CCSD names five new ‘turnaround’ schools

By Ian Whitaker

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015 | 2:38 p.m.

The school district has identified five underperforming schools it says will need extra funding and support next year to improve ailing test scores and graduation rates.

Hickey, Lowman, Priest and Verdes Elementary schools and Desert Pines High School have been added to CCSD’s Turnaround Zone, the district said Tuesday.

Schools deemed in need of a “turnaround” typically receive an injection of cash and more leeway from the district in terms of hiring. In return, the schools are required to follow a district plan to improve.

The district also announced that three schools previously marked as “turnaround” have improved and are no longer in the program.

Students at Chaparral and Western High Schools as well as Hancock Elementary have doubled their scores in subjects like math and reading since being included in the turnaround program in 2011.

“We are excited about the new opportunities for the students whose schools will enter our Turnaround Zone and who will get the interventions and support they need to reach academic success,” Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky said in a statement. “We are also especially proud of the staff and students at the schools who are exiting the Turnaround Zone, demonstrating that this program produces results.”

Not including the five being added next year, there are currently 14 turnaround schools in the district. Most are high schools and elementary schools.

All five schools added to the program today have a high percentage of English language learning students. At Lowman, 90 percent of the student body qualifies for free and reduced lunch.

As part of the turnaround program, the elementary schools will receive around $250,000 in extra funding next year to pay for more classroom time for its students and professional development for its staff. High schools receive around $500,000 a year.

“This is like emergency room treatment,” said CCSD Turnaround Zone officer Jeff Gheis. “These schools are sick, they’re not well.”

The principals at Desert Pines, Hickey and Verdes have been reassigned and the district is currently looking for replacements, Gheis said.

The process of designating turnaround schools starts each fall, when administrators in the school district survey one- and two-star schools to decide which are in the most need of emergency support.

After observing day-to-day operations and interviewing staff at each school, a CCSD team delivers a report to Skorkowsky, who decides which schools should receive the turnaround designation.

Schools that are underperforming — but not badly enough to be put into the turnaround program — are partnered with an administrator to workshop ways to improve performance.

All the schools must implement peer-reviewed and academically supported methods and programs, Geihs said.

“There is a recipe for systemic school improvement just like there is a recipe for business people to increase profit margins,” Geihs said. “We are not in the business of trial and error in this zone.”

Twenty-one schools have gone through the turnaround selection process in the last two years. Six went on to be labeled turnaround schools while the others were partnered with administrators.