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April 2006
Innovation key in school for 9th graders
Posted Friday, April 21, 2006
The Windmill Annex will be a small school for at-risk ninth graders that will allow students and teachers to be active decision-makers.
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Imagine a school where the students help the adults make decisions about how the building is run. One where the students play a role in keeping the building clean. One where the school day extends into the evening.
This is exactly what the School Department, working closely with the Providence Teachers Union, hopes to create at the former Windmill Annex Elementary School in the Charles neighborhood, starting in fall 2007.
Deputy Supt. Frances Gallo said the school will be unlike anything that the city has seen. It will be small -- a maximum of 150 students. It will be for ninth-graders only because research has shown that those students are the most likely to drop out.
Although Gallo is calling Windmill Annex at 425 Branch Ave. an alternative school, it is not what most people think of when they hear the phrase.
"We're looking for 40 children who are repeating 9th grade," Gallo said in a recent interview. "They will have earned three credits or less in high school."
Most of the students will be recruited from middle schools. Gallo said the department is not looking for the most troubled students, nor is it searching for students who have special needs.
It is looking for the child in the middle: the student who has 4 to 10 referrals for discipline problems, who is failing one subject and reading below grade level.
"This will be an accelerated curriculum," Gallo said, adding that the it will concentrate on reading, writing and math. "The goal is for these children to return to high school in a year."
Gallo said this school is a work in progress. If a student really needs more help with grades or behavior, accommodations will be made to keep him at Windmill for another year.
"If this school really gels," she said, "we'll need to look for more space."
The school will be run by the district and the teachers union, their first joint venture. In fact, the school was written into the current teachers' contract, according to union president Steve Smith.
Discipline issues are among the top concerns cited by teachers when they talk about improving school climate. Smith said that his members wanted the district to create a place for those students who routinely disrupt class by interrupting, refusing to sit still or chatting with other children but whose behavior isn't dangerous.
"Everyone talks about giving a teacher the ability to teach," Smith said. This program aims to do just that.
To help students learn to control their impulses, additional guidance counselors and social workers will be assigned to the school.
What makes the school unusual is the strong emphasis on community service: each student must spend 180 hours doing something positive, not only in the community, but in the school.
"When you're working in the community," Smith said, "you're building relationships with other adults. You're learning to be responsible."
Students, for example, will get credit for performing custodial work, serving lunch and cleaning graffiti from the walls.
Teenagers will play a much larger role in the way the building is governed. The goal, Gallo said, is for students to feel like they own the school, that it is a community that they have helped shape.
The student government, once students are properly trained, will actually handle many discipline problems, Gallo said.
"We will listen to the students," she said. "They'll have a strong voice. We're talking building a strong sense of responsibility and accountability."
A time will be set aside each day for teachers to discuss academic issues and plan curriculum.
The school day might look very different from a traditional high school. Classes might start later to accommodate internships in the community, and the building might stay open later for extracurricular activities.
As Gallo envisions the program, the school schedule will be much more fluid. There will be no bells ringing every 50 minutes and classes will undoubtedly last longer.
Like charter schools, faculty and staff, not the administration, will create the schedule. Parents will be asked to sign an agreement in which they commit to visiting the school once a month. Studies have shown that schools are most successful when parents are involved in the education process.
Gallo and Smith will be involved in the recruitment of teachers and staff, and Smith said there is a chance that the school could open as early as next year.
Cost of renovating city schools is staggering
Posted Wednesday, April 19, 2006
For example, a builder estimates that it would cost $48.7 million to replace Hope High School and $38.3 million to renovate it.
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Most of the city's 55 public schools are so outdated that it would cost almost as much to renovate them as it would to build them from scratch.
Gilbane Building Co. reached that conclusion after conducting an exhaustive study of 37 of the district's schools. The construction firm identified, analyzed and estimated the cost of repairs and improvements to each of the schools.
The study, however, did not recommend which schools should be renovated and which should be closed. Those questions will be answered by DeJong planning consultants, who are asking educators to brainstorm what kinds of schools are needed in the 21st century.
Gilbane determined that more than 50 percent of the city's schools are more than 50 years old and therefore have outlived their life exptectency. Some buildings are more than 75 years old. Feinstein Elementary School, for example, was built in 1895, at the dawn of electric power but long before the advent of computers and wireless technology.
"This study has given us a very clear picture of the state of our school buildings, facility by facility," said Rhoades Alderson, a spokesman for Mayor David N. Cicilline. "It shows that years of neglect have taken a heavy toll."
Gilbane estimated that the district's aging schools need between $20 million and $30 million worth of emergency repairs to core systems such as heating, plumbing and electrical.
"Most of the mechanical infrastructure has outlived its useful life," said William G. Byron, project director. "These buildings have never had any major renovations."
The study also found:
Communication, security and technology systems are generally inadequate.
Numerous failures to meet building and fire codes and handicapped access requirements.
Some of the district's larger buildings have too much space, with vast auditoriums, endless hallways and classrooms in basements. In other schools, the buildings are incapable of meeting modern education needs because they lack space for small-group activity, labs or computer facilities.
Take the Carl Lauro Elementary School. The building is more than 80 years old and has never received significant renovations. Many things are "beyond their life cycle" or have become obsolete, including the roofing, plumbing, ventilation, heating and electrical systems.
Gilbane found that there is a substantial amount of asbestos around the heating system that must be cleared before renovations can begin. The ventilation system does not meet district standards; the building does not comply with federal handicapped access laws and the school does not have sprinklers in its west wing.
Nathanael Greene Middle School is in poor condition. Although most of the building's equipment has been maintained over the years, Gilbane concluded that "their condition remains inadequate due to their age and obsolenscence."
Again, many things from chalk boards and library shelves to heating and ventilating systems have outlived their usefulness and need to be replaced.
Gilbane considers Hope High School, which is more than 75 years old, to be in fair condition. But the plumbing is in "severe need of replacement," the facility doesn't have sprinklers and the ventilation system is in extremely poor condition.
In addition, the building does not meet the federal disability standards: there is no accessible path to or into the building and there is no elevator.
The cost of renovation projects is staggering. For example, Gilbane estimated that it would cost $48.7 million to replace Hope High School and $38.3 million to renovate it.
Meanwhile, the city has set aside $12 million out of a $42-million bond to take care of immediate repairs. Much of the bond money will go toward building a high school on Adelaide Avenue, which is awaiting approval from the state Department of Environmental Management.
The biggest questions have yet to be answered: which schools are worth saving and which are so unsuited to education needs that they should be shuttered?
"This study was never meant to be the end product," said Cicilline's chief of staff, John Simmons. "It's a snapshot of where we are now. It will allow us to take the next step and ask, 'Do we want to keep these schools open?' "
Evans meets students at Nathan Bishop
Posted Tuesday, April 11, 2006
School Supt. Donnie Evans says he told the students that the middle school's closing isn't their fault.
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- During the fractious debate over the future of the Nathan Bishop Middle School, many different voices were heard, including those of the parents, teachers, principals and neighbors.
But the most important constituency -- the students -- was largely overlooked in the din of adult conversation.
Yesterday, Nathan Bishop students had a chance to tell Providence Supt. Donnie Evans what they thought about the closing of their school, a neighborhood institution.
Evans met with each of the school's three grades, 6 through 8, after which the students enjoyed hot dogs and hamburgers on the tennis courts.
Although The Journal wasn't allowed to observe Evans' conversations with the students, a reporter was permitted to speak with the children afterward.
The sentiments varied by grade, with seventh graders sounding the most passionate about losing their school, perhaps because they were looking forward to be being the big kids next year. The eighthgraders seemed the most blasé, possibly because they were already prepared to move on to high school this fall.
Although Evans explained all his reasons for shutting down the middle school -- declining enrollments, dismal test scores and the fact that most students are bused here from other neighborhoods -- students still seemed perplexed about why their school was chosen.
"He's not telling us the whole story," said Jahmira Lovett, 13, a seventh grader. "He's saying we have bad grades but it's not only Bishop. Look at Esek Hopkins. Look at their grades."
At a time when pundits find it fashionable to bash big-city schools for being impersonal and uncaring, students at Nathan Bishop expressed a strong connection to both the school and its principal, Earnest Cox.
"I like Mr. Cox," said 12-year-old Terrell Rogers, an eighth grader dressed in an olive suit. "He stays on top of us. I'm getting a good education here."
"Our school was grabbed from beneath our feet," said Charleen Mitchell, 12, a seventh grader. "The superintendent is being very sneaky. He planned to push this through and now he's trying to act like it's because of our grades."
Evans said he told students that they were not to blame for the closing of Nathan Bishop. His plans call for reopening the middle school in September 2007, either as a K-8 neighborhood school or a model middle school with a rigorous curriculum.
"I made it clear that it wasn't their fault," Evans said yesterday. "I told them, 'We know you can achieve. We know you can be successful.' "
Evans said he also spoke to the students about his own childhood, about growing up country poor on a farm in North Carolina where the work was hot and dirty and the summer days were long.
"I told them that they can be whatever they want," Evans said, and "that it's my job to make sure that every child has the best we have to offer."
Several students said they were afraid to attend Esek Hopkins, the middle school closest in proximity to Nathan Bishop, because of the East Side-South Side fighting that occurred there this winter.
In January, a half-dozen students from Esek Hopkins tried to force their way onto a bus carrying Nathan Bishop students. When they couldn't board the bus, they pelted it with rocks. Earlier in January, several students forced their way onto a bus carrying youngsters from Nathanael Greene Middle School. Both attacks took place near the intersection of Branch Avenue in the North End.
Evans said that one sixth grader asked him about the complaints from several East Side neighbors, who said that Nathan Bishop students were unruly and unwelcome.
"I told them that we were working with the mayor's office to bring together the entire community to talk about these issues," he said, "not just to air them but to work them out and reach a higher level of understanding."
Evans said he had mixed emotions about telling these children that their school would no longer exist.
"In one sense, it felt good because I grew up teaching middle school students and I'm at home with them," he said. "But there was a feeling of sadness, too, knowing that the school won't be here next year."
Most Nathan Bishop students will attend the middle school closest to their home. If a student wants to attend a different school, his parents should contact Denise Carpenter at the central office.
Nathan Bishop Middle School to close for a year
Posted Tuesday, April 4, 2006
The city decides not to use the East Side building as a temporary school for students who will eventually attend a new high school on Adelaide Avenue.
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- The Providence School Board voted last night to close Nathan Bishop Middle School for one year over the strong objections of everyone except the school's East Side neighbors.
"This is bureaucracy at its worst," said Mona Delgado, a Nathan Bishop parent. "You're encouraging students to jump ship. You are making a business decision on the backs of our children."
Schools Supt. Donnie Evans' recommendation to close Bishop caught parents, teachers and union leaders by surprise. Until Friday, Evans was proposing to close the middle school and reopen it as a high school for ninth- and tenth-graders in the fall.
Evans, in an interview yesterday, said a Superior Court judge's decision to allow construction to begin on a high school on Adelaide Avenue cleared the way for a fresh set of options.
Under Evans' new plan:
Nathan Bishop's sixth- and seventh-graders will be sent to middle schools in their neighborhoods. The eighth-graders will go on to high school as planned.
A group of incoming ninth-graders will attend the Harrison Street school, a leased building that will undergo renovations this summer. Those ninth-graders will move to the Adelaide Street school when it is completed in January.
The current ninth- and tenth-graders at Harrison Street, a woefully inadequate school building, will be assigned to other high schools this fall.
Evans said there are several reasons to close Bishop: enrollment has plummeted, with only 264 students projected for September; test scores are among the lowest in the district; and neighbors complain about the rise in graffiti, vandalism and fighting.
He said that it is no longer cost-effective to operate an 800-student building for a fraction of that number of students, adding that the closing will save at least $500,000.
But Evans, in his original proposal, said that the only reason he was shutting Nathan Bishop was to make room for an influx of high school students, most of whom had signed up to attend the school on Adelaide Avenue, which was supposed to have opened 18 months ago.
Evans was forced to reconsider his initial plan after hundreds of East Side residents protested the proposal at a recent public hearing. Neighbors mounted an extensive e-mail campaign directed at elected officials, including Mayor David N. Cicilline, who lives on Elmgrove Avenue.
On March 24, Cicilline asked Evans to postpone making a recommendation to the School Board until the court ruled on the Adelaide Avenue site, which it did last week.
"The East Side residents were heard," said Steve Smith, president of the Providence Teachers Union, "but what about the parents who said they wanted the school to stay open? They, too, have a voice. If they're not heard, it will send a clear message about who gets heard and who doesn't."
Although the latest plan seemed designed to mollify neighbors who worried that high school students would usher in a crime wave, not every East Sider was relieved.
"What part of 'Hell, no' don't you understand?" said Charles Strauss, a neighbor and Realtor. "The day I hear that high school students are moving in, I'm installing a full surveillance system, asking the city to reassess my house and researching how to split the East Side from the rest of Providence."
Those comments prompted three high school students to speak out against what they saw as the bigotry of false expectations.
"The labels put on us by the East Side community, it's clearly racism," said Shane Lee, a member of the districtwide student government. "This city needs all of us. We are the leaders of the future."
"The East Side community talks us down," said Shekiwah Russell, a student. "We haven't been to that school yet. It's wrong."
Lost in the virulent debate over the future of Nathan Bishop has been the teachers. One teacher, Todd Creel, said 40 faculty members had signed a grievance last fall begging Evans to do something about discipline problems at Bishop.
"We waited and waited," he said. "Meanwhile, many of our students were drowning. Tonight, we received the proverbial bullet in the head. Dr. Evans, you are just as much to blame. We called for your leadership, but you blamed the teachers."
Evans told the School Board that Nathan Bishop would reopen in fall 2007. In the meantime, parents, faculty and neighbors will be invited to help the district plan what kind of school Bishop should become.
One possibility is for Bishop to become a K-8 neighborhood school, a concept that Evans plans to pilot this fall. Another is for Bishop to open as a model middle school, one that would encourage East Side parents to reconsider the public schools.
Evans said that additional classroom space has been found at the Hanley Career & Technical Center adjacent to Central High School, a state-run facility that needs extensive renovations.
Providence board to vote on closing Nathan Bishop
Posted Monday, April 3, 2006
Many middle school parents and East Side residents have been upset about a proposal to turn the school into a high school.
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- The Providence School Board will hold a special meeting tomorrow night to decide whether to close Nathan Bishop Middle School on the city's East Side.
According to the board's agenda, Supt. Donnie Evans is recommending that the 400-student middle school be closed the next school year. School spokeswoman Maria Tocco said Friday that Evans was out of town and that she couldn't discuss what the district planned to do with the building until tomorrow's meeting, which begins at 6 p.m.
Evans' plan to convert Nathan Bishop into a temporary high school has provoked outrage from Elmgrove Avenue neighbors, who have mounted an extensive e-mail campaign to persuade elected officials to oppose the proposal.
On March 24, Mayor David N. Cicilline asked the school district to postpone making a decision involving Nathan Bishop until the court ruled on the future of a new high school. Last week, Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Procaccini approved a consent decree that clears the way for construction to begin on the Adelaide Avenue high school.
That project may offer the district an alternative to transforming Nathan Bishop into a school for 9th- and 10th graders.
Although Evans said on Thursday that he doesn't expect the Adelaide Avenue school to be finished in time for a September opening, it could be finished by the start of the spring semester.
Evans said the choice of Nathan Bishop school was the best in a series of unpalatable options. The district needs to find room for roughly 550 high school students in September, a crisis that developed largely because the Adelaide Avenue project was delayed by court challenges. The new high school was supposed to open 18 months ago, but neighbors raised environmental questions about site contamination.
The district looked at other solutions, from installing portable classrooms to leasing space, but Evans said that none of them were practical. The superintendent ultimately chose Nathan Bishop because, with fewer than 400 students, it was the smallest of the city's nine middle schools and only a handful of students come from the neighborhood.
Meanwhile, East Siders aren't the only ones upset about the proposal to close the middle school. Nathan Bishop parents, many of whom live in the city's South Side or West End, protested Evans' plan, saying that Nathan Bishop has been a safe harbor for their children, a place where students are nurtured and encouraged.
Tomorrow's meeting will be held in the school administration building, 797 Westminster St., third floor. Members of the public who wish to speak must complete a request form before the meeting begins at 6 p.m. Forms will be available 30 minutes before the meeting begins, according to the district's Web site.
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