Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Schools

Change comes slowly for Wilcox

The superintendent says he has met some resistance, but the schools must evolve.

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published July 9, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Less than a month before public schools open in Pinellas County, superintendent Clayton Wilcox opined on Friday that change has been much harder to achieve than he expected.

Especially vexing, he said, has been creating "a sense of urgency" among some district employees that change is necessary.

"I think I've gotten the attention of a lot of people, but I think there are a lot who don't think that's their world," said Wilcox, who wasn't yet in charge when school opened last year.

Some employees will have to "unlearn what they've been taught," he said, pointing to teachers and principals at high-performing high schools as examples.

"Teachers who teach Advanced Placement classes don't realize there are kids who can't read," he said. "There is no urgency for them to change. It's a tough hurdle to get over."

But, he said, with the need to close the achievement gap between white and African-American students and with too many students performing poorly, the need for change is urgent.

Still, he thinks the district is making progress, and he is happy to be the superintendent.

Wilcox's comments came at a meeting with the St. Petersburg Times editorial board, his second such appearance since taking over from outgoing superintendent Howard Hinesley in November.

When asked to cite the district's strengths and weaknesses, Wilcox indicated three areas where he would like to see improvement. One is the way in which the district deals with parent concerns. Too often, he said, administrators fail to respond adequately to complaints.

Another challenge is the district's inability to "stay the course" when it comes to programs, he said. While administrators are good at adopting new strategies, they often are too quick to jump to something new.

A third problem is the lack of a common mission, Wilcox said. Rather than operating as a cohesive unit, Pinellas seems to be more of a "loose affiliation of schools."

"It's almost as if they don't want to be part of the system," he said. "The principals come to meetings, but go back to their schools and do what they want to do."

After a recent reorganization that moved a significant number of employees out of the administration building and back to the classroom, Wilcox said he's already getting "all kinds of signs" that some people are not happy with the changes. He suspects that some will not be willing to do what he's asked them to do.

"It's a lot like shoveling wet sand," he said. "You dig a hole, but then it closes back in."

Comparing the district with the fictitious town of Lake Wobegone, of the radio program A Prairie Home Companion, "where the women are strong, the men are good looking and all the children are above average," Wilcox said his first evaluation of top level administrators revealed that only one considered herself less than "highly effective."

Given what they know to be the nature of the district's ills, Wilcox said, he would have expected them to acknowledge they need improvement in some areas.

He said that for the system of school choice to work, schools must be of high enough quality to offer true competing alternatives. He worries that 20 to 30 schools, many of them in south Pinellas, are not.

Also troubling, he said, is that even though the district has 9,000 teachers, not a single one has been "brought to the table" for concerns about their ability to teach. It makes him think there might be a problem with how they are evaluated.

On the other hand, he said, a significant number of teachers "take children from where they are and do wonderful things with them." The district has not done enough to reward them, he said.

Wilcox, who is 49 years old, has two children in the public school system.

Asked about his relationship with School Board members, which at times has been contentious, he characterized his clashes with them as "differences of passion" rather than substance.

He said he recently asked board members to extend his contract for one year beyond 2008 as a vote of support, a query that he said brought a mixed response.

"Some were more happy to than others," he said.

Overall, Wilcox said, he hears from parents that they are happy he is here and that the course he has steered is what they want for their children, which is his main concern.

"I know we wouldn't be where we are if I hadn't pushed," he said. "Things are getting better, but we still have a long way to go."

[Last modified July 9, 2005, 01:17:38]