The Cincinnati Public Schools have been praised (including by yours truly) for embarking on top-to-bottom overhauls of the district's most persistently underperforming schools. Student academic performance was seen as driving the district's tough decisions to dismiss whole staffs and fundamentally redesign one elementary school last year and three more schools this year. Today, however, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the "professional atmosphere" in the schools also played a part in the decision making:
Under the federal law, 10 city schools fit the bill for a total overhaul. Those schools failed to meet mandatory improvement goals for six consecutive years or more.But districts have several options to comply with the law, and the total staff replacement is only one option.
Rothenberg, Mount Airy and South Avondale schools, in addition to the poor test scores, also had teachers and workers who weren't responding to management directives and didn't work as a team, according to the notes.
Seven other schools, while statistically similar, were spared the radical redo, thanks in part to what CPS leaders saw as good attitudes and "cohesive" and "positively focused" staffs.
For instance, Rockdale Academy, just four blocks from South Avondale, scored worse on last year's Ohio Achievement Test than South Avondale, and just marginally better than Rothenberg.
However, Rockdale has "excellent relationships amongst staff and administration," a "true love and concern for students," and a "collegial atmosphere," according to notes from a Dec. 12 meeting.
On the other hand, Rothenberg has a "dismal environment" and was "not embracing elementary initiative" (the district's intervention plan for its worst buildings). Also, at South Avondale, there was "not a sense of community in the building."
Mount Airy, meanwhile, is struggling "academically and interpersonally," according to the notes.
Positive attitudes and good relationships among staff are important in the workplace, but when that workplace is a school, they aren't the most important things. The positive professional atmosphere in these schools didn't spur an improvement in student academic performance for the past six-plus years, so it's hard to believe it will make any difference now.
