BiggerPicture4Wake touts drop in suspensions at Leesville Middle since conversion

Hi Everyone: I have been away from "Blog World" for various reasons, but after receiving a few emails yesterday asking about the truth regarding LRMS' incidents and YR, I decided to take a trip back to the blogs. I see that not much has changed. Please bear with me while I relay information I received last night.

Bottom line, there is NO correlation between the drop in disciplinary incidents at LRMS and the YR calendar actually making those incidents decrease. THE YEAR ROUND CALENDAR ITSELF DOES NOT HAVE A POSITIVE EFFECT ON STUDENT BEHAVIOR.

I actually have a long-term relationship with a student who is one of the most "frequent offenders" at LRMS, so I probably ask more general questions about discipline problems at LRMS than most people do. The fact that fewer incidents have been reported at LRMS this year is certainly not "breaking news". BUT, there are reasons for that.

When I heard a few speakers on Tuesday attempt to credit the year-round calendar for positively affecting student behavior and making the school a safer place, all I could do was shake my head and think "WOW, I am amazed that someone would even TRY to connect the two". I didn't even give it another thought until I started getting e-mails from people yesterday asking me to read the blogs and to get some official clarification on this.

To be honest, the excitement and energy in our community is at a HIGH in anticipation of the conversion reversals, and I have had more important things on my plate than disproving an inaccurate claim. However, last night I had the chance to speak with our Principal, so the timing worked out.

I told her what had been said, and asked her for some clarification. (and yes, she was at the meeting but I don't think the APs were)

There are a few things going on at LRMS that explain the decrease, but the decrease is NOT because the school is operating year-round instead of traditional. First of all, having fewer students in the school at one time allows administrators to spend more time getting to know all students, including the "trouble makers". That would be the case at ANY school with fewer students, and is not something that happens "just because the school is year-round". The administrators did take time at the beginning of the year to sit down and discuss student placements, but they do this every summer before a new school year starts regardless of the calendar. (track assignments for YR, team assignments for traditional) They identified certain kids who had previously had conflicts with certain other kids, and made sure to split them up onto different tracks. BUT, previously when we were on the traditional calendar, they have just put them onto different academic teams to alleviate potential conflicts.

Suspensions have decreased --THAT is true. One very important factor that Mrs. Hamler brought up is that they HAVE discouraged staff from reporting every incident this year. They HAVE put it on the staff members to handle situations that in the past WERE reported and required administrators to intervene. Unless it is something where intervention is absolutely necessary, staff members are now expected to handle discipline themselves. She confirmed that this was NOT done in the past, and it IS a change this year. Evidently, in the past, administrators were called to a class when a student was tardy. Kids are NOT suddenly "acting better" just because of the year-round calendar, and crediting year-round for making LRMS a "safer place" is completely misleading.

She also said that anyone who claims that test scores have improved OR the year-round calendar at LRMS has increased academic achievement is lying. They have NOT reported any test scores this year, so it is all fabricated.

In the end, we are fortunate to have very involved administrators and a wonderful resource officer who are all working together to keep behavior under control and dangerous situations to a minimum. This would be occuring traditional OR YR.

Everyone from the principal to the office staff, to the counselors, to the teaching staff, to the fact that the reports are over a 12 month period rather than a nine month period - those account for the change. LRMS has a very dedicated administration who works very hard for the kids. I don't have the actual facts, but doubt very serious the year round calendar has anything to do with a change.

From the press release:

"According to the 2008-2009 WCPSS Healthy Schools Report...."

Keung,

Can you link this report? I can't find it on the WCPSS website.

OH gosh! My stomach hurts from laughing so much to this claim!!!

Since this was a public records request, can you contact Bigger Picture and post the data they received from WCPSS so we can all review it. Just presenting their "take" on the data makes a poor argument.

Those Little Picture 4 Wake Co people are coming across as more ignorant than ever.

Exactly how can the year-round calendar be used to improve academic success?

Have the test scores at Leesville Road Middle improved dramatically since MYR?

School officials credit the year-round schedule for the improvement. They say the multi-track, year-round schedule has enabled them to better identify students who are at higher risk for discipline issues and proactively work one-on-one with them to avoid incidences that could lead to suspension.

Keung - I think there would be interest in hearing from the school officials, by way of an interview or a press release, on the details of the suspension statistics by track, demographics by track, nature/ type of incidents, and how the processes for "better identify"and "proactively work" are implemented in YR vs. traditional.

If the decrease in suspensions does have a correlation to calendar choices, then the lessons from LRMS need to be better understood.

Added later: Did Lisa B and other parents in favor of traditional get blindsided by this disclosure? Or was the information provided by the school officials to both sides?