Panel urges overhaul of Edison-run school

Wednesday, March 12, 2003 | 11:08 a.m.

Calling Edison Schools Inc.'s management of Lynch Elementary School "confining" and "restrictive," a panel of state educators has recommended an overhaul of the struggling northeast Las Vegas campus.

The panel cites low teacher morale, persistent student discipline problems and managerial red tape as contributing to the school's continual troubles.

Because of low scores in the latest round of statewide tests, 30 Clark County schools were placed on the Nevada Education Department's "needing improvement" list last week, including six of the seven managed by Edison.

While noting that no one program or individual is being blamed, the panel, in a report submitted late last month to the Nevada Education Department, concludes the Edison model may be more of a hindrance than a help at Lynch.

"The school has a large population with very high needs. The staff is dedicated and parents caring, but there is currently a lack of continuity in overall management and educational flow," the report concludes.

Longtime Edison critic Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-North Las Vegas, went a step further, calling the company's poor showing evidence that the school district should scrap its contract.

"How much more does the (Clark County) School Board need to see to admit they made a mistake?" asked Williams, chairman of the Assembly Education Committee. "Edison should be gone, finished. They've struck out, as far as I'm concerned."

Edison is finishing the second of a five-year contract with the Clark County School District to run at-risk schools. Edison gets the same per-pupil amount as the rest of the district schools, but under the terms of its contract the private management company promised to raise $1.4 million in philanthropic funds for each campus.

Because the district switched from the TerraNova to the Iowa Basic Skills test, this year's round of exams is considered the new baseline for performance, said Agustin Orci, deputy superintendent of instruction for the district.

If Edison schools do not show significant improvement on next fall's exams the district will then reconsider the contract, Orci said.

"We're expecting big gains, especially at Lynch," Orci said this morning. "We're heading into Edison's third year here, and that's the appropriate time to really begin assessing what they've accomplished."

The company has had a difficult stretch in the last year, coming under criticism across the country and losing contracts to manage schools in Michigan, Massachusetts and Texas after posting uneven performance. The company's viability has been questioned by many districts as the company's stock price has dropped from more than $30 in 2001 to about $1 per share after losing contracts to manage schools in several states.

In Clark County, Edison schools showed mixed results in statewide proficiency exams.

Because Lynch's low scores gave it the "needing improvement" designation for the third straight year, the school receives additional help from the state and faces potential sanctions if it doesn't improve.

Once a school reaches the three-year mark state educators put together an oversight panel to help administrators formulate an improvement plan. The panel also makes several visits to the school to meet with staff, students and parents, said Terry Owens, coordinator of school improvement for the state education department.

As part of its academic probation, the school must provide the panel with evidence that Edison's instructional standards are in line with the state's requirements.

Edison schools follow a rigid schedule of daily instruction with the same curriculum and instructional methods at each of more than 100 campuses nationwide. The school day is longer, and heavy emphasis is placed on reading skills.

The Edison approach, called "cookie-cutter education" by critics, leaves little room for flexibility when it comes to high-need students, Owens said.

According to a report submitted to the state education department last month, the panel's findings include:

State sanctions can include the removal of a principal or other staff, Owens said. By taking the action before it was mandated, Clark County was being "proactive instead of reactive," Owens said.

Adam Tucker, Edison spokesman, said Tuesday afternoon that the company had not yet been contacted by state education officials regarding Lynch's status. The company has also not received a copy of the panel's report, Tucker said.

"We don't yet know what role (the state) is going to play, but obviously they care about the status of the school and the children just as we do," Tucker said Tuesday.

Lynch Principal Deborah Slauzis, who took over about a month ago, said the school will receive extra state and federal money next fall to implement improvement plans.

Finding ways to better reach students who are not proficient in English will be a priority, Slauzis said.

It's a similar problem being seen at other district schools, where the ever-growing population of English Language Learners has outpaced resources. In this case, being designated by the state as needing improvement will help Lynch qualify for funds that might not otherwise be available, Slauzis said.

Slauzis said she believes the Edison model could work at Lynch provided the programs can be properly implemented and sustained. Hampering that goal is the high rate of teacher turnover, Slauzis said.

"Every time you get new staff you're starting over from square one," Slauzis said. "If you're spending all your time on start-up training, you never move on to the next phase of refining the craft and tweaking programs to make sure it's the best it can be."

Beginning next fall new teachers in Clark County will be required to stay three years at a school before requesting a transfer, a move district officials say they hope will increase staff stability at inner-city schools like Lynch.