The Duval County (Florida) school district hired a consultant and former principal to work with its schools most in danger of closure under the draconian law known as HB 7069. In particular, three schools must earn a C grade through the 2018 FSAs or they will be turned over to outside management.
The school board agreed to a contract that brings in Turnaround Solutions for about $500,000 to work with the schools in danger. The founder and chief of that company is James Young, who wrote a book describing his success in turning around schools and laying out the plan.
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/education/2017-11-28/duval-board-hires-consultant-480000-help-eight-risk-schools
That brought my interest to Mr. Young. I purchased a copy of his book to review. I originally thought it would be one post, especially after the book arrived and there are only 100 pages to go through. But as I work my way through, Mr. Young raises weighty issues that need more thought and comment. So the review will be in several posts.
At the outset, let us recognize that for the three schools in danger, it is less than a year that Mr. Young has to work his magic. He has five months.
As we look at the promise and ponder the anticipated performance, let us discard the concern that he is the partner of the current head of Human Resources, Sonita Young. If James Young has the bona fides as he claims, that is irrelevant. As for a certain board member who complained after the contract approval that he did not know, <sigh> do your due diligence before you vote, man. You sound like a Republican senator who voted for a tax plan with handwritten edits made on the floor that you didn't get a chance to read. If you didn't read it, you should have voted no.
Also, Young is bringing in people to help: the Roziers, Lawrence Dennis, others. That should not be a concern. To do the job, he will have to have help. These people are familiar with the district and have the knowledge needed for the job. That district politics dissed some of them should not give cause for concern. In particular, I have had interactions with Dennis and he has the chops to improve schools. Too bad Ed Pratt-Dannals effectively demoted him when EPD wanted to look out for his pals in a restructuring that DCPS indulges in biennially.
James Young is not going into these schools to tour, criticize, and ignore for months. He is on a mission for improvement and to keep our schools ours. With that in mind, let us consider what he has to say.
First, let us say that we are not talking about failing schools. The issue of school failure is one that goes way beyond his contract. What is a failing school? How do we know schools are failing? If you answer the school grade, you are wrong. School grades measure only test performance and performance on poorly designed, poorly implemented, and even then, normed tests that only measure how well students manage their way through the test in comparison to other students. School grades tell you nothing about how well a school is meeting the public's expectations and needs of children.
James Young admits in his introduction that he is after test scores. His niche falls on the bottom level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs: survival. However bad the system is, however bad the law is, however bad the Florida Department of Education and the state Board of Education write regulations and trash public schools, those are the rules of the game. His job is to show others how to play the game, win, and survive.
We must understand this or we will not understand what he says.
He will work to see that our schools survive.
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