Making progress, West. Phila. High wary of district move

Once in the spotlight for out-of-control hallways and poor academics, West Philadelphia High School has made strides in the last three years.

The changes may not be fast enough, though.

West has landed on a list of 14 schools that may be radically restructured in the fall under Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's "Renaissance" plan to turn around the district's lowest performing schools.

District officials have signaled that they might want West to become a "Promise Academy," a school run by the central office with a longer school day and no more than half of its current staff eligible to stay. Last week, they formally rejected a bid by the school's leadership to run West, a move that worried some parents, teachers, and community supporters.

Neil Geyette, a social studies teacher and head of West's Urban Leadership Academy, said he believes that the school has shown it's capable of accelerating progress in its current form.

"In three years, West has been radically transformed," said Geyette. "I think we're building something that's showing success - we basically eliminated all climate issues, and this year, our academics have begun to increase."

Ackerman promised she would not erode the progress.

"There's no reason to throw everything that you've already been doing out, to throw the baby out with the bathwater," she told concerned parents and community members at last month's School Reform Commission meeting. "You will have an opportunity to decide what change looks like."

In an interview yesterday, Benjamin W. Rayer, chief Charter, Partnership and New Schools officer, said he hoped West could look at the opportunities that becoming a Renaissance school presents - more freedom in budgeting, a chance to pick staff.

But, Rayer said, "we are not going to back down from needing to make dramatic changes in schools where kids are just not reading, writing, and doing math at a level that allows them to get a job or go to college."

Still, many are hoping the district gives the current leadership and staff a shot to keep West as is, complete with its award-winning auto academy, respected young principal, staff that's largely turned over in the last few years, and $6 million Department of Labor grant to speed reform.

Students, community members, and staff had planned on rallying at today's School Reform Commission meeting, making their case to Ackerman and the commission for why West deserves to stay off the Renaissance list.

They changed their plan after Ackerman, who called a private meeting with some leaders this week, promised to meet personally with parents and others to explain what she hoped could happen at West.

Parent Carla Jackson, who sits on the school's leadership team, said that West is moving in the right direction and has strong community support. Still, she said, said she's open to hearing from Ackerman.

"I truly believe that West needs change," said Jackson.

Another parent, Sharon McCollum, isn't ready to sign up for anything, she said. McCollum will meet with Ackerman later this week, but she said she thinks West is headed in the right direction and can get where it needs to be under the current structure.

Along with many of her classmates, McCollum's daughter, West sophomore Jennifer, doesn't want the upheaval.

"As soon as she heard what might happen, she went to get transfer papers," McCollum said of her daughter. "She wants to stay at West, but she doesn't want to start over or get new teachers."

Historically, the school's test scores have been abysmal. For the 2008-09 school year, 12 percent of juniors were at grade level in reading and 9 percent in math.

Recent data suggest that West will not meet district targets on its state exams. A January district benchmark test predicts that 16 percent of West students will perform on grade level in reading and 2 percent will be on grade level in math.

Elaine Simon, codirector of the Urban Studies program at the University of Pennsylvania, has been involved at West for five years and now volunteers at the school, teaching a course that has Penn students working with a West class on a neighborhood improvement project. School reform doesn't happen overnight, she said.

"Nobody's saying ignore the scores, but there are mitigating factors and indications that the scores are on the rise," said Simon, who also lives in the neighborhood and has studied school reform and community organizing.

Simon and some others are wary of the Promise Academy plans, even with Ackerman's assurances that such a structure would allow West to keep successful programs and principal Saliyah Cruz, whom the superintendent has publicly said she feels is effective.

"We've been working within the confines of the district's strictures all along, and some of those have been restrictive," said Simon. "If there are too many players involved in running the school, I don't see how that's better."

The district's last large-scale effort at turning around failing schools - when it handed 45 schools over to private managers in 2002 - was considered unsuccessful, and Simon worries that again, there will be confusion over who's in charge and too little community say-so.

District officials have promised they won't repeat earlier mistakes in school turnarounds.

Students aren't so sure. This week, some gathered signatures to demand the school stay off the turnaround list. "West doesn't need Renaissance, we need a chance!" they titled their petition.

"Our academics have improved," said Shajuan Lewis, a junior. "We really settled down to be a school, not a prison."

Junior Christian Southern said he actually likes that classes have gotten harder, with more homework and close attention paid to preparing for state exams.

Ackerman, Southern said, "is basing her decision off the past. But we're all working hard, together, now."

Simon, the Penn professor, believes that West will continue to make progress. She hopes the staff, administration, and community that have put a plan for reform in place get to see it.

"To me, it's a little bit cynical for [the district] to take over a school that they know has made progress on its own and then claim credit for it," Simon said. "That would be the ultimate insult, as far as I'm concerned."

A yet-undetermined number of Renaissance Schools will be announced March 26. In addition to Promise Academies, Renaissance Schools might also be charters or schools run by outside providers.