# 59: What's Next?

 QUOLKE’S CORNER #59

 

Two months after the District’s Transformation Plan was announced to the public, the Board of Education approved the plan by an 8-1 vote on Tuesday, March 9. The unwillingness of the District and the Board to answer many questions and concerns prior to the vote, has once again led to numerous rumors and questions arising throughout the district.  This is the second of two Q Corners that will attempt to answer some of the most frequently asked questions and frames some of the unresolved issues.

 

The District now must put the pieces in place to implement this plan by August and this is where the CTU questions the District’s arbitrary timeline for implementation and the District’s capacity for making such large scale change. The District is planning to implement new programs in 15 K-8 buildings and new programs in 8 high schools. These programs include New Tech, Facing History, Professional Learning Communities, Wrap Around Services, etc. and all of these cost money to implement. Those costs are in equipment, curriculum, professional development, etc. The District does not intend to use any general fund money to pay for this, they plan to use grant money and donations from the community to implement these programs. So in the fall the only programs that will be up and running will be those where outside funding was secured. The CTU does not believe that the District should advertise these new programs to families or staff until funding is 100% secured for the new program. Nothing would be more detrimental to the relationship of the community and the educators with the District than to have students or staff move in or out of a school because of a new program only to in the end not have the funding for the program. For example let’s say school ABC is to become a STEM school; parents may move their child out of the school because he or she does not have a proclivity for science, while staff members leave the building for the same reason and others chose to leave their current buildings and come to ABC because they have a strong desire to teach under the STEM model. Then let’s say that the funding does not come through and ABC is a neighborhood school just like last year – everyone that moved, moved in or out for no reason. That would be a disaster the District would never recover from.   

 

The District says ASAP, so that the Plan can be implemented in the fall. The CTU has raised concerns with the arbitrary, abbreviated timeline the District has established for implementation. Think about it… over 4000 students and 124 individual special education units (possibly effecting over 1000 students with disabilities) must be reassigned from the closed schools. In the districts own estimation, this needs to occur in the next 16 days! Think about it…when was the last time multiple special education units were moved and in new locations prior to the beginning of the school year, let alone 124 units prior to the end of this school year? Think about it…Over 500 staff members from closed schools will be identified for Necessary Transfer and will have to choose new positions through the Necessary Transfer process prior to the District’s arbitrary timeline of the next 56 working days. Think about it….when was the last time this district was able to conduct necessary transfers BEFORE school let out? As new programs are introduced staff and students will need to be assigned. The District is planning to assign students by April 1 (22 calendar days after the Board approved the Plan). The District intends to have all adults in place for next school year by the last day of school (56 working days after the Board approved the Plan). Step one is to assign students, staffing cannot be done until all of the students are placed.

 

The Cleveland Teachers Union’s commitment to quality reform and moving this school district forward is as strong as ever. That commitment must include the CTU and our members in the development and implementation of any reform effort. The District with the CTU should establish a Transformation Implementation Committee that incorporates leadership teams from individual buildings. The District with the CTU should implement CALT (Core Academic Leadership Teams) in all schools that call for academic growth. CALT Teams are a key component of our successful TurnAround school initiative. The CTU wants the District to move forward with a realistic timeline and not build the reform plan with money that does not exist. The CTU wants to work with the District to create a Teacher Learning Center that will support reform initiatives, provide the critical professional development needed, and create a sustainable mechanism for ongoing reform initiatives.  The CTU wants to help all children succeed and ensure that all educators have the tools that they need to help our students achieve unlimited success.

 

In Union,

David