TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Tutors Push For Mandate

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARILYN BROWN

mbrown@tampatrib.com

Published: December 6, 2008

TAMPA - When Middleton High School was put on a state list of 13 schools that face closure unless they improve academically, Fred Hearns decided he had to act.

Hearns, a 1966 graduate of the school, rallied a dozen volunteers, including other alumni, to tutor kids after school.

Few kids consistently came for the help, despite the school's last place in the district on 2007 FCAT reading and math scores.

The tutors have become discouraged, and Hearns has a solution: require all students who have not passed the 10th-grade Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to show up for tutoring if they want to stay on a sports team or in a club, band or other school activity.

"Is that unreasonable?" Hearns said. "We're in a crisis situation at school. We can't continue business as usual."

Middleton has been graded D by the state for the past five years, which, along with its low test scores, made it a target for the state. In July, superintendents in seven counties were told the 13 schools in their districts must improve or be closed, reopened under new management or converted into charter schools.

The district has dispatched resources, including extra reading and math coaches, teacher training and monitoring. At least three after-school tutoring programs are not being used by enough students, agrees Gwen Luney, assistant superintendent for student services and federal programs.

"We can't require children to do things after three o'clock," Luney said.

Luney didn't know how many students take advantage of the tutoring programs after school, but just 28 parents this year enrolled their students in private tutoring of their choice, paid for with federal money, said Jeff Eakins, the district's director of federal programs.

Hearns' tutoring program, across from Middleton at the HOPE Center, has about a half-dozen high school students on any given day, and the computer lab where FCAT practice tests are available has no takers.

"I'm convinced they're not doing as much as they could do," Hearns said of the school and the district. He plans to ask school board members at their Tuesday meeting for a policy requiring tutoring for students who don't pass the FCAT, a requirement for graduation.

Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at (813) 259-8069.

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT