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Guest column

Here's why schools have improved

By RICK BAKER
Published November 9, 2005

A recent article on the Mayor's Mentors & More public schools program touched only slightly on why St. Petersburg schools have made such remarkable progress. A quick summary of the key elements:

Doorways Scholarships. Started by the Pinellas County Education Foundation, they offer a sixth-grade child who meets low-income guidelines a four-year college scholarship if he or she graduates and meets certain achievement and conduct requirements. The graduation rate for Doorways participants is dramatic. So far, the St. Petersburg program has raised private funds, matched by the foundation, for 500 scholarships.

Corporate partnerships. We have recruited 73 corporations to participate. As the article points out, nine of the businesses had prior relationships with their schools, but all (including the St. Petersburg Times) have signed on to the city program.

We meet regularly with the school and business leaders to monitor their progress and to share great ideas and successes. Our corporate partners are making a meaningful impact on public schools: donating eyeglasses to children who can't afford them, purchasing computers, giving students backpacks and supplies, providing school staff members with gift certificates, paying significant cash grants to schools, hosting lunches for teachers, and volunteering as mentors and tutors.

Mentoring. We give city employees paid leave each week to mentor or tutor at a public school (more than 200 participate). We train them and our corporate partners' employees. More than 1,000 have been trained to date.

Teacher loans. Using state housing grants, we have completed 23 zero-interest loans ($14,000 each) to St. Petersburg public school teachers to use as a down payment on a house purchased in the city. If the teachers stay in a city school for 10 years, they never have to repay the loan. If the house is in Midtown, the loan grows to $18,000. School officials agree that it has become a remarkable incentive for teacher recruitment and retention.

Partnership to Advance School Success program. Our public schools recently received commitments for $1.15-million in grants and corporate gifts, with most of that money raised by the city. The money will be used to implement a three-year plan for success that was developed by the schools and their corporate partners. City staffers will serve in a coaching role in five of St. Petersburg's six remaining C-rated elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.

In addition, the city has built five playgrounds at elementary schools that our neighborhoods share after school hours. We identified free retail space for A Gift for Teaching, a program providing free school supplies to teachers in Title I (low-income) schools; lobbied for funding for violence intervention programs at our middle schools; raised money for 112 scholarships for dropouts seeking a GED diploma or technical school training; and hosted the Top Apple Awards for administrators and corporate partners whose schools increase a letter grade or maintain an A under Florida's A+

Led by our county superintendent and his principals, and backed by our School Board, administrators, teachers, parents, community leaders and business leaders, our citywide effort saw 38 percent of St. Petersburg's public schools increase a letter grade last year. Compare that with the statewide increase of 10 percent. We still have challenges ahead, but thanks to the efforts of so many, we are moving forward and will never look back.

[Last modified November 9, 2005, 00:39:17]