Superintendent Clayton Wilcox lays out plans for a new tone and philosophy in the district.
By THOMAS C. TOBIN, Times Staff Writer
Published August 3, 2005
Discipline
Nearly 160,000 times last school year, Pinellas educators got fed up enough with student behavior to write a disciplinary referral - the piece of paper that starts an offending student down a trail of "progressive discipline."
Sometimes a stern lecture does the trick. More often, schools resort to suspensions, detentions and parent conferences.
Nearly half of those referrals were for bad classroom behavior, a huge distraction for educators and students who follow the rules. Teachers complain about disruptive students returning to class, having met with no consequences in the principal's office.
"Teachers across the district have said to me, "If my classrooms were more orderly - if I got more support (from administrators) - we could get the kind of student achievement that we wanted,"' superintendent Clayton Wilcox said in an interview. "So I just thought it was important that we say with our faculty and staff that everybody gets on the same page."
He wants teachers to first use all of their training to handle behavior problems in class.
Then: "At some point the classroom teacher says, "Enough,"' Wilcox said. "And, quite honestly, I think other kids deserve teachers to have time for them, not always dealing with the same kids on behavior issues." He said that may mean commiting a parent to help before the student is allowed back in class. If that fails, he said, a school may involve social workers, a district psychologist or a district police officer.
Wilcox also has made clear that no elementary school is to call deputies or city police for a disruptive student, except in rare cases such as a student with a weapon. Schools may call district police.
The directive stems from the videotaped handcuffing of a kindergartener at Fairmount Park Elementary in March.
Wilcox insists he won't be looking for a reduction in referral numbers this year. That could cause Pinellas educators to cut back on referrals to make their numbers look better, he said. "If a referral needs to be written, I want it written."
Customer service
From his first interview with the School Board last year, Wilcox has spoken forcefully about treating people well when they walk through the schoolhouse door.
That means giving the same attention to the person in dirty overalls as the person in a business suit, he said. Nine months into his Pinellas tenure, he cites "world class customer service" as one of the district's top priorities.
He said he will ask people he has met in recent months to be "secret shoppers" at schools and district offices this year. They are people he has met at civic events, speeches and his own series of community forums.
"I'm going to say to people, "Okay, now I need you. It's time,"' he said. "I want you to go in and talk to my (choice plan office) about you've got a kid you're thinking about moving. See what kind of service you get. See how long it takes to wait for people, and then report back to us and talk to me."'
But first, he said, district employees will get fair warning.
Won't people criticize him for spying?
"Well, they can say that," Wilcox said. "It's a measurement. People who are doing a great job in terms of customer service have nothing to worry about. People who aren't are going to have to make some changes in their behavior."
He said he doesn't anticipate firing anyone for not snapping to for every visitor. He is more apt, he said, to counsel them.
"Maybe it leads to a discussion of, "Well, there's too much going on at the front office desk. The secretary can't do all the things that we're asking her to do.' But we'll never know that unless we start to ask these questions."
Accountability
Pinellas' test scores on the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test improved this year, prompting the state to rank it among the 10 districts that made the most progress.
Wilcox is pushing for much steeper gains in the future. That means continuing with a program, started before he arrived, that has schools concentrating on parts of the state's education standards most likely to be tested on the FCAT. The program also moves teachers through the curriculum at a faster clip and relies on frequent tests to ensure students have mastered a subject before the teacher moves on.
The superintendent views standardized testing as "the coin of the realm" in American education, saying it is helping districts target struggling students who got left behind in the past.
To better target student weaknesses, he is bringing in a testing contractor this fall to improve the range of student performance data easily available to teachers - what he calls a "digital dashboard."
He also wants teachers focusing on instruction. In his meeting with principals, he let it be known that he frowns on the use of movies in class.
"I went around this district toward the end of the year and one of the things I saw was lots and lots of kids watching movies," Wilcox said. "Maybe as a reward. But I just don't think that's appropriate. I don't think that's what the filmmakers intended. I know that's not what mom and dad intend. Quite honestly, some of us as parents don't want our kids watching PG-13 movies in school for 21/2 hours."
While he supports standardized testing, he also thinks some schools get carried away with it. The delaying of field trips until after the FCAT in March is one example.
"That's silly," Wilcox said. "If going to the symphony makes some sense for kids in February right before FCAT, then let's go to the symphony."
The motto
"Whatever it takes" is Wilcox's theme for the new year. He says he wants it to inspire school district employees to give a little extra.
"I just hate to hear people say, "I can't do that ... that's not in my contract or I'm off the clock,"' he said.
Maybe a teacher gives up her planning period to help a student understand a concept, or a principal rides a school bus to get to the root of a discipline problem, he said.
"It's basically saying this community has given us the best kids they've got and we're going to teach them."
