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Illinois School Board Journal
March/April 2006

Turning NCLB 'lemons' into 'lemonade' schools

by Rick Loy

Rick Loy is superintendent of Rock Island-Milan School District 41 in northwestern Illinois. He can be reached at rick.loy@risd41.org.

The 2004-05 school year was very challenging for Rock Island-Milan School District 41. As a result of declining enrollments and impending NCLB sanctions for three of our most needy schools, we needed to make some difficult decisions. A sense of urgency had reached our community.

District 41 addressed these challenges with a plan for better learning opportunities and creation of the Rock Island Primary and Intermediate Academies. Instead of complaining about a lemon of a situation, the district chose to make lemonade.

Too many schools

In fall 2004, District 41's Citizens Facilities Study Task Force presented an extensive list of findings and recommendations to the Board of Education. Their first finding: we had too many schools. This came as no surprise to the board and administration, which had tracked a steady decline in student enrollment over the past 30 years.

In times of zero to minimal funding growth from the state, the district struggled to operate a balanced budget while meeting student needs. Small schools are more expensive to operate, per child, than larger schools, so sometimes we were spending two times the money per student in our smaller schools.

Physical costs to operate an elementary school run between $250,000 and $275,000, no matter if the school has 116 students (our smallest elementary school) or 413 students (our largest elementary school).

Over the next few weeks, the administration carefully reviewed and analyzed the task force recommendations, and agreed with the finding that we had too many schools. We decided to begin a school closing study.

Another factor carefully considered in this study was determining how to proceed with upcoming sanctions from the No Child Left Behind Act. As a result of not making Annual Yearly Progress for multiple years, Lincoln, Hawthorne-Irving and Grant schools were on the NCLB watch list.

All offered federally mandated "choice" for their students, which led to many of the higher performing students leaving these schools. The 2000-04 state test scores at Hawthorne-Irving and Grant schools were well under the state mandated 40 percent "meets standards" in reading and math, with little progress at best. It was very apparent that Hawthorne-Irving and Grant programs would need to be restructured the following year.

This data was an important part of the study as we decided which school(s) to close or restructure. The truth is a majority of the students in these schools were making little progress. It was time for a change — a time for new beginnings for our most needy students.

Community input

Next, the district shared this information and sought input from its stakeholders, including staff and community members at each of the affected schools, the district's Leadership Team (principals and cabinet) and the superintendent's Advisory Task Force. Each group carefully reviewed and analyzed potential NCLB sanctions, enrollment scenarios, various school closing options and best practices research.

District-wide forums were held by the school board, seeking input from all interested parties. The first was held in the auditorium of one of the three schools being considered for closing. It began with an overview by the superintendent regarding pending NCLB sanctions and declining enrollments. Community members were allowed to address the board and submit questions, which led to an extensive question/answer session where the superintendent and his cabinet members answered most of the questions. Occasionally questions were directed to the board, which answered those they felt were appropriate for them, referring administrative questions to the superintendent.

All questions were submitted in writing and then directed to the appropriate cabinet member, such as having the cabinet member in charge of NCLB answer questions on sanctions. Most questions were answered at the meeting. Those we could not answer, along with questions that came after the meeting was closed, were answered in writing and sent directly to the person who had posed the question. In addition, all questions/answers were placed on the district Web site so anyone could review them.

A similar open forum was held in the high school auditorium six weeks later. A final open forum was held for an hour before the board meeting at which the board was scheduled to take action on the superintendent's recommendation that had been given to the board at its prior meeting.

In addition to these large meetings, dozens of smaller community/group meetings were held between two and three times a week for a three-month period, seeking input and informing them of progress in the study.

Restructuring

Another critical piece of this challenge was conducting research to guide the instructional and curricular side of restructuring. We determined the best fit for our students came from the 90-90-90 Schools research by Doug Reeves. These schools are 90 percent low income, 90 percent minority while achieving at a 90 percent success rate on identified tests. (More information on this subject can be found on the district Web site, www.risd41.org. Select the link "Academic Excellence Framework" with numerous links to research that outlines our long-range plan.)

As our vision began to take place, it was apparent that the best solution was to close the three schools and start over. We recommended two new schools, using two of the three buildings we would close, which eventually became the Rock Island Primary and Intermediate Academies. These sister schools share one large neighborhood that encompassed all three schools the year before. The Primary Academy would house PreK-2 and the Intermediate Academy grades 3-6. These schools would be completely restructured, with all new staff, beginning with the selection of principals followed by teachers and support staff. The instructional design was based on Reeves' research.

As we began this immense challenge, we contacted and worked closely with state superintendent Randy Dunn along the way. The district felt it would be a significant benefit for the new schools if they could have a fresh start from NCLB and its sanctions.

This proved to be a huge challenge for all involved. Under the NCLB sanctions, the schools would have had to allocate more than $100,000 each year for mandated busing and supplemental services. The press was continually labeling the schools as "failing" schools.

Dunn and his ISBE team worked diligently to study our particular situation and the district's aggressive approach to restructuring. He decided to honor our request to give the Academies a fresh start with NCLB. This bold decision allowed our district to focus state and federal money on the areas we felt would increase student performance — intensive staff development, as well as after-school and intersession intervention opportunities for identified students.

In August 2005, instead of beginning the year with three schools entering restructuring status, the year began with the state superintendent addressing 700 students and their families along with 35 highly energized teachers and dozens of excited support staff at the newly formed Rock Island Primary and Intermediate Academies.

"Rock Island-Milan is now a lighthouse for the state of Illinois," Dunn said. "Instead of letting the problem overcome them, district leaders took action before the state did."