Bad Blood

There has been a lot of “bad blood” circulating through the CF school district ever since 2010. Due to the low academic performance of the school district, the high school in particular, they were required to make some drastic changes. CFHS has consistently been one of the lowest achieving schools in RI, leading them to a required school-wide intervention. There are four intervention models that can be chosen from, in which the TurnAround Model was found most suitable for CF.

This transformation required a lot of big decisions, including giving the whole staff at CFHS layoff notices indicating that they may not be rehired for the following school year. Having read the conditions of the TurnAround Model, in which all current teachers will undergo screening and only 50% can stay on staff, I know why certain actions were made. I get that, if I were a teacher at this school, I would be mad to be notified that I might get fired, but part of me thinks that a lot of these teachers didn’t understand what was happening and why it had to happen.

After the implementation of the TurnAround Model, most of the teachers were kept on staff, yet “bad blood” persisted. This has caused tension between staff members and is creating a hurtful atmosphere. Most teachers have stayed because of their students. As a teacher, your first priority should be your students’ needs. However, some teachers may still have clouded judgment, even after four years, which has kept this tension between coworkers.

Now, some actions are being reviewed regarding restructuring the school district. There has been discussion about moving grade levels around so that the schools will be grades K-3,4-6, and 7-12 (these details are a little fuzzy to me still regarding which grades will be in which schools). A lot of people have been misinformed about this plan and has created a lot of negative attitude, especially in the high school. This rearrangement is meant to create smaller, more inclusive classroom at the primary school level. However, I think a lot of people at the middle and high schools don’t understand what is being done and why (once again).

Personally, I think that the school board should make a clear announcement to all school members, including students, teachers, and parents, informing them of the changes that are being planned. Stating that there are forum hearings that people can attend is different than taking the extra effort to create, let’s say, a school-wide assembly that clearly explains to everyone what these changes are and what effect they will have. This will lead to a better understanding for everyone.

As a secondary/middle level educator, I do have one concern: How are these “improvements” to the elementary school impacting the middle and high schools? I have been learning the importance and characteristics of a middle school, and the plans to be put in place will be ripping away that whole concept of middle school that I have been learning and that most districts should be striving for. Also, seventh and eighth grade are being squished into the high school, which leaves little room for so many people. This change will, I assume, create a Junior/Senior High School, in which middle-grade students will most likely end up following the structure of high school, eliminating structures such as teams and community that provides students with developmental support, which makes a middle school so unique. This also means that a lot of teachers will be moved to a different school and may need to change their teaching approaches based on the new environment. High school seems to be the place where a lot of students in urban school lose their way and can’t get the assistance and support that they need. I feel like moving up seventh and eighth grade to the high school will create this lack of academic support at an earlier age, causing an increase in student decline.

It could just be my biases, but I think that this redesign should be used in the high school setting - this idea of smaller, more inclusive classrooms that can focus more on students’ individual learning needs. I understand how it can be helpful in elementary school, providing students with extra support at a younger age, but I think it would be more helpful for high school students. Maybe this will help the blame-game, where everyone is blaming someone else for the students’ lack of “basic, lower-level” skills, such as literacy and arithmetic. There may be good intentions, but I think that the people who are creating this design are too pulled back from the individual schools that they might be losing out on other opportunities and creating more issues than they realize.