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3 Bay Area Schools Targeted For Closing

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By MARILYN BROWN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 30, 2008

TAMPA - Three Hillsborough schools are among 13 targeted statewide for possible closing a year from now because their students have been the lowest performing in the state.

Middleton High, Franklin Middle and Sulphur Springs Elementary are the only schools in the Tampa Bay area on the state's list to face being closed. It reflects federal sanctions that are catching up to school districts nationwide and particularly squeezing Florida, which has never chosen to go that far before.

"Now the rubber's going to meet the road," said Sam Whitten, the Hillsborough school district's supervisor of assessment. "We're talking about closing a school."

Superintendents in seven counties have been given five options with a year to prepare for them, state Education Commissioner Eric Smith said Tuesday.

The options for superintendents in Hillsborough, Broward, Miami-Dade, Escambia, Leon, Orange and Palm Beach Counties are to close the school and:

•To reassign students to other schools

•To reopen under district management with dramatic changes
•To reorganize as a charter school with a performance contract
•To reopen with an outside management company with a performance contract
If the school improves enough with new strategies over the coming school year, closing could be avoided.

Dade had four schools on the list, Hillsborough had three and Palm Beach had two. The other counties had one each.

Hillsborough Superintendent MaryEllen Elia said Tuesday that she will step up efforts already under way at those schools and has no plans to close the schools or turn them over to a charter or outside contractor.

"It is a year for the program to improve and we're going to do that," Elia said. She said she had been aware of the possibility for several weeks.

The state issued a 130-page report and held a media phone conference Tuesday on its new way of sanctioning schools.

Federal Progress Mark Not Met

The complex rules divide more than 1,000 schools that have not met the federal Adequate Yearly Progress mark into five groups, ranging from the top category of 270 schools that made A, B or C grades and were close to meeting the federal mark to 13 at the bottom facing possible closure.

More time and state and federal money will go to schools that need more help, Smith said: "It is an increase in the focus."

Florida is one of six states given permission from the federal Department of Education to change the way it sanctions schools that repeatedly fail the federal mark. The federal No Child Left Behind law and its escalating consequences were supposed to lead to state takeover or closing of schools.

Florida has been in a bind. While its own state grades have shot up, most of its schools failed the federal mark. This year, less than a quarter passed - 24 percent compared with 34 percent a year before. Many are graded A or B by the state, but miss the federal mark because every subgroup, such as ethnic and socioeconomic groups, must hit required marks.

"This snowball has grown to enormity," said Hillsborough's Whitten. "The state has decided to focus on the most troubled schools. ... Can we stop this trend?"

To make the list of the most troubled, schools had to be among the state's lowest performers since 2003.

Middleton has been graded D for the past five years; Franklin was D for the past two years and also in 2005, with C grades in 2003, 2004 and 2006. Sulphur Springs has been an F school for the past two years, preceded by C in the past four years.

Many Low-Income Students

All three have high percentages of students from low-income families, qualifying them to receive extra federal money under the federal Title I program. Sulphur Springs has 97 percent qualifying for free and reduced price meals, Franklin 90 percent and Middleton, 67 percent.

Only schools that get Title I money have had sanctions when they repeatedly fail the federal mark. They must divert part of that money to transport students to higher performing schools or provide some with private tutoring.

The three schools on the state list have numerous district tutoring programs and plenty of extra help as well as the private tutoring option. Last year, 81 students at Sulphur Springs, 61 at Franklin and 25 at Middleton took advantage of the private tutors, said Jeff Eakins, the district's director of federal programs.

Franklin did improve its percentage of students reading at proficiency, but it was still just 31 percent.

Franklin and Middleton also had a special class for some students that helps students through tutoring, note taking, organizational skills and college preparedness. Middleton also was a pilot school for a new English and math curriculum last year. That curriculum is expanding to all middle and high school schools in August. The curriculum is designed to prepare more students for advanced placement classes and college work.

"It takes time," Elia said of the effort, noting that both schools did better than many other schools in the state not at the bottom of the state list.

What else schools can do that they have not already done under years of more district resources and supervision is a question.

"The timing of this is probably not perfect," Eakins said. "The school year is upon us. We're already working with schools to see what other support we can give them. We don't want to undermine what is already in place." Classes start Aug. 18.

Christine Worley, program director for University Community Ministries, works with Sulphur Springs students and their parents in a program called Parents and Children Advancing Together. It offers computer labs and an after-school tutoring program at a local church.

There have been rumors about the school's fate, but Worley is hopeful the situation can be turned around. The school has a new principal with a reputation for being "no-nonsense," she said.
Sulphur Springs Elementary PTA President Mary Stewart said the school suffers from lack of parental involvement. A true neighborhood school, Stewart wondered where students would go if it closes.

"A lot of those parents just don't have transportation in that neighborhood," Stewart said. "If this school shuts down, it's going to be bad."

Just mentioning the possibility of Middleton High closing brought dismay to Fred Hearns, a 1966 graduate and past president of the alumni association.

"It means everything to East Tampa," Hearns said of the school that opened in 1934 and closed in 1971 during desegregation. A new Middleton High reopened in 2002 a few blocks from the original campus. "The high school is more than a place to get a diploma. It gives hope to East Tampa.

"This is very bad news," Hearns said, "but maybe this is what it takes to get people to rally behind the school."

Reporters Ellen Gedalius and Kathy Steele contributed to this report. Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at (813) 259-8069 or mbrown@tampatrib.com.

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