Carthage Elementary, New Century Middle and West Pine Middle formed what are called Partnership Councils last year, which include five parents and two teachers appointed by each school’s Leadership Team. The idea of trying a new governance model came as result of the First In America initiative several years ago.
At least one of the schools, New Century Middle, had been looking into changing early dismissal days and school uniforms. The talk about alternating the early dismissal days, which are regulated by the state, aroused some concern by school board members.
The board cautioned the three schools not to get ahead of themselves in making decisions and changes that might not be in keeping with current policies. Chairman Wiley Barrett said the board wholeheartedly supports giving schools more autonomy once the ground rules are established, as a result of the pilot project. He doesn’t want to throw a wet blanket on the idea.
“I didn’t realize we had cut these schools loose yet,” Barrett said. “Don’t get me wrong, I am 100 percent in favor of getting to this point. But you need to come to us and say our partnership wants to govern these kinds of things outside of the board’s purview. We’re all for it.
“We’ve got to establish what you want to govern outside of what we have to approve. We’ve got to write a policy.”
Board member Jennifer Garner, who also supports the concept, said the board wants to make sure schools don’t do something that violates state regulations.
“Teachers and parents are involved in ways they have never been involved, and I think that is great,” Garner said. “We just want to keep you legal.”
The Partnership Councils were intended to be a three-year pilot project, according to new Assistant Superintendent Dr. Brian Phillips. Every member of each school’s faculty and staff had to agree to participate in the project, he said.
The Partnership Councils consists of five parents and two teachers appointed by each school’s leadership team.
“This is a true blend of parents and teachers making decisions about their schools,” New Century Middle School Principal Joan Frye said in a report to the school board. “It’s really great.
Frye said the three schools wanted another year to compile information comparing and contrasting the Partnership Councils with the existing Advisory Councils, which are appointed by the school board.
At New Century, parents brought up the idea of having one early dismissal day a month on a Friday, Frye said. Early dismissal days are permitted by the state for such things as parent-teacher conferences. Some parents felt having the early dismissal days on Fridays would be more convenient.
Frye said a team was formed to study the idea. The group recommended having six early dismissal days, with four of the days aligned with the early dismissal days for the feeder schools.
Phillips pointed out that the state permits only four early dismissal days. The council requested that those four days be the same as the ones for the feeder schools, Frye said.
The New Century Partnership Council also discussed the issue of requiring school uniforms, Frye said, but the idea was dropped because of a lack of support from parents.
“Each school has come up with different issues,” Frye said.
The Partnership Councils meet regularly with the existing Advisory Councils. Frye said the three schools hope to hold more work sessions with the Partnership and Advisory councils this year to discuss a number of issues.
Frye hopes that after another year, the schools can make some recommendations to the school board.
“We feel we are laying the groundwork to move our schools and school system to another level,” Frye said. “This is evolving and growing as we go along. We want to gather as much data as possible.”
Barrett wanted to make it clear that the school board supports the idea of giving schools more decision-making authority.
“We just need to work out the kinks,” he said.
Also Monday night, the board received a report on the annual survey of teachers, staff, parents and students to rate the school system’s performance. The average approval rating was 87 percent, down slightly from last year, according to a report presented by Dr. Sally Ward, director of accountability, staff development and quality training.
“We still feel good,” Ward said. “Those ratings are still high.”
The percentage of parents and staff giving the school system an A or B increased by 2 percent to 89 percent last year.
“We’re not just trying to get a broad brush stroke of how we are doing,” Ward said. “We ask for comments about what is not working and what we can do better.”
