1-19-01

Raleigh News & Observer

Pepsi Deal May Add Middle Schools

By T. KEUNG HUI,
Staff Writer

A sweet soft-drink deal from Pepsi could net the Wake County school system $6.3 million over five years, but critics say it would come at the price of students' health. Administrators will recommend Monday that the school board accept Pepsi Bottling Ventures' bid to exclusively sell drinks to students in Wake's high schools and, for the first time, at middle schools. School officials maintain that the deal, which would be one of the most lucrative in the nation, would provide Wake needed money and not increase consumption of soft drinks.

Wake would get $3.1 million in cash, and Pepsi says the school system could generate another $3.2 million in commissions from the sale of soda and noncarbonated drinks such as juices.

"It doesn't put any more soft drinks in the hands of students than they already have, while we put in what resources that come from that back to the classroom," said Wake Superintendent Bill McNeal.

But some public interest and medical groups, including the American Dental Association, have come out against the growing number of exclusive soft-drink contracts being signed by school systems around the country. Andrew Hagelshaw, executive director of the Center For Commercial-Free Public Education, said Wake is deluding itself if it doesn't think the deal would encourage students to drink more soda.

"There's a difference between kids bringing drinks to school and a campus actively marketing drinks," Hagelshaw said.

Pepsi would be able to put up advertising signs in schools with the permission of each principal.

School officials stress that it would be up to each principal to decide whether to accept any vending machines, which would sell carbonated and noncarbonated drinks. The principals would also decide how many machines to take, where to place them and what times they would operate. Currently, schools negotiate their own contracts. Eight high schools have contracts with Pepsi and six work with Coca-Cola.

If Pepsi's offer is approved, a policy will be adopted covering how to distribute the revenue. McNeal said Thursday he would push to guarantee that no school gets less money than it currently gets.

Broughton High School, the only high school that doesn't sell soda, would go along with the other schools if the deal is approved, according to principal Diane Payne.

The new contract could lead to a major expansion into the middle schools. Paul Strickland, head of the Wake school committee that reviewed the bids, said none of the middle schools told him they had soft-drink machines for students.

Federal and state law prohibits soft drinks from being sold during lunch time in secondary schools and at anytime during the school day in schools serving grades K through eight.

But Wake is questioning interpretation of the laws for middle schools, which serve grades six through eight. Although McNeal said he doesn't expect middle school principals to sell soda until after school, Wake has a legal opinion from board attorney Ann Majestic that the option to sell during the school day exists because middle schools are secondary schools.

Like most other school systems that have looked at exclusive soft-drink contracts, the incentive was money. Wake has talked about a systemwide contract since 1998, but not until this spring's budget problems did the idea get moving.

Companies are willing to pay more for exclusive contracts to get their competitors off the market.

"It's a way for us to creatively find more money without reaching into taxpayers' pockets," said school board Chairman Bill Fletcher. "The taxpayers will approve of it."

Wake officials maintain they can get more money marketing for all the middle and high schools rather than having them negotiate their own deals. Strickland pointed out that the 14 high schools that currently have individual contracts were projected to get $213,682 for half a year.

Strickland's committee is recommending Pepsi's bid over offers from six other competitors. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, which offered the same commission per sale as Pepsi but guaranteed only $1.2 million in cash for a non-exclusive contract, came closest to matching Pepsi.

John Cantando, senior business development manager for Pepsi Bottling Ventures, declined comment Thursday until after the vote.

Exclusive contracts with soft-drink companies are the most common form of commercial activity in the nation's schools, according to a September report by the General Accounting Office, a nonpartisan congressional agency that audits federal programs. But the report found that arrangements vary greatly, ranging from a Grand Rapids, Mich., district that gets as much as $1.5 million per year to a Ludington, Mich., contract that paid the district $12,000 for a new scoreboard and commissions of about $4,800 per year.

Strickland said Pepsi is offering Wake about $29 per student.

Hagelshaw of the Center for Commercial-Free Public Education said Wake would be getting one of the largest annual payouts of any school system in the country. According to the center, the number of exclusive soft-drink deals nationwide has increased from 46 in April 1998 to 240 this past July. Since July, at least 10 school systems around the country have signed contracts, including the Winston-Salem/Forsyth schools.

Winston-Salem is projected to get $4.79 million over five years from Pepsi. Hagelshaw said Brunswick and Burke counties and Rowan-Salisbury schools also have exclusive contracts. Durham and Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools have looked at exclusive soft-drink contracts but opted against them.

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1-22-01

Sacramento Bee

Periled Students Being Rerouted Free RT Pass on Road to Success


Robert D. Davila
Bee Staff Writer

Almost two years ago, Shawtei Jenkins missed 36 days of school and finished the seventh grade at California Middle School with three D's and two F's.

This year, the 15-year-old freshman has not missed a single day at Hiram Johnson High School. His most recent report card includes four A's and one B.

Jenkins is on the road to success. Appropriately, that's the name of a program funded by Sacramento County that fills a critical need for him and other students who have the motivation to learn but no reliable transportation to get to school.

"I didn't like missing school," said Jenkins, a polite, soft-spoken youth who dreams of playing professional basketball. "I'd just fall way behind, and late in the quarter I'd have to settle for a C or a D. I had to go to summer school twice."

Road to Success pays for monthly Regional Transit bus passes for needy students in grades seven through 12 in the Sacramento City Unified School District. Participants must meet economic or health-related criteria to qualify, and they must improve their attendance and grades to stay eligible.

A total of 169 students participate in the program, which was launched in February 1999 by the Sacramento City Educational Foundation. Initial plans to serve 270 students were scaled back after the monthly price of bus passes increased, most recently to $27 this year.

The program targets habitually absent students who are at risk of becoming truant, discouraged and dropping out. Information on progress is mostly anecdotal because school district staff are still developing a database, attendance official Marsha Neilson said. But the bus passes have made "a great improvement" in attendance among students who previously missed a lot of school, she said.

The educational foundation, a nonprofit support group for the Sacramento City district, started the program with private grants of $1,000 each from the Women Lawyers of Sacramento and GTECH Corp. In addition, Hewlett-Packard donated computer equipment worth $1,600.

Recognizing that many eligible students came from families on public assistance, the foundation asked Sacramento County for help from welfare-reform funding. The Board of Supervisors agreed in January 1999 to spend $56,000 on the program. The county Department of Human Assistance renewed the grant last year.

"We were convinced that if you couldn't keep these kids in school, you're not going to break the cycle of poverty for a lot of these families," foundation board member Anne Rudin said.

Road to Success is seeking private donations to serve more students, Neilson said. For more information, call the program staff at (916) 264-3615.

Outreach workers identify students who meet eligibility requirements for the program, including economic need and distance to school. To stay in the program, participants must demonstrate improvement in attendance and grades.

The obstacles were daunting for Jenkins, who lives alone with his father since his mother died two years ago. The family has struggled to find affordable housing and has no transportation.

Now the teenager has a free bus pass to run errands after school and on weekends, meet friends and visit relatives. But Road to Success has helped most with academic and personal goals, Jenkins said.

"It's helped me a lot with my grades and attendance," he said. "The only thing I want to do is make my mom and dad proud of me."

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1-21-01

Daily News of Los Angeles

Two Lancaster Middle Schools Consider Uniforms



LANCASTER - Lancaster School District's Park View and Amargosa Creek middle schools are considering having students wear uniforms, under a dress code similar to New Vista Middle School's.

With uniforms, students will be less preoccupied with fashion trends and what other students are wearing, and concentrate more on their studies, school officials said.

``It's worked so well at New Vista Middle School. They want to see if they want to do it at the other middle schools,'' board president Greg Tepe said. ``For a lot of kids who can't afford the clothes, it takes away the competitive nature. Middle-school kids are sensitive to what they are wearing and what they look like. This takes that whole factor away, and they can concentrate on education.''

New Vista Middle School is the only Lancaster School District school that has a uniform dress code. Since 1995, students there have donned white-collared shirts and navy blue pants, shorts or skirts, and 99 percent of the students are in compliance, Tepe said.

By state law, parents can ask to have their children exempted from wearing uniforms, even at schools that have them.

New Vista Middle School students were the top scorers among middle- school students in Academic Performance Index rankings released last week. Of the district's three middle schools, New Vista was the only one to score above the state average of 657, with a score of 664.

Amargosa Creek Middle School is scheduled to open in July. Park View is now an intermediate school with grades 7 and 8 but will convert to middle-school configuration with grades 6, 7 and 8 in July, officials said.

Amargosa Creek Principal Howard Horn said he plans to attend PTA meetings at the elementary schools that will feed students into his school to discuss the issue.

Horn noted that Amargosa students will attend Lancaster High School, which is the only high school in the Antelope Valley Union High School District that has uniform dress.

``We already have one school that's doing it. The high school that we feed into does it,'' Horn said.

The decision on whether to adopt a dress code will depend on how staff, parents and students feel about it. ``We are not sure which way we are going yet,'' Horn said.

At Park View, surveys of parents and staff conducted last year indicated support for a uniform dress code, Principal Jullie Eutsler said. The school will send out information to parents regarding the issue later this month.

``When you eliminate peer pressure, student focus is concentrated on academics,'' Eutsler said.

Uniform dress codes typically incorporate school colors. Amargosa Creek's are purple, teal and black. Park View's are yellow and blue.

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1-18-01 Sacramento Bee

Bid to Extend Middle-School Year Faces Hurdles


Aurelio Rojas
Bee Capitol Bureau

Gov. Gray Davis' proposal to lengthen the school year of middle schools by six weeks faces several obstacles, key legislators warned Wednesday.

Many low-performing schools are already on year-round calenders and strapped for qualified teachers, lawmakers said during a joint hearing of the Assembly and Senate Education Committees.

They also cautioned that the centerpiece of the governor's education initiative faces resistance from parents whose children are doing well academically and don't want to give up vacation time.

Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said the program should be implemented only in low-performing schools.

The governor's program is designed to help students pass the state high school graduation exam, now set to begin in 2004.

Kerry Mazzoni, the governor's new education secretary, said Davis wants to offer the program to all schools.

Participation, she noted, would be voluntary. Districts could pass up the program altogether or only implement it in certain schools.

"I think there may be some disruptions, but I don't think they're insurmountable," said Mazzoni, who last year chaired the Assembly Education Committee.

Districts on year-round calenders could lengthen their school days, she said. Mazzoni said the additional 17 percent in salary that teachers could earn would also serve as an incentive to attract people to the profession.

Davis' proposal would lengthen the academic school year for the state's 1.3 million middle school students from 180 to 210 days, the longest schedule in the nation.

But some legislators expressed concerns the longer year would yield diminishing returns because students and teachers will be "burned out."

"If we're asking teachers to teach 30 more days, is that, in fact, going to improve instruction?" asked Assemblywoman Virginia Strom-Martin, D-Duncans Mills, chairwoman of the Assembly Education Committee.

But Mazzoni said "the idea is not to have more of the same curriculum." Instead, middle schools would be asked to revamp their entire curriculum.

Davis' proposal would cost more than $1 billion a year when fully implemented. Districts would receive extra money from the state - the equivalent of $770 per student.

Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, suggested that elementary schools would benefit more from the extended year. She noted 71 percent of the low-performing schools on the state's Academic Performance Index are elementary schools.

Ortiz and other legislators said districts will need greater flexibility to make the governor's proposal work.

Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, said students in the overcrowded Los Angeles Unified School District already attend class from 7:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

Mazzoni suggested the district could extend the school year. Goldberg, a former Los Angeles school board member, said that was a plausible solution.

"We're very excited about this initiative," Mazzoni said. "We don't have all the details yet. But we're working on the language."

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1-18-01

Sacramento Bee

Teacher Visits Put Students on Upward Track


Kim Mordecai
Neighbors Staff Writer

A Sacramento City Unified School District program that encourages teacher visits to students' homes has received a $1.02 million federal grant to create a training center to replicate the program statewide.

The program is geared toward increasing parental involvement in a student's education via home visits from educators and, often, interpreters.

"I really believe in this program," said Carol Sharp, principal of Susan B. Anthony Elementary School in Meadowview, one of the original eight district schools participating in the program in 1998.

"There was a need for us to create a connection between the school and the community," Sharp said.

The other seven schools selected to implement the initial program were Bret Harte Elementary in Curtis Park; Fruit Ridge Elementary in the Fruitridge area; Parkway Elementary in Parkway Estates; Woodbine Elementary in the Woodbine neighborhood; Clayton B. Wire Elementary in Lemon Hill; Fern Bacon Middle School, south of 47th Avenue and west of Highway 99; and Goethe Middle School, near Florin Road and 24th Street.

"It was because of the success of that that we were able to expand it to 32 of our 80 district schools," said Melissa Brown, associate district superintendent, whose office will administer the grant.

The grant came from a proposal sponsored by U.S. Rep. Robert Matsui, D-Sacramento.

"There is simply no substitute for the power of cooperation between a teacher, student,and parent," Matsui said. "This program capitalizes on that power to show children that learning is a priority the whole community invests in.

"Teachers want the best for their students, and parents want the best for their children. When we can work together, that's what helps our children, both academically and socially," he said. "The aim is for teachers to step into the community to visit with parents and their students at their homes to make connections and to figure out how to enhance students' education. It used to be that parents came to the schools. Now it's time for us to go to parents."

The school district will use the grant to establish a center and run the training program. The program will be staffed by district employees and members of Sacramento Area Congregations Together, a federation of 28 area congregations.

"Working with community-based agencies is what we really embrace. We would like to work with community-based agencies of all types, especially those whose main focus is improving the lives of children," Brown said.

The district has yet to determine a location for the training center.

Members of Sacramento Area Congregations Together trained teachers at Woodbine Elementary and other district schools to work with the families of students. The trainers used a 30-year-old model based on their experience with church groups that reached out to the community, said former Woodbine teacher Jennifer Ching Moff.

Moff said she and other teachers learned to "build relationships with parents so that the children can do better in school."

Moff now is program coordinator for the district's parent-teacher visitation project.

"We have the teachers meet inside the families' homes, on their own turf in a relaxed environment," Moff said. "Some people may have had a negative past experience inside the schools, and this is less pressure. The teachers also can meet with parents in a coffee shop or restaurant, Moff said, as an alternate neutral location.

Teachers volunteer to participate in the program and are paid an additional hourly wage.

Susan B. Anthony Elementary teachers have conducted more than 700 home visits in the past three years, Sharp said. The school has a student body of 450 students.

The initial meeting is scheduled to greet the parents and let them know that the teachers are interested in improving their children's education, she said.

"We are inviting the parents to become a part of their children's education," Sharp said. "And it works. The first year we did this, we held an open house and had a parent turnout of 600 people. That was a huge percentage over what we had in previous years."

Sharp said that after the program was implemented in 1998, suspensions for behaviorial problems decreased dramatically at Susan B. Anthony. Last year, the school scored four times higher than expected on the Academic Performance Index, a score based on the annual Stanford 9 achievement test used to rank schools.

"This program has resulted in increased academic success for our children and a better understanding of the community for us," Sharp said. "The best thing about this program is that our children feel supported, and all of our relationships have been strengthened between the parents, the students and the staff."

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1-18-01

Sacramento Bee

Teachers to Mop Up at McDonald's


Mark Burgan Neighbors Staff Writer

If you go to the McDonald's on Laguna Boulevard Monday evening, you may notice your child's teachers are flipping the burgers you ordered or sweeping the floor. It won't be because they're struggling to pay the mortgage.

They'll be working for free.

At least 25 staff members from Harriet Eddy Middle School have pledged their time at the eatery to raise money for Connie De Leon and her two children, Kevin and Robin.

Rizalino De Leon, 39, Connie's husband of 15 years and father of their two children, was killed in a car accident Oct. 31 on Interstate 5.

Connie and Lino, as her husband was known to all, were driving to work that day on Interstate 5 when the accident occurred. Connie suffered a head injury, a punctured lung, a broken clavicle and three broken ribs.

Neither Kevin nor Robin were in the car. Kevin is a seventh-grader at Harriet Eddy, and Robin is an eighth-grader there.

"We're taking things one day at a time," Connie De Leon said. "That's the only thing we can do."

Connie, sitting on a couch in the living room of her home last week, said she has been writing about her feelings as a kind of therapy. She hasn't fully recovered from her broken bones, but her other injuries seemed to have healed, she said.

She began driving again about two weeks ago. When she needs to check her "blind spot" when she's changing lanes, she said she can easily dismiss the slight pain in her clavicle. But facing her fears when she's driving is the difficult part.

"I'm trying to conquer my fears," she said. "But when I'm in between two trucks, at some point ...." She looked away, and didn't finish the sentence. The accident that killed her husband was caused by a big-rig truck that hit the family's white Toyota Camry.

"I don't remember the accident," she said. She explained that she tried to avoid watching it on the television news, but mistakenly caught footage of the accident days after the crash.

She couldn't go to her husband's funeral because of her injuries, so instead, she made a memory book dedicated to him. The book, along with a stack of the family's photo albums, tells a story of a close-knit family that played basketball and other sports, raised money for charities and vacationed at places like Yosemite and Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Lino De Leon was active in the Lion's Club. He raised money for the Habitat For Humanity, Loaves and Fishes and other charities. He donated his time to paint schools and help in other ways.

He worked at UC Davis Medical Center, coordinating and scheduling transplants.

For recreation, he liked to fish and play golf, Connie said.

Desiree Lewis, who lives near the family, said Lino helped her with the landscaping in her yard, was always smiling and always seemed to be available to assist others.

When Connie found out about the fund-raising event at McDonald's, she said she was momentarily speechless.

"I was surprised. I don't know what to say. I'm really very grateful. They didn't have to do this," she said.

Since the accident, her friends and other area residents have helped her with transportation and other support, she said. "It's amazing how they have all come together."

Tuesday, Connie returned to her job at the California Department of Health Services, but only on a part-time basis.

Dan Sofia, principal at Harriet Eddy, said using Monday's fund-raiser at McDonald's to help the De Leons and show their support was "a very appropriate idea."

Sofia, teachers and other staff members from Harriet Eddy will work at the McDonald's in the shopping center east of Bruceville Road on north side of Laguna Boulevard, from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday. During that period, McDonald's is allowing 25 percent of the total receipts to be donated directly to the De Leons.

For those who want to donate to the family, but won't be able to make the trip to McDonald's, two funds have been set up. One is at Harriet Eddy. At the office, the donations can be made to the ASB account for the De Leon family. The other account is at any branch of the Golden 1 Credit Union. It's called the Rizalino De Leon Memorial Fund.

The Harriet Eddy staff members volunteering at the McDonald's on Monday will pitch in wherever they are needed, including sweeping and mopping floors and cleaning the tables. Sofia said the large number of his staff that pledged to participate showed him that they "think of our students as part of their extended family."

A banner was posted outside the store this week to advertise Monday's fund-raiser. Connie said she plans to be there Monday to thank the volunteers. While she was picturing the teachers behind the counter at McDonald's in her mind, she grinned.

"That will be quite a sight," she said. "I'll probably take pictures for my memory book."

Photograph special to Neighbors

The De Leon family, on Christmas Day of 1999, pose for the camera in their Elk Grove home. It was the last Christmas the family spent together before the October death of Rizalino De Leon, shown sitting next to wife, Connie, with their children, Kevin, left, and Robin.

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1-17-01

Daily News of Los Angeles

Science of Success


CANYON COUNTRY - From her classroom at La Mesa Junior High, seventh-grade science teacher Catherine Nicholas said she can't help but want to succeed.

She has a principal who sets expectations high, she said, and she comes to work each day on the new campus with the latest in technology and supplies.

``You really don't have an excuse not to be a great teacher,'' said Nicholas, her campus's Teacher of the Year. ``We have everything.''

Nicholas was chosen recently as the California League of Middle Schools Educator of the Year for Region 8, which stretches from San Luis Obispo through most of Los Angeles County.

She is scheduled to be honored tonight by the William S. Hart Union High School District Board of Trustees, which will also honor Arroyo Seco English/computer teacher Bruce Tracy, who was a finalist for the regional award.

While she says the support she receives at home and work enables her to do her job, others say the enthusiasm and patience the 14-year teaching pro brings to the class is what makes her stand out.

``She doesn't get frustrated with us at all,'' said seventh-grader Samantha Werner, ``even if she has to explain it to us five or 10'' - ``or million,'' chimes in classmate Argia Laws - ``times.''

Nicholas will represent the region at a conference in March at which she will present a talk - about encouraging students, especially girls, to study science - and will be considered for the statewide honor.

Principal Rochelle Neal, who nominated her, points to Nicholas' lessons as the kind of hands-on teaching that schools should have.

``She is just a natural teacher. She has an ability to relate with students of all types and abilities,'' Neal said.

``On top of all of it she's extremely humble, just goes about her business not seeking any acclaim . . . She does it out of the bottom of her heart.''

Nicholas, 38, says she knew as a youngster that she wanted to be a teacher, and even now still finds herself in her element in the classroom.

She earned a bachelor's and master's degree from Pepperdine University, and left her job at Placerita Junior High to help open the La Mesa campus.

``I think middle school's so cool. I think you can really make a difference,'' she said. ``We just get to turn kids on to it for the very first time . . . They come and they're so psyched up about it.''

She mentioned her scavenger hunts - in which she gives students a list of science elements, such as the chemical makeup for sugar C6-H12-O6, and has them define them and bring in samples - as one of her more interesting lessons.

``That's why I love science, too, you have to keep up with it . . . developing new lessons - you can't just do the same old thing,'' she said.

If she could bring a change to education, she said, it would be to ensure that families give all they can to support their kids - from making education important to running out to get supplies for the latest class project.

She said that as a working mom - her oldest of four is an eighth-grader at Castaic Middle School - she depends on the support of her family, which helps care for the kids, enabling her to teach.

But even at home, she adds, education is a top priority, one she tries to instill in her own children.

``I'd rather have them eat a can of Progresso soup and have the homework done,'' she said, than have spent her time working up a two-hour dinner.

She appreciates the honor at being named the regional representative for the statewide teaching honor, but adds in an instant, ``Everyone is just as deserving.''

``I just find, I didn't know what you call it, I almost have an obsession for education,'' she said. ``I feel at home in school.''

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1-18-01

Hartford Courant

Teachers Urge Board to Start
Foreign Language Instruction Earlier


By DAVID OWENS
The Hartford Courant


MANCHESTER - Members of the board of education are pondering a proposal to have students begin studying a foreign language a year earlier than they do now.

Language teachers, delivering a proposal developed by a committee of teachers and parents, told the board of education that starting foreign language instruction earlier would help students in an increasingly global economy.

The proposal is to move an explorations course, where students take half a year of Spanish and half a year of French, to seventh grade from eighth grade. That would allow the first level of a foreign language course to be moved to eighth grade from ninth grade.

Students would further benefit, school officials said, because they'd be able to take a more advanced foreign language course in their senior year.

"With the global economy, we feel students need a second language and they need it younger," Bennet Middle School French teacher Madeleine Robinson told the board of education.

There would be a cost if the plan is carried out. And so far, that cost has not been placed in the proposed school budget, although Superintendent Alan Beitman provided board members with an estimate of $315,000. That would pay for 5.3 more teaching positions and textbooks.

Several board members voiced support for the plan, although the board took no action. Michael Folk and Thomas Robinson, who is Madeleine Robinson's son, said they support the idea of beginning foreign language instruction sooner. Folk, however, wanted additional information about the program's cost.

Board member Sandra Lok said she'd love to see the district have a kindergarten through 12th grade foreign language program.

"It's almost embarrassing to me we don't take advantage of younger minds," she said.

Abby Canner, a student representative to the board of education, said she believes adding an advanced language course is important. She said she is taking her third year of Spanish at Manchester High School and wishes she'd started sooner.

Others, including Tony Gasper, chairman of the world languages department at Manchester High School, cited evidence that students' ability to learn a language is better when they are younger.

Ironically, before the town converted to the middle school system from the junior high-high school system, students in seventh and eighth grades were able to take the first year of a foreign language. Also, an advanced language course was available in 12th grade.

Some board members expressed concern that the town would not be able to hire more foreign language teachers, especially as the teacher shortage continues to worsen.

Gasper and Assistant Superintent Anne Marie Mistretta said that should not deter the school board from moving forward with the plan if it so desires.

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The (Portland) Oregonian

January 17, 2001

Whitaker looking ahead


The troubled Portland middle school evaluates steps to take to improve

By Michael A.W. Ottey
of The Oregonian staff

At Whitaker Middle School in Northeast Portland, there's no apparent evidence of a school allowed to "wallow in an academic meltdown" as some community activists charge.

When the bell rings, two-way radio-toting administrators herd Whitaker's 669 students through brightly lighted hallways into orderly classrooms. Standard operating procedure.

Yet all is not well at Whitaker. The Oregon Department of Education ranks Whitaker as the worst underachieving middle school in Oregon.

Ted Feller, the principal who was brought in to improve Whitaker, quit in frustration in December, just three months into the school year.

Feller fired off a stinging letter to the district, complaining that Whitaker was plagued by personal and political animosities, staff morale issues and racial tensions.

Most Whitaker students do not read or perform math at grade level. Test scores from last school year show 76 percent of eighth-graders fell short of state benchmarks in math and 65 percent fell short in reading.

While Jefferson High School draws most of its students from three city middle schools, Jefferson administrators have long maintained that students from Whitaker enter Jefferson reading at third- and fourth-grade levels.

Parent and community activists in the Crisis Team list Whitaker among 14 Portland schools they say need an immediate rescue plan. More than 400 parents, activists and others marched Monday to demand that the district do more to help low-income and minority students at Whitaker and the other 13 schools.

Vice Principal Cynthia MacLeod, who was named interim principal following Feller's resignation, said the school is going ahead with school improvement ideas started by Feller.

"We are moving forward," she said. "We are not sitting and holding our hands."

Consultant hired She said the district hired an outside education consultant to address some of the issues plaguing Whitaker.

Carolyn Reedom of the Clark County School District in Las Vegas said she visited classrooms, met with teachers and the school's management team. She will return Feb. 16 for training sessions with teachers.

"I've come away with the belief that this could be a successful school," Reedom said. "There's a staff there that is truly committed. They're not ready to give up the ship."

Reedom, an elementary school principal, said it won't be easy.

"I'm going to work with them to get those scores up," she said. "I'm going to help teachers acquire effective management skills to get the kids to be more responsible and to get them to be more successful."

Reedom said she would look at the school environment to see how teachers engage students. She will also conduct training sessions with Whitaker staff aimed at boosting parent involvement.

"Some parents can't come to the school, but parents can get a kid to do their homework," Reedom said.

MacLeod, who has made some changes that have rankled some teachers, said parent involvement is one of the challenges at the school.

"It's a hard job, and there are days when I think, 'What have I done?' " MacLeod said. "But the staff has been wonderful. There are some that are angry because of some moves that I've made."

One of those decisions was to move all the core classes into one wing of the school. Whitaker was built as a high school and has more room than most middle schools. MacLeod said some teachers used the extra space to stay away from each other. But she moved them all in one location, and that does not sit well with some.

Ed Bettencourt, director of student achievement for the area that includes Whitaker, cited school climate as one of the biggest problems at Whitaker.

He said an assistant principal will soon be hired to help MacLeod. He added that a proposed International Baccalaureate program for middle schoolers is on hold until such things as a school improvement plan are in place.

MacLeod said a number of social programs for families and children are being established at the school such as parenting classes on how to get kids to do their homework, a drug and alcohol intervention program and a peer counseling group for students.

"It's kind of been allowed on a lot of fronts to not move forward," MacLeod said. "There's enough blame to go around. Whitaker has been neglected by a lot of folks."

Producing diversity video Nevertheless, students are still engaged, working on several projects, including the production of a video to show the diversity in the building.

This year, 54 percent of Whitaker's students are African American, 19 percent are white, 15 percent Latino, 7 percent Asian American and 3 percent Native American.

Last year, 59 percent of Whitaker students came from low-income families and received free or reduced school lunches. And about one-third of the students report that they have a parent who finished college, which is lower than average for Portland middle schools.

"Children and families don't seem to have a lot of voice," MacLeod said. "There are some very committed teachers, and yet they're not seeing a lot of return."

MacLeod, who wants to stay on permanently as principal, said one of her priorities is to change perceptions about Whitaker.

"We're getting some support from the district in math and science," she said, citing a new math specialist.

"We've got your typical kids, but we have some kids with some serious emotional issues, and some kids that need individual attention."

Many of the students interviewed last week at Whitaker said they like the school.

"There are plenty of good teachers," said sixth-grader Portia Brookins.

MacLeod said she sees good things for Whitaker if the school can come together.

"I'm an optimist," she said. "There's no doubt in my mind we can be a school where a principal will want to be. We will rise up. It's not going to be easy. It's not been easy."

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