New York state has designated a number of schools across upstate New York as struggling and now superintendents must take action to turn them around. Public hearings began last night at Syracuse city schools to inform parents about what response they can expect from the district.
Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner and Syracuse City School District Superintendent Sharon Contreras marked the first day of school with a visit to a classroom at the Dr. Weeks Elementary School on Tuesday. Dr. Weeks is one of 17 schools in the district designated as struggling by a July New York State Education Department report on failing schools.
The district has two years to show improvement in the schools or it could lose control to an independent receiver that will have full authority over how the school operates and is managed. The superintendent will act as the receiver during this probation period. Grant Middle School on the city’s north side was designated as persistently struggling and has only one year to show improvements.
Contreras said Syracuse's struggling schools are making progress and she wants to stay the course. While she could let teachers and administrators go under her receivership, she does not think that is the answer.
Last year, the district-wide graduation rate rose above 50 percent for the first time in several years, drop-out rates have been falling and schools days have already been extended through the Say Yes to Education program. Contreras also says one-third of their schools have added 300 additional hours to the school year.
"Unfortunately under the receivership model, because we had the foresight to do this earlier, we don't receive credit for that while where the other school districts who might just be extending the school day will receive credit for that extention," Contreras said. “According to the state, they just want to see that we are making sufficient progress and I think through tweaking some of the plans the schools have developed, we’ll see that progress. It just won’t happen overnight.”
Contreras said she hopes the state also looks at what she describes as a direct correlation between the poverty rates in Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo and the educational outcomes.
Mayor Stephanie Miner said Syracuse schools are moving in the right direction although not as fast as everyone would like. Miner wants to continue school renovation projects, like the nearly $30 million project Dr. Weeks underwent before reopening two years ago. But she also admits there is an impact on learning when almost half of the children in Syracuse are living in poverty.
"It is no surprise that when you look at our staggering poverty rates, that we don't have the kind of educational attainment that we want," Miner said. "That just doesn't mean having them take a test one day on a Tuesday and thinking a year later that they can score above and beyond their peers. This is a societal-wide problem."
