Manatee County School District progressing after 'turbulent transition'

As the new school year opens this week, the Manatee County School District faces a number of daunting challenges, but looks well positioned for success. Last year, new district leadership took the helm, and educators had to adapt to the new Florida Standards Assessment curriculum and test.

The district survived this “turbulent transition” last year by focusing on a simple philosophy instituted by Superintendent Diana Greene, one based on her 5 C’s, as she calls the tenets. Calmness and civility rank high among them as those two temperaments were in short supply before Greene’s tenure began last year. Those values have been embraced by the school board and community with Greene’s gratitude, she wrote in an essay in the Manatee County Official 2016-’17 School Handbook (published in the Herald Aug. 5).

The highest hurdle district leaders, school board members and stakeholders face over the next four months will be convincing voters to renew the half-cent sales tax for another 15 years. This should be an easy sell considering how vital these operational and capital funds have been over the past 15 years.

If approved on the Nov. 8 ballot, the school board plans what should be a game-changing strategy to ensure accountability and transparency in the expenditure of the money, something sadly lacking over the past 15 years. The board would create a citizens’ oversight committee to ensure only specific projects receive funding.

Voter misconceptions and distrust must be overcome with a broad campaign to inform and convince the electorate that untoward damage would occur to the district — and thus teachers and students — without this essential source of funds. Some voters need reminding that this is not a new tax, but an extension of an expiring one.

On academics, last year the district smartly deployed additional staff to the Title 1 schools to improve reading, math and science skills among other subjects. When Florida released the 2016 school grades last month, a large number of schools rose at least one grade level. Nine Title 1 elementary schools achieved that remarkable progress.

As Greene cites in her essay, the percentage of students performing at Level 3 or higher in mathematics increased in grades 3-8 as did the percentage of third-graders reading at Level 3 — including “double digit” increases at several Title 1 schools.

But all is not rosy. Harllee Middle School flunked for the fourth consecutive year, triggering a state mandate for the district to design and implement a turnaround plan. The district did not hesitate and will shift incoming sixth-graders to other schools. Seventh- and eighth-graders can move on to another school or remain. If they stay, the district will pour extra staff into the school and extend the day, the latter action required by the state. With all that extra attention, students might be wise to stay.

Whether Harllee becomes a school for the gifted, as has been proposed, has yet to be determined.

In another major move impacting students, the district shuttered the deteriorating Orange Ridge-Bullock Elementary and shifted students to the under-utilized G.D. Rogers Garden Elementary. The renamed G.D. Rogers-Bullock Elementary School will also be part of a state-mandated turnaround plan because of Rogers’ poor scores on state assessments, and the district will provide special attention to students to raise scores, something the new principal, Pat Stream, expects after setting measurable goals.

G.D. Rogers, which opened in August 2009, is a uniquely designed building that simply failed to live up to great expectations. With additional students, educators who chose to teach there, a determined principal and special attention from the district, we anticipate a quick turnaround.

Just as we expect greater success and progress districtwide.

This story was originally published August 10, 2016 at 1:54 AM with the headline "Manatee County School District progressing after 'turbulent transition'."