large achievement gap: there still is.
• Black students were overrepresented in the special education population: they still are.
• The burden of balancing diversity in the schools rested almost solely on blacks: so far as I know, that got fixed.
• Under former Superintendent Peter Flynn the district played games by hiding relevant student achievement data from the school board: the sun now shines on school data. I remember former board and Equity Council member Nancy Stage's exasperation at one particular meeting in the mid 90’s when it was pointed out that the district was coding schools data to shield the identity of the individual schools, therefore removing public scrutiny.
• In 1998 the Equity Council threatened to resign en masse when Flynn told them they could not investigate personnel matters: access to personnel information being limited by state law. (H-L May 6, 1998)
• In the mid-1980s, the Kentucky Human Rights Commission criticized the Fayette County school district for having fewer black teachers than three decades earlier, when the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregated schools. In 1984, 11.6 percent of teachers were black. (H-L June 3, 2001)
• There were too few African American teachers to serve as role models for our black students: district sources tell me there is no expectation placed on principals to recruit and retain people of color at all. In 2007-2008, only 10.2% of Fayette County’s certified staff was African American (274, compared to 2,684 whites); only9.2% of the classroom teachedrs. This would have been cause for complaint in 2001 when Lisa Deffendall, writing for the Herald-Leader, reported the district's total work force was 84 percent white, 14 percent black and 2 percent other races. (H-L June 8, 2001)
• That year former Superintendent Robin Fankhauser demoted two black school administrators and laid off 310 workers, 19% of whom were African American, prompting cries of racism: Spurred on by then US Representative Ernie Fletcher, Peeples, Rev Bob Brown and others rallied under the banner of “No Confidence. No Trust.”
• One of the school administrators whose demotion was being protested was Louis Hughley Jr., who called Fankhauser’s staff reduction plan racist. Hughley complained but predicted that black advocates wouldn't have the stamina to keep the issue alive. Hughley is a Lexington native who attended local public schools and then taught in them for 26 years. He said he's seen "one-night stand" protests too many times before. (H-L June 3, 2001) "I called it periodic civil war," P.G. Peeples told Davis. Hughley went on to become Principal of Knight Middle School in Jefferson County where his CATS Index of 62.9 places Knight among the lowest performing middle schools in the state, meeting only one of ten measurable objectives. I can’t imagine Stu Silberman NOT demoting any Fayette County principal with similar numbers. Hughley raised eyebrows when he wrote to Fayette Circuit Judge Louis Paisley, in 2000, asking for leniency for convicted child molester Ron Berry. A Louisville jury convicted Berry of 12 counts of sodomy with boys under 16 years old and recommended that he serve three years in prison. Hughley said, Berry had “suffered enough and deserves no further punishment." Hughley made news recently when he issued a directive to his Knight faculty that they could no longer have students removed from class for failure to follow directions, profanity or vulgarity...and more; the kind of discipline policy that permits poor discipline. The edict was later rescinded.

Davis remembers the good Equity Council, the bad central office and the ugly achievement gap. But I have a lot of personal memories (and records) from that period as well. What she says is true enough, but it is totally slanted and much is left out.

For all the good it did, the Equity Council was like the worst school your child might attend; where the cool kids ran the show and only certain kids got to play. It’s easy enough to justify historically marginalized folks asserting themselves, but as a member committed to helping, I’d have to say it didn’t always make sense. If one were willing to sit by and say “Yes, PG! Brilliant, PG!” Then, all was well. But if one raised a serious issue, even an issue council members said was a problem…well...get this:

On a couple of occasions the Equity Council had complained about the over-identification of African Americans in special education classes. I had asked the Council to investigate a situation in the medical community where it appeared that hyperactive poor children (without insurance) were being forced into special education referrals for “Other Health Impairment” but the Equity Council did not see fit to even look into it. Instead, I was told the Equity Council was deeply concerned about such issues and it would be assigned to a committee. I never heard another word about it. The Equity Consultant never contacted me for more information. In fact the only time I ever heard Peeples bring the issue up was when a presentation was made to the board, with the press in attendance, about the status of our district’s special education program. Peeples again expressed its deep concern that African
American students were over-identified in special education.

When one is named to the Equity Council the first order of business is supposed to be the member’s assignment to committee. But I was denied participation in committee meetings and wasn’t even assigned to a committee for 15 months. I finally complained out loud - Equity Council style - only to be criticized by Davis as being against the council.

But what really hacked folks off was when I blew the whistle on Equity Council leadership for pushing black members off the council when they disagreed with Peeple’s leadership. In a letter to the school board I revealed that two African American members (Virgil Covington and Wanda Garr) reported receiving threatening “visits,” and feeling “unwelcome,” the latter courageously confirming her concerns in an open meeting.

Davis wrote that I had “done nothing constructive” since being on the council and wondered aloud if I had “ever bothered to look into why so many black boys are assigned to special-education classes.” (H-L Feb 1, 2001)

By the time Silberman was hired, in 2004, we had gone through five superintendents in three years, including two interims. I had written an OpEd in the Herald-Leader on the crisis of leadership that existed in the Fayette County school; and now believe that Silberman has completely cured that particular issue. (H-L May 10, 2004)

But as Davis points out, “Silberman…has not been seen walking on water.”

After he had been in Fayette County for about a year, Silberman was interviewed by District Administration Magazine. They wrote,

When he took the position this past summer, he became the sixth superintendent since 1994. But he's quick to note in his sweet southern drawl that the turnover wasn't due to his predecessors' failures. Fayette has suffered some hard fiscal knocks--including being labeled a "hold harmless" district, with stagnant state funding since 1992, because it's considered property-rich. The financial situation translated into staff and student programming needs going unfulfilled.

But when interviewed by Davis he said, "It was a pretty tough place to come to...Overall, the culture of the district was pretty toxic."

My take, which I shared with him at the time, was that Fayette County had a lot of talent, but needed a strong leader. They got it. But they did not get a super-human savior whose best rhetoric and effort would eliminate the powerful social and economic factors that make achievement gaps so tough for schools alone to cure.

"Culture is established from the top down," Peeples told Davis. We've come a long way but we're not there yet."

“Millions of miles,” according to Silberman.

Or hundreds, if one looks at the data.

Deadly Shooting at Leestown Middle in Lexington. Custodian Allegedly Killed by Another Staff Member.

Updated

This from WLEX :

One person is dead and a suspect is being sought after a shooting incident at Leestown Middle School in Lexington Tuesday morning.

The shooting happened at around 8 a.m. inside the school, located on Leestown Road near New Circle Road. Police at the scene say there were no students in the school at the time of the shooting.

Lexington Police Lt. Ron Compton says the suspected shooter is a school employee as well and police are searching for that person. He said police don't believe there is an immediate danger to others.

Authorities say that staff members were at the school to prepare for summer vacation.

Updated: Lexington Police Lt. Ron Compton says the suspected shooter is Brian Allen McGuire, 27, of Lexington a school employee as well. Police say McGuire should be considered armed and dangerous, and is possibly driving a beige 2006 Suzuki Gran Vitara with Kentucky registration 769-FVB.

As a result of the shooting, all Fayette County schools are closed Tuesday, and all school activities scheduled for Tuesday have been canceled.

This from H-L:

Police investigating homicide at Leestown Middle

A middle school shooting prompted Fayette County schools to close all buildings
Tuesday and ask parents to pick up children early from summer programs.

Lexington police are investigating the fatal shooting at Leestown Middle School and searching for a suspect who was not believed to be on school grounds, said Lexington police Lt. Ron Compton.

School district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said all schools, some of which house parks department summer camps, are closing Tuesday. Parents should pick up their children as quickly as possible. Schools will remain open until all the children are picked up.

The Leestown Middle shooting occurred at 8:02 a.m., Compton said. The school is at 2010 Leestown Road.

"There were no kids in the school at the time, just school staff," he said. "There's one dead — an employee of the school system."...

Guidance Counselor Sues Fayette schools

alleges gender discrimination

Jill L. Cowan, a Jessie Clark Middle School guidance counselor, has filed a lawsuit in the Fayette Circuit Court alleging she was denied an opportunity for promotion to assistant principal because of her gender.

This from the Herald-Leader:

Fayette Public Schools spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said the district has turned the suit over to its attorneys for review. "We fully intend to contest these unfounded allegations in court," Deffendall said. "There have also been some discussions about the possibilities of a countersuit."

According to Cowan's complaint, she called Goodin in early July 2007, asking to be included among individuals being interviewed for associate principal. The suit says, however, that Goodin denied the request. Goodin allegedly told Cowan that she intended to hire a man and advised that she was interviewing men only.

Clearly, Goodin had no obligation to grant an interview to any particular candidate. If Cowan didn't get an interview because Goodin perceived her work to be substandard, then Goodin did her job. But if Cowan has corroboration on the alleged remarks attributed to Goodin it could prove problematic for the district.

Cowan says in her suit that the job ultimately went to a male and that when she complained to Michael Ernst, the district's middle school manager, he did nothing.

The suit says Cowan contacted the school district's civil rights compliance officer on April 11, 2008, only to be suspended from her job the same day...

Does the Tight School Budget Threaten Experienced Teachers?

Budget constraints appear to be leading some superintendents and principals to non-renew more experienced teachers in favor of cheaper, less experienced teachers. Given the volume of data underscoring the relationship between highly trained teachers and student achievement, this is a concern.

And the councern has reached the ears of some members of the state board of education.

I have been very pleased that over a 31-year career in Kenton and Fayette Counties, most of that as a principal, I was never once encouraged to hire a less qualified "cheaper" teacher. So such rumors, if true, are bothersome - particularly if they indicate a trend that leads to Kentucky children being taught by less capable folks.

It could also mean that Kentucky is leaning into a punch that's yet to be delivered.

In an effort to run down this rumor, KSN&C contacted KEA President Sharron Oxendine to see if she had received any such complaints. Oxendine reports,

“In the last three or four years we’ve heard this, particularly in eastern Kentucky.” A number of teachers are being let go “at the end of their fourth year” to save money.

This comes at a time when researchers are warning of a tsunami of baby boomers about to retire. USA Today reports that,

More than half the nation's teachers are Baby Boomers ages 50 and older and eligible for retirement over the next decade, a report says today. It warns that a retirement "tsunami" could rob schools of valuable experience.

The report by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future calls for school administrators to take immediate action to lower attrition rates and establish
programs that pass along valuable information from teaching veterans to new teachers.

"We face a tsunami in the shift of the future of the teachers' workforce," says Tom Carroll, president of the commission, who co-wrote the report. "Over the next five or six years, we could lose over a third of our teachers." ...

More than 40% of Kentucky's teachers are over the age of 50.

To make matters worse, retention rates for young teachers is pitiful. Schools lose about a third of their youngest teachers. A sufficient number of teachers are recruited at colleges and universities, but many leave the field within five years, Carroll says. "We're trying to fill a bucket with a hole in the bottom, and we have been for decades," he says.

Oxendine also says she's concerned about rumors that in Fayette County this year, special education students “are being moved into collaboration and instructional assistants are being used to monitor” IEPs.

If true - this too would be bothersome. If fewer teachers are hired, in favor of more instructional aides who would work under the direction of regular classroom teachers, it's hard to imagine an improved situation for the district's neediest students. In addition, "are being moved" sounds like a district intervention rather than an independent decision made by each ARC.

FCPS spokesperson Lisa Deffendall told KSN&C that the rumor is "not true."

But that's not to suggest that the district is satisfied with the state of affairs in special education. Perhaps this is what lead to the rumor Oxendine heard.

Deffendall says that some other districts seem to be doing a better job with special needs students than Fayette County. To find out why, several schools have sent principals and teachers to study how other schools are achieving higher results. Many of those districts seem to be collaborating more than Fayette.

"If people are moving students to collaboration, it's kid by kid," Deffendall said. Regular education teachers are still responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring the students' Individual Education Plans.

The Cost of Teacher Turnover

When teachers leave their schools and districts, new teachers must be recruited, hired, and trained. NCTAF created a calculator to help estimate the cost of teacher turnover to a school or district.

There are two versions of the calculator; one for the general public and the second for school and district personnel, who may have specific data on teacher turnover and its costs.

Plug in some numbers. Read 'em and weep.

FCPS Responds to Report

On the heels of a Fayette County Schools report of an internal investigation of testing irregularities at the Booker T Washington Academy, Kentucky School News & Commentary reported a new allegation yesterday, this one involving an FCPS district director.

What is immediately apparent is that - not all testing allegations are equal.

This one comes at a bad time, and involves a top-level administrator, but it does not rise to the level of allegation we've seen at BTWA. Perhaps a KDE investigation will reveal more than we know at this point, but it seems unlikely that it will exceed the current allegation.

The BTWA report (posted at H-L) recounts school officials sequestered in a room, pencils in hand, and students being moved contrary to regulation - and during the week of the test.

By comparison, a director flipping through test booklets, if full view of school faculty, staff and students, without a pencil, maybe ill-advised, inappropriate and embarrassing, but it does not rise to the level of a major violation. It gives the unfortunate appearance of impropriety; looks bad, but it doesn't smell all that bad.

The teachers, BAC, DAC and anyone who followed regulations and ran some political risk by reporting on their superior should be commended; literally. A thank you note, perhaps. Refresher training for the director seems indicated and sufficient.

District spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall, responded to the KSN&C post:

There is a testing allegation regarding Fabio Zuluaga. But in talking with Fabio, it appears that some of the information you have is incorrect. As with any allegations we receive, without exception, we send the reports to the Kentucky Department of Education for their review

Deferring to the report is proper protocol. But it also means we'll only have one side of the story for a while.

But this story is not really about Zuluaga.

Today's educators have been asked (required by law) to produce historically unprecedented results for children - on an inadequate budget. The legislature is required by the constitution to provide sufficient funds for schools to reach their goals - but efforts to get the legislature to step up to the plate aren't going so well.

For the first time in history, starting somewhere around 1995, schools are attempting to assure a proficient education for each and every child in Kentucky. Left with scant resources for increasing teacher productivity and delivering more instruction to more students, many school administrators have turned to "motivation" to leverage better results - and like it or not - the test is the only yardstick.

This has had the tendency to focus people's attention on numbers rather than children. Having each school pick a target accountability index to hit, you can't blame teachers for believing that it is only the test that matters to the district - even if that's not exactly the intention. As long-time district director Bob McLaughlin used to say, "What gets inspected, gets respected." And test scores get inspected - published - ranked - discussed - cussed - and before long become the whole game.

Does this explain the BTWA situation?

Principals are, at once, the most vulnerable individual in the school, and the one charged with raising numbers. Add to that, the pomp and circumstance surrounding the creation of BTWA, the introduction of Peggy Petrilli in the position of principal-as-savior, all of the support from community groups, and it becomes easier to understand how much pressure was brought to making BTWA successful. And that meant better numbers.

It may be about kids. But the numbers are getting in the way of the district message.

~

Finally, KSN&C posted a quote from OEA investigator Doug Terry referring to allegations made against Petrilli "last year." Thinking like a school person, "last year" to me meant last school year. But perhaps not. Deffendall opined, "I think he must be talking about this situation from last August, which we just completed the investigation on." Well, I suppose that could be. Last August was in 2007 and it's accurate to say that was last year. KSN&C has requested documents. We'll see if anything comes of it.