DOE: Schools In Bushwick Are Showing Improvement

From left to right: District Superintendent Lillian Druck, CEC 32 Members Jacqueline D'Anjou- Parchment, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Abiodun Bello (the body's chairman), Mayella LaRode, Joseph Mendinghall and Christna Tejeda. The recently-released School Progress Report grades were on the minds of those attending the Thursday, Sept. 18 meeting of Community Education Council District 32 at Bushwick's P.S. 274.

Abiodun Bello, the group's president, congratulated the District for a massive improvement from last year's grades. Last year, the District had six A's, five B's, five C's, two D's and one F; this time around, no schools got a D or F grade, and only one school—I.S. 347—received a C grade.

Bello added that 95 percent of District 32 schools received an A or B, higher than the city average of 71 percent.

"I think we're starting on good footing this year," said Bello. "Things have changed in Bushwick."

He offered special kudos to two junior high schools that made dramatic improvements—J.H.S. 291 jumped from a D to a B, while J.H.S. 296 jumped from an F to a B.

The host school also received praise, with CEC member Elizabeth Rodriguez calling P.S. 274's success "remarkable." The school jumped from a C to anA.

(Editor's Note: For a full list of school grades for District 32 and several other districts, see the article on Page 3.)

District Superintendent Lillian Druck piled on the good news in her report, announcing that the citywide graduation rate is the "highest it's been in decades."

She noted that the progress reports will be available both at the child's school and at the DOE's website, schools.nyc.gov.

School safety officers under fire

As it was the start of the school year, Bello took suggestions from board members and attendees for future topics CEC 32 should tackle.

School safety became a prevailing topic, as Rodriguez and Christina Tejeda claimed that school safety officers at District 32 schools have been doing a poor job.

The officers are "getting too relaxed with our children," said Tejeda. "They're taking it as a joke, the majority of them."

Rodriguez agreed, calling the officers "not very professional" and claiming that "even when you address the supervisors, nothing is being done."

In a related topic, a local parent told the board that an unknown male allegedly exposed himself to her daughter near the Central Avenue M train station on her way home from school the day before the meeting.

Bello stated that safety topics— perhaps addressing local gangs as well—will be on the docket in either October or November.

Learning Environment surveys

David Osborne, the project manager for the Department of Education's Learning Environment Surveys, came by to explain the survey's purpose and usefulness.

Osborne noted that the surveys, which are factored into a school's Progress Report grade, were borne out of an idea from the DOE's Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy.

Improving schools "cannot be done, period, without the active engagement of families," he stated.

The surveys, sent out to parents in green envelopes, was designed to examine four categories—student engagement in the academic process; communication between the school, parents and students; the student's academic expectations; and school safety.

Reports for each school are generated from these surveys and distributed to parents, students and faculty.

T

he parent response rate this

year was 40 percent, higher than last year (26 percent). In addition, 61 percent of teachers and 78 percent of students in grades six and up responded to the questionnaire.

"One of our big goals is that we want lots of people to take this," he noted. "If only the people in this room took the survey, that wouldn't be of much use to the whole city."

Osborne noted that District 32 had the biggest year-to-year improvement in parent response rate; 48 percent of all District 32 parents responded, tops in the city. He praised the District for its "exceptional performance."

What the city learn from the surveys? According to Osborne, parents and teachers were more satisfied with their schools than they were last year, but student satisfaction was flat.

"What's really important," he stressed, "is what's going on in your school." The surveys are used by schools to identify problems and come up with solutions. "If schools and parents don't engage with this information, nobody cares."

One example, he noted, was P.S. 26K in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Parent surveys revealed that parents felt the area around the school was unsafe. A follow-up survey from the school's principal led them to a nearby park where gang activity was found to be loitering about. The park is now closed during school hours.

The principal "didn't know there was a problem" until she saw the survey results, Osborne noted.

He then shifted focus to P.S. 299, located on 88 Woodbine St. in Bushwick. While the school received a B grade on its overall School Progress Report, the Learning Environment Survey (which counts for 10 percent of a school's Progress Report grade) was not as kind.

The school received a grade of B, Osborne stated, but had a failing grade in the category of student safety.

According to the questionnaires, 20 percent of parents think discipline at the school is not meted out fairly; 12 percent of parents claim that the disciple has some racial or ethnic bias; 72 percent of teachers think discipline is poorly maintained; and 44 percent of teachers think parents disrespect them.

"If this survey did not exist, these statistics would have never come to light," he stated.

"This job did a great job in performance and education and progress—an exceptional job for progress—so overall, [P.S. 299 scored] a B," Osborne stressed.

When asked by Bello what can be done, Osborne told him that "there's no one-size-fits-all [approach];" but said that other schools have held followup meetings and created secondary surveys to get a more precise look at the problem.

He also noted that the DOE is in the process of building an "idea bank" where schools will be able to share information with other schools about problem-solving techniques.

"Schools have the best solutions to the problems that they face," he told the council.