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County schools take home mixed grades
By MONIQUE FIELDS © St. Petersburg Times, published May 31, 2001
"Are you serious?," she said. "I cannot believe this. This is highly impossible." She had been closely watching her own data and believed the Palm Harbor school would slip from its A status. "I wasn't sure, but I guess we did," she said, trying to convince herself. "I'm pleased. My staff will be pleased. My kids will be very happy." On Wednesday, the state passed out grades for its public schools. Pinellas County schools got a mixed report card. The district earned 23 A's, six fewer than last year, and nearly doubled the number of B's from 18 a year ago to 34. The number of C's fell from 65 last year to 55, while five schools brought home D's, the same number as last year. And once again, there were no F's. Technical problems kept two elementary schools, Eisenhower in Clearwater and Gulf Beaches in St. Pete Beach, from receiving grades. Department of Education officials plan to correct the problem and post the grades to a Web site this morning. Of the 115 schools graded on Wednesday, 34 improved, 48 stayed the same and 33 received a lower grade. The annual progress report showed four of the five schools that received a D last year made a better grade this year. Schools Superintendent Howard Hinesley was traveling and could not be reached for comment, district officials said. Melrose Elementary was one of five elementary schools that received a D. Melrose, which houses the Center for Communication & Mass Media magnet, dropped from a C last year. Principal Susan Graham sent an e-mail to her teachers at 4:22 p.m. saying they were above where they needed to be in fourth-grade reading and writing, but missed the mark in fifth-grade math by 2 percentage points. As in years past, the grades renewed criticism of the state's accountability system. "When you see something like this, it's disheartening because you know how hard you've worked as a staff and as a school and you know how hard the kids have worked," Graham said. The biggest changes came at the high school level. Dixie Hollins in St. Petersburg managed to pull up its D and scored a C. Dixie Hollins High principal Jeff Haynes credited the school's improvement with a laser-sharp focus on reading. Struggling readers received personalized help, and teachers were trained in FCAT strategies. "I'm most impressed with the movement in the reading," Haynes said. "It makes the year end on a real good note. We know we have to work just as hard next year. The test is coming again, unfortunately." Palm Harbor University High School, the first Pinellas high school to receive an A, fell to a B, while East Lake High in Oldsmar and St. Petersburg High moved from a C and B, respectively, and received perfect scores. Palm Harbor principal Alec Liem said the school's grade fell because the reading level was the same as last year and needed to increase at least 2 percentage points for the school to maintain its A. "There's only so much you can improve," he said. East Lake principal Rick Misenti was ecstatic with his school's grade. "This was a real team effort: tremendous teaching, students who stayed focused and never waivered from task and a tremendous amount of community support. When you have those three ingredients, it equals an A,"said Misenti, moments after announcing the grade to the entire school. During the last several years, East Lake teachers have readily accepted new ideas. Among them is the School Achievement Model, also called SAM, which allows teachers to assess their students' progress three times during the year and tweak instruction to meet their deficits and increase their academic achievement. There was a lot ofshifting among the county's middle schools. As a group, they made a huge leap in the number that received A's from only two last year to nine this year. Two received B's and 10 passed with C's. Coachman Fundamental Middle School in Clearwater was among those posting losses, falling from an A to an C. The move surprised principal Dawn Coffin. She knew it would be hard to keep the A, but figured the school would only drop to a B. "We don't believe in grading schools in the first place," she said, referring to her teaching staff. "We don't support it, and we don't believe in it." Later she said, "You can't have the highest scores in the district and then turn around and be a C." Largo Middle School's scores did the opposite, hopping from a C a year ago to an A. Principal Bill Cooper credits the dramatic change in the number of students who were suspended from school for "disrespect and defiance." When he arrived in 1998, the school had suspended 842 students. This year, with few days to spare, Largo has suspended fewer than 150 students. "The teachers and kids deserve 90 percent of the credit. They worked really hard on rewarding good behavior and trying to get behavior under control," he said.
- Staff writer Kelly Ryan contributed to this report. * * * Click here to search the Florida Department of Education's 2000-2001 School Accountability Report
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