Featuring //

Pedro Martinez
Superintendent, San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD)Barbara Jenkins
Superintendent, Orange County Public SchoolsEvan Meyers
Founder, School in the Square

Texas established charter schools in 1995. “In-district” charters like the 20 in the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) have autonomy over curriculum development and instruction but administration and teachers are district employees. In-district charters don’t have attendance boundaries, so they’re like magnet schools but without academic admissions criteria. Flexible curriculum, extended hours and other options and support for students and their families are also markers of in-district charters.

John Deasy: What did you set out to accomplish with your five-year plan?

Pedro Martinez: We spent year one setting clear goals and a vision for our district. My district is the whole center of the city with the poorest zip code in all of San Antonio. What I found here was a history of low performance and low academics. The first thing I wanted to change was the conversation about expectations.

We laid out 10 aggressive academic goals with the top two being to achieve a more than 90 percent graduation rate by 2020 and to have more than 80 percent of high school graduates go to college with at least half going to four-year universities and 10 percent going to top universities. The other goals, like making sure children are doing well on state assessments and the SAT and AP exams, help drive to these two. I spent my whole first year getting out in the community, talking to staff and getting feedback about our goals before developing the strategies for achieving them. This helped unify the community, school board and staff around a common vision.

John Deasy: What early successes have you seen at the almost mid-point of your plan?

Pedro Martinez: One of the challenges that I saw was too few academic choices for our families. I said, “let’s do some different things here.” You might call it innovation. I call it problem-solving. We opened an in-district charter for boys last year called the Young Men’s Leadership Academy (YMLA) for grades four through eight. It will eventually go all the way to twelfth grade. In its first year, the YMLA was ranked as one of our top three schools.

These boys were struggling in other schools with behavioral problems and other challenges. Growing self-esteem is core to the YMLA approach. Students at the school get five “high-fives” every single day whether from the custodian or the teachers or the principal. This school became a first proof point for our approach, so we set out to add another.

A second new option for our families is our Advanced Learning Academy (ALA) situated near downtown that has been deserted by most of our community. We partnered with a local philanthropist and Trinity University to open the school that now serves students from kindergarten through 10th grade but will expand to include pre-k and 11th and 12th grades over the next two years. The school is like a Montessori without grade levels. Kindergarten through third grade is in one building with fourth grade and up in another. Teachers plan together. Students do work based on their ability and interest, not age, and alternate between individual learning and collaboration. The school also forgoes bells so that students may stay focused on assignments and not worry about what’s next.

John Deasy: Do these kinds of schools — in-charter, magnet, etc. —self-select students in the sense that the families who are most able to support kids in the education process are drawn to these schools?

Pedro Martinez: That is always a risk with magnet programs and charter schools, but we must work toward academically balanced schools. I’m trying to create an environment that is so rich in terms of learning and soul fostering that families are willing to give it a chance. This approach is good for families of varying socio economic levels. I want to prove that point here in San Antonio in a way that does not scare middle class parents who may worry their child is going to be with a child who might be, frankly, homeless. That’s a reality. Median income in my district is $30,000. We have 7,000 school families living in public housing with a median income of $12,000.

The ALA is well balanced, with one-third of the children at the lowest level academically, one-third in the middle and one-third who are advanced. We’re not just going after the more motivated or higher performing kids. Importantly, the Advanced Learning Academy and Young Men’s Leadership Academy are open to all students, no matter where they live, but first welcome those from the neighborhoods around the schools. After that we prioritize children within the district then any students from outside our boundaries.

John Deasy: With the addition of these new schools, what happens to existing ones?

Pedro Martinez: The community response to our new schools has been amazing. For the first time, we have waiting lists. This has given me opportunity — some room — to put in more systemic districtwide reforms. That’s the strategy that we’re putting in place.

We are working at executing on very strong, rigorous programs in all the other schools. We are adding four brand new programs for the fall of 2017.

John Deasy: Does it frustrate you that people talk about choice and vouchers because they draw the best students while making the public schools that they drew those students from look worse?

Pedro Martinez: I don’t feel like it’s done with any bad intent, but with the creation of better programs using new and innovative schools, the unintended consequence is that we’ve started segregating.

For me, it affects the caliber of teachers you can attract and retain. It has a lot of unintended consequences. That’s what I’ve seen, not just here in San Antonio.

John Deasy:How do you think our country can put aside our ideologies and examine the facts of choice and do what is best for kids?

Pedro Martinez: I believe and feel blessed that I’m in San Antonio at the right time when people have been waiting for something different. We need to have these tough, honest conversations about how we create more academically balanced schools across our country. We know that research is showing very clearly that it is one of the most cost-effective, prudent ways for all children to do better, not just those who live in poverty.

The first Florida charter school opened in 1997 in Miami and today there are 654 charters statewide, according to the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools. Florida charter schools are nonprofit public schools that hire their own certified teachers, develop their own curriculum and control their own finances but are accountable to their “home” district for student performance and fiscal management. All state charters must comply with Florida Standards and Sunshine State Standards. Florida offers four school choice scholarship programs. These scholarships provide for a variety of needs and circumstances including support for low-income families and students with disabilities as well as funding for products or services that satisfy more personalized education. Additionally, students who are attending failing public schools may receive monies to transfer to higher-performing public schools.

John Deasy: As the superintendent, do you have to be more nimble and creative than you would have been a decade or so ago?

Barbara Jenkins: Yes, I think the issues are much more significant. And, we’re just more aware of them. The needs of our children and our communities have grown exponentially. If we could keep the same students here without a lot of mobility, then perhaps we would have even greater improvement. But if you’re growing at between two and five thousand students a year, it’s more challenging. People have come to Central Florida, I imagine, believing there were more opportunities here, then finding out they were limited. However, while our free- and reduced-priced lunch program and our homeless population were expanding, we were showing gains in student achievement. Systemically, the challenges have grown over the years. But we’ve also become more adept at pinpointing and being aware of those issues that children are dealing with when they come to school.

John Deasy: Florida has had school choice for a couple of decades now. What can the rest of the country learn from the state and, specifically, your district?

Barbara Jenkins: In Orange County, we have 40 different charter and 36 magnet schools that folks can choose from. All school systems must support the philosophy that every parent has the right to choose what’s best for their child and, at the same time, grow choice strategically. Where local districts or even state governments must be careful is making sure they’re providing some quality assurance for choices. Orange County has advocated for that so parents who may be least informed are not sending their children to a public charter school with public funds that may be providing them with a very substandard education. That said, we’ve got some phenomenal charter schools that we’re very proud of. They do outstanding work with our children. For parents who make those quality choices, they do an outstanding job.

The other issue that Florida has had some embattlement over is vouchers. The greatest challenge has been to make sure any school receiving public dollars has equal levels of transparency and accountability. I think that will continue to be a concern here in Florida and across the country.

We also must ask the question: are there certain charters that are making a provision to segregate communities either by race or socio-economic background?

John Deasy: How is it that our country may put aside ideologies and really look at the facts about choice to do what is best for students?

Barbara Jenkins: When there are strong opinions and impassioned debates about issues, you must look at the data to find common ground. We can’t just turn a blind eye because we’re passionate about a topic or because we simply believe that private Christian schools, for example, might do a better job or we believe that charter schools are outperforming every public school. Does the data confirm our beliefs?

The other way to find common ground is to focus on the children. Nationally, we can all agree that our children are worth our investment and every effort.

We must also consider that if you’re giving additional resources and leeway to charter schools, traditional schools also deserve the opportunity to see if they might be able to produce equal or better results. Because the truth is there’s not capacity to accommodate all our children in charters.

“When there are strong opinions and impassioned debates about issues, you must look at the data to find common ground.”
Barbara Jenkins

 
There will have to continue to be conversations and negotiations with teacher associations and teacher unions, public charter schools and traditional public schools. We should agree that private schools must be held to the same standards if they receive public funds. I think there’s an opportunity for public charter schools and public traditional schools to be aligned on the same side of the argument there as well.

Finally, smart is not just something you either are or are not. It’s something you can become through education, grit and hard work. In our democracy, you can work hard to become smarter and open countless doors for your future. That’s a national platform I think everyone could stand behind.

John Deasy:What do you believe the characteristics are of a strong school community?

Evan Meyers: It starts with creating a culture of caring and relationships to build a foundation for achievement. School in the Square is named for the public square, the place in any community where people come together to have important conversations like the barber shop, the park, or in our case a physical space in the school. The square is where we both solve problems and celebrate. Facing History and Ourselves is our thought partner that helps us establish the language, strategies and professional development to create this culture. “The square” empowers our students with the knowledge that when they walk into this school their voice matters. When they believe their voice matters, they believe their choices matter. When they believe their choices matter, because their voice is heard, they take the initiative to exercise that power responsibly and acquire the academic skills to do so.

John Deasy:What else differentiates School in the Square?

Evan Meyers: In our first year, 103 children arrived as sixth graders from 35 different elementary schools. The spectrum of their academic skills was so wide that it spanned, at the edges, six different grades. That’s why personalization is so important. Our goal is to help our students learn they can build academic skills not just in English and math, but also through other interests and passions. The importance of personalization also applies to the teachers. It’s not an exaggeration to say there’s a crisis in retaining qualified teachers in urban school districts. At School in the Square, we think a lot about a teacher’s schedule and how we can give him or her enough professional growth time to feel that the work they do is intrinsically rewarding. Similar to our approach with students, we build on the interests and passions of our staff and help those passions come to life in the school.

“…we build on the interests and passions of our staff and help those passions come to life in the school.”

John Deasy: Are you hopeful about the future of School in the Square?

Evan Meyers: I’m incredibly hopeful. I think we have built a very strong foundation that will only get stronger. Every member of our founding staff has returned, and we’ve added a cohort of more experienced staff this fall. The feedback we’re getting from parents and students is that we have really done a good job sharing the core elements of our mission. We still have work to do, but we continue our work to improve our program and learn more about our students.

Many of our students have had very different educational experiences. Their ability to come together around this idea of what school should be is amazing. The students and their families took a chance on us. As we have learned and adapted, they have given us the benefit of the doubt. That’s been wonderful and important. I’m grateful for that.

John Deasy: What can School in the Square offer that a larger charter network can’t?

Evan Meyers: There are always advantages and disadvantages with large and small organizations. As an independent charter school, we can personalize learning to meet the specific needs of the families, staff and the neighborhood in which we operate. Going to scale with large numbers of schools inevitably involves compromise in the school’s ability to make program adjustments to meet the needs of particular teachers and students or managing quality to make sure all schools are consistent. But at what cost? Our size and independence allows us to focus on balancing the academic and social-emotional growth for all students.