CMS board flunks itself

OK, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board didn't give itself a letter grade in the self-assessment discussed at Friday's retreat.  But the consensus was pretty clear:  Members think the board has a lot of work to do  (see story here).

As Superintendent Heath Morrison and moderator Nancy Broner with the Center for Reform of School Systems noted,  there's a certain irony involved in such self-ratings.  In an attempt to become a better board,  the board has to publicly air its weaknesses, which can add to the image of a dysfunctional board.

But Broner said the goal of improvement is worth the discomfort.  Before the retreat she had all nine members fill out a 29-point questionnaire based on Eugene Smoley's  "Effective School Boards."  All members did so,  though the totals don't always add up because some apparently did not answer all questions.  And  --  cue up the punch lines  --  one member both agreed and disagreed that the board works to reach consensus on important matters.

Here are the results.  I'm paraphrasing many of the statements to make this more readable. Categories are mine, not Broner's.

PREPARATION
*All nine members said the board fails to examine the downside of important decisions it makes.
*All nine say the board does not set aside time to learn more about important issues in other districts.
*Seven said the board does not usually receive  "a full rationale"  for recommendations it acts on.
*Five said administration recommendations are usually accepted with little questioning.
*Five said the board often requests additional information before making decisions.
*The board split 4-4 on whether it is  "a rubber stamp board."

INTEGRITY
*Seven said members are not consistently able to hold confidential items in confidence.
*Five said members say one thing in public and another thing privately.

At least they aren't splurging on food ...

*Five said the board does not reverse its positions based on community pressure.


COMMUNICATION
*Eight agreed that  "at times this board has appeared unaware of the impact its decisions will have within our service community."
*Seven disagreed that  "this board spends a lot of time listening to different points of view before it votes on an important matter."
*Six said the board is outspoken in its views about programs.
*Five say members fail to get the views of an affected group  "if our board thinks that an important group of constituents is likely to disagree with an action we are considering."
*But five agreed that  "before reaching a decision on important issues,  this board usually requests input from persons likely to be affected."

TEAMWORK
*Seven disagreed that all members support majority decisions.
*Seven disagreed that board members work together to make sure decisions are accepted and carried out.
*Seven said members are sometimes disrespectful in their comments to each other.
*Seven agreed that  "a certain group of board members will usually vote together."
*Six said they fear they will be ostracized by other members if they speak their mind on key issues.
*The board split 6-4  (remember that double vote)  on whether it works to reach consensus on important matters,  with the slim majority disagreeing.
*Five agreed and four disagreed that  "the board's decisions usually result in a split vote."  As Broner put it,  "you were split on the split vote question."
 
LONG VIEW
*All nine disagreed that the board often discusses where CMS should be headed five or more years in the future.
*Six members agreed the board is more involved in  "trying to put out fires"  than preparing for the future.
*Five agreed that the board has reviewed its strategies and long-term goals within the past year.

SELF-REFLECTION
*Six said they've participated in board discussions about mistakes the board has made and what could be done differently.
*Five say they've participated in board discussions about the effectiveness of its own performance.
*Five agree that the board has a retreat at least once every two years to examine its own performance as a board.
*Members split 4-4 on whether they've ever received feedback on their performance.  The item did not specify the source of feedback.

MICROMANAGING
*Seven said members provide constituent services without crossing the line into management.

Celebrity principal and 'swashbuckler' superintendent

It's a safe bet nobody left yesterday's MeckEd community breakfast yawning. The education and advocacy group brought in a speaker whose style is as much smackdown as uplift, quite a jolt to those accustomed to Charlotte's "bless your heart" style.

Perry

Steve Perry is a working principal in Connecticut,  having founded a magnet school that prides itself on sending African American and low-income students off to college.  Several teachers who attended the $50-a-person fund-raising breakfast as guests of MeckEd told me that gave him more credibility than your average research/policy/political type.

Perry is also very much a public figure,  appearing regularly on CNN,  writing books and preparing to launch a TVOne show called "Save My Son."  According to the Hartford Courant,  he spends a good bit of his time on the road doing speaking engagements like the one in Charlotte,  and has a minicam and studio lighting in his principal's office.

So yes,  Perry knows how to grab an audience's attention.  He raised plenty of deep,  thought provoking issues about the community's responsibility for all children,  the need to stop tolerating failure and the importance of loving the students you teach (read the news article here).  He also waded right into racial and gender issues and took pokes at almost everybody involved in education:  Interfering administrators,  principals who don't know how to lead,  excuse-making teachers,  lazy custodians and parents who come to school dressed in pajamas.

Morrison

That made it particularly interesting when he shared a stage with Heath Morrison,  who started as Charlotte-Mecklenburg's superintendent July 1.  Morrison embraces his role as communicator-in-chief and has been on a whirlwind speaking tour since he was hired in April.  Most people I've talked to say he's very good at it,  but he's still in his honeymoon here.  Thursday's appearance gave a glimpse of what it may be like when things get a bit thornier.

An audience member's question about dealing with all the regulations that encumber public education led Perry into a long riff on his disdain for central-office staff.  He talked about how he ignores directives and ducks meetings.  "The problem with central offices is they exist to serve the central office,  not the community,"  Perry said.  "They don't seem to find solutions.  They only create more problems."  He went on to lament the distraction created by a series of superintendents bringing new programs:  "They come in and they're a swashbuckler and that stuff makes our job very,  very,  very difficult."

When Perry finished,  Morrison reached for the mike.  He said he wasn't going to disagree with Perry.  Instead,  Morrison talked about his  "loose/tight"  supervisory style that gives leeway to successful schools while keeping a tighter rein on those that aren't working.  He said he's listening to his employees and the community,  rather than charging in with his own agenda.  And he talked about  "one of the most frustrating things in North Carolina,"  the calendar law that requires most public schools to operate between Aug. 25 and June 10.  At-risk kids need more time in school,  Morrison said,  and if he can't pay teachers to work longer school years he at least needs the latitude to spread the 180 days out so there's not such a long summer break for learning to slip away.

On the racial front,  Perry left the audience with an interesting conversation-starter to take away from the session.  While he was talking about the importance of loving and motivating African American students,  he offered an observation he said the black folks in the crowd would understand:  "You know when a child is loved with one word:  Vaseline."  There were chuckles from many African Americans and blank looks from many whites.  "They'll explain it to you later,"  Perry said,  and moved on.

Actually,  the first four African Americans I asked  --  two who were there and two colleagues back in the newsroom  --  said they were stumped, too.  Reporter Celeste Smith offered the likely explanation:  Moms and grandmas rub Vaseline on their children's skin to avoid the dry,  pale  "ashy skin"  that can be seen as a sign that kids aren't well cared for.

My colleagues who had been stumped countered that most families just use lotion now.  Vaseline is an old-school approach,  as confirmed by this tweet from Perry I encountered while trying to google the answer:  "My grandmother used to think rubbing alcohol, epsom salt and vaseline was all we needed to cure us of everything."

PTA socialism? Not in CMS

I keep seeing comments on this blog suggesting that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools forces its affluent PTAs or booster clubs to put part of their fund-raising proceeds into a pool for poorer schools.

That's not true.

I've been covering CMS for 10 years and they've never had such a policy.  Harold Dixon, current president of the Mecklenburg PTA Council, has been active in such groups for 15 years and says he has never encountered a mandate to redistribute money.  CMS says those rumors are false.

CMS does have a SchoolMates program  --  thanks to reader Bill Stevens for sharing this link -- that pairs stronger PTAs with weaker ones.  That program, which is voluntary,  involves sharing volunteers, doing joint activities and helping the less affluent schools develop parent leadership.  It's not about a wealthy PTA writing a check to a poorer school.

In a recent comment, Stevens talked about "an aggressive plan that any non urban school PTA that raised money had to submit a portion of it back to CMS for the so called effort of redistributing it to the urban schools."

I'm not sure where that's coming from.  The board has had vigorous discussions about per-pupil spending,  and I recall that some individual members have suggested pooling PTA and booster club money for equal distribution.  I don't have notes and names in front of me,  but I can say that it's not uncommon for members to air ideas that don't get much support,  and this was one of them. To my knowledge,  and in the memory of the folks I checked with,  there has never even been a formal motion.

Davis

"I think that's an urban legend," said board member Eric Davis, who joined the board in 2009.

When I asked Davis about the persistent  "forced to share the wealth"  rumors,  he repeated an argument he has made in board talks:  Even if you believe it's the right thing to do,  it doesn't make sense.  A really strong PTA might raise $120,000 a year,  enough money to make a difference for an individual school,  Davis said.  But if you divide it among all schools,  it's not even $1 per student.

CMS provides much more significant help to high-poverty schools,  which tend to have little or no PTA money,  through the federal Title I program and local spending decisions.  Forcing parents to put all their PTA money into one pot would generate a lot of ill will while bringing little benefit,  Davis said.

"My prediction is people would stop giving,"  he said.

CMS, Union, Gaston ready to race

Get ready for another round of Race to the Top, the federal grant program designed to spur policymakers to shake up schools that are failing students.

After a state competition that is shaping North Carolina's testing and teacher evaluations, the federal government has invited individual school districts to compete for a total of $383 million. Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Union and Gaston are among 32 districts in North Carolina and 893 nationwide that have filed an  "intent to apply"  form with the U.S. Department of Education.

Superintendent Heath Morrison says the CMS board will start working on the application this month,  with a due date at the end of October.  One thing that may surprise people,  he said in a recent interview,  is that the proposal won't just target the high-poverty,  low-performing schools that often draw extra money.

"We are also looking at schools that are doing very well compared with other schools in our district and our state and around the country,"  Morrison said.

It's part of his push to make sure people understand that making CMS better means boosting achievement for top students and high-performing schools, too.  He said he keeps hearing that the district has focused mostly on the weakest schools and students,  though he said he's not yet sure whether that is reality or a failure of  "messaging."

"When we get kids who are well ahead,  are we keeping them ahead?  We've got to be very thoughtful about projects and opportunities for children who are extremely bright,  who are going to go on and have amazing careers and amazing opportunities in higher education,"  Morrison said.  "I want to be as focused on our children who come to us well ahead as students who come to us well behind."

Morrison hasn't offered any specifics yet.  In Reno,  Nev.,  he opened new middle school magnets for gifted students.  His grand plan for CMS is expected in early December,  but the Race to the Top application may provide a sneak peak at some strategies.

The competition for school districts requires a focus on four big areas:  Rigorous standards and exams,  data systems that measure student growth,  recruitment and retention of effective educators,  and  "turning around the nation's lowest-achieving schools."  Applicants are expected to lay out plans for  "personalized learning environments"  that use teachers and technology to tailor lessons to students' needs.

CMS has indicated it plans to seek a grant in the $20 million to $30 million range  (Wake and Guilford counties,  the other big N.C. districts,  also plan to enter the race).  The feds only plan to award 15 to 25 grants,  in amounts ranging from $5 million to $45 million.  As the Public School Forum of North Carolina puts it,  "competition will be very stiff." 

What's Democratic ticket for reform?

Education may be a big theme for Democrats, but there are sharp differences of opinion in the party about how to improve it.

In his acceptance speech in Charlotte Thursday, President Obama asked people to rally around a set of goals  "in manufacturing, energy, education, national security and the deficit."  Those goals would lead to "new jobs, more opportunity and rebuild(ing) this economy on a stronger foundation,"  he said.

The president didn't get specific.  But two days earlier, Democrats for Education Reform held a panel discussion at Knight Theater to lay out a vision that includes access to high-quality prekindergarten,  parent choice,  charter-school expansion,  teacher accountability based on test scores,  mayoral takeover of urban school districts and closure of low-performing schools.

Alter

"I believe this decade will be the great period of change for the education reform movement,"  said moderator Jonathan Alter,  a longtime reporter and analyst who writes for Bloomberg View.

Legislators from Colorado, Ohio and New Jersey spoke about reform bills Alter described as  "real success,"  while he said panelists promoting DFER's reform vision in North Carolina and Indiana are  "still in the wilderness."

Colorado Sen. Michael Johnston,  who was an education adviser to Barack Obama's 2008 campaign,  talked about helping pass a law that revamped teacher and principal evaluations.  Under the new law, at least 50 percent of their ratings must be based on student growth in test scores,  he said.  He also talked about ending tenure and  LIFO,  or  "last in, first out."  Performance,  not experience,  should determine who keeps their job,  Johnston said.

Johnston is co-founder of New Leaders,  a group that's working with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and the public-private Project LIFT to improve struggling schools in Charlotte.

Brandon

N.C. Rep. Marcus Brandon of Guilford County said he supported the Republican-dominated legislature's decision to lift the cap on charter schools but wanted that bill to include provisions that charters must provide transportation and meals,  making the alternative public schools accessible to more low-income families.  He said that provision failed because most Democrats and the N.C. Association of Educators dug in against charter-school expansion.

"Education has been our bread-and-butter issue,"  Brandon said.  "It looks like that's going to slip away because we have been so out of the mainstream."

The presidents of the nation's two big teacher unions,  Dennis Van Roekel of the National Education Association and Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers, took part in a second DFER panel about technology and innovation in teaching.  Both were in Charlotte for the Democratic National Convention,  but Van Roekel said their willingness to talk with DFER doesn't mean they endorse that group's vision.

Van Roekel and Ellis in Charlotte

Van Roekel crossed the street to an NEA reception at Aquavina, where state President Rodney Ellis was already talking to me about DFER.  "We disagree fundamentally on a lot of what they call reform,"  Ellis said.

Van Roekel said his group prefers to talk about transformation and responsibility,  rather than reform and accountability.  Their vision involves school boards,  administrators,  teacher unions and families working together,  he said,  while the other view devalues teachers and their unions.  And he says value-added ratings calculated from test-score data do not create a valid picture of teacher performance.  "Use that data,"  he said.  "It just should not be for high-stakes decisions."

Grundy (left), Sawyer (right) and supporters

Meanwhile, Pamela Grundy and Carol Sawyer of MecklenburgACTS,  joined by a handful of supporters,  stood outside the DFER event and Monday's screening of the upcoming movie  "Won't Back Down" carrying oversized foam pencils and taking a stand against  "high-stakes testing, relentless charter school expansion, school closings which disrupt families and communities and parent trigger laws."  (Read a previous blog about the movie and accompanying events.)

Grundy and Sawyer were denied admission to both events,  even though the DFER session was billed as a "town hall."  They had been allowed to register but,  after getting mixed signals about whether they'd be allowed in,  were turned away.  Grundy said they were told they might create a disruption and/or were trying to discourage people from entering.

A DFER spokesperson hasn't responded to my email asking why they were denied admission.  It wasn't a matter of capacity;  I saw plenty of empty seats in the theater.  And the women had been urging people to attend,  even if it was to express an opposing view. (Correction: Found a response in my inbox. DFER says it was an invitation-only event, and even though the MeckACTS folks found a web link to RSVP they had not been invited.)

As reporters well know,  being barred can create a better story than the event itself.  Grundy blogged about her experience after being turned away from Monday's screening,  and posted on the national Parents Across America website after the second denial,  asking "What are DFER and Students First afraid of?"  That got enough coverage that MeckACTS has a DNC 2012 media page. 

"We were loyal Democrats who were not challenging the Democratic party as a whole,"  Grundy said in an email Saturday,  "just the education policies espoused by DFER and Students First, which the current administration has unfortunately adopted in large part."

In the FLOTUS pool

I'll be among a handful of  "pool"  reporters covering First Lady Michelle Obama's speech at a luncheon today honoring lesbian,  gay,  bisexual and transgendered elected officials.  It's another first for me in a week that has seen Charlotte  --  and the Observer  --  turned upside down.

I'd like to say my editors hand-picked me to track the First Lady of the United States  (or FLOTUS, as we insider-wannabes like to say).  But actually,  they picked reporter Elizabeth Leland.  As you may have heard,  she has fallen ill with West Nile virus.  So I stepped in.

I'd like to say the White House admired my work from afar and requested me for the pool.  Yeah, right.  They actually offered John Frank,  one of the (Raleigh) News & Observer's political reporters,  the chance to be the local pool reporter.  (Raleigh, local?  Do these people have a North Carolina map?)  He had moved into our newsroom for convention duty and happened to be standing next to my cubicle when the email arrived.  He bemoaned the time demands of being a poolie.  I said,  more or less,  "Gimme that!"

Frank has warned me there is nothing glamorous about pool duty.  I've seen the sample reports the White House sent along,  and yeah,  it's pretty dry stuff.  (I did request a personal interview.  Mrs. Obama's staff was kind enough to send their prompt  "no"  without adding "ROTFLOL").

But you know what?  It's new and different for me.  And that's been the great thing about the Democratic National Convention.  I've been seeing a whole new world of journalism and politics.  (I did veer off to do some education reporting in the middle of an 8 a.m. to midnight shift Tuesday,  and will file on that as soon as I get time.)  For the most part,  this is making me appreciate the relative ease of dealing with local education folks.  I hope I will not be nabbed by the Secret Service for disclosing that most of the pool communications come with the header "OFF THE RECORD."

I haven't garnered any big bylines or broken any big news this week.  But after 31 years in the newspaper business,  I am reminded that I'm still getting paid to have fun.

Students getting DNC experience

Student editors from the East Meck Eagle and the Providence Prowl came to the Observer today for the UNC Chapel Hill journalism school's forum on Southern presidential politics.  They got to hear PBS NewsHour reporter Judy Woodruff introduce academic experts who talked about race,  poverty,  immigration and political trends.

Sydney Greene (left) and Anna Talarico

And that's just the beginning for Anna Talarico,  co-editor of the Prowl,  and Sydney Greene, managing editor for the Eagle online.  Both will be involved with an array of events connected with the Democratic National Convention,  including a just-announced appearance by political analyst Juan Williams at East Meck this week.

Sydney said she left with three pages of notes,  and was especially intrigued by talk of the re-emergence of Southern poverty.  Several speakers pegged education as vital to the region's economic future.

Anna,  whose family moved here from Columbus,  Ohio,  when she was in first grade,  loved hearing about  how Southerners differ from the rest of the country.  Both young journalists are especially psyched about seeing President Obama's speech on Thursday night.  And both got a close-up look at the changes the convention is bringing:  When participants left the Observer,  the streets outside were lined with police awaiting the arrival of the protest parade.

Bill Allen, Candace Brandt and Anna

Kudos to Eagle adviser Bill Allen and Prowl adviser Candace Brandt  for getting their students involved,  and to the N.C. Scholastic Media Association,  which operates out of UNC Chapel Hill,  for letting them know about the opportunity.  It's always good to see young people getting engaged in local events,  and this week they get to play their role on the national stage.