WJCC Board Chooses Leadership, Discusses Alternative Ed

By Amber Lester Kennedy Wednesday, January 05, 2011

James Nickols will continue to lead the Williamsburg-James City County School Board as chair for 2011.

The board had its organizational meeting to make appointments to leadership positions Tuesday, reappointing Nickols as chair and Ruth Larson as vice chair. Joe Fuentes was reappointed Parliamentarian.

The meeting was also the first for new member Oscar Prater, who was appointed to the board by Williamsburg’s City Council on Dec. 17. Prater replaced John Alewynse, who chose not to reapply for his seat after nearly 10 years on the board.

At the same meeting, several speakers implored the board to consider its options for alternative education. In December, the administration unveiled a proposal to close the Academy for Life and Learning at the end of the school year and hire three “student advancement coaches” to serve in the division’s middle schools. The administration said the new plan would save money, trimming $270,000 from the budget, and would allow the division to reach more students, with each coach serving approximately 40 students per school.

When the idea of coaches was first pitched, the board members asked Assistant Superintendent of Academic Services Dianna Lindsay to flesh out the job description. On Tuesday, Lindsay shared a new job description for the coaches — previously referred to as “deans” — that detailed what their work will entail.

The job description requires a person with experience in education and/or social work and a master’s degree. The coaches will meet with and evaluate students, preparing Individualized Learning Plans for them, and following up to see how they’re progressing toward their personal and academic goals. The coaches will also mediate in disputes and make recommendations for discipline. In short, they will act as case workers for their assigned students. To read more about the job description, click here.

The board members expressed concern about the workload for the coaches, how their work will be measured and how students will be chosen to receive the coaches’ attention. Larson wondered how the administration could guarantee that the coaches won’t end up serving as unofficial assistant principals, keeping order in the schools. Nickols also urged Lindsay to reconsider the ratio of one coach to 40 students, raising the idea of adding more than one coach per school.

Lindsay said that the division has not seen its high school-level behavioral specialists take on administrative roles in their schools. She envisions the three behavioral specialists and three student advancement coaches working closely as a six-person team.

Prater asked what kind of response the division hopes to see, and how it would be measured. Jim Kelly echoed these concerns, asking if there were any objective measurements that could show whether the division is successful. Lindsay said they’ve developed a rubric assessment that mirrors those of social workers and counselors, calling on students and parents to evaluate how the coaches are performing. She said their goal is to improve the personalization of their service.

The board questioned how students would be chosen for the coaches’ individualized attention. Lindsay said they might be referred by parents, counselors, teachers or social workers, and might be identified as academically, environmentally or socially at-risk.

Several speakers, many of them now familiar faces at the podium, advocated for the present alternative education program for middle-schoolers, the Academy for Life and Learning. Parents, students and community members have cited ALL as an example of a program that works and if grown, could help more children succeed. Students have repeatedly said in recent weeks that in their “home schools” they struggled to get by, receiving little attention or encouragement from teachers. Many of them told stories of how just a few weeks at ALL gave them the confidence they needed to focus on their work and begin earning good grades.

During the citizen comment period, Richard Locke told the board he would like to hear that they have a plan. Locke, a regular attendee of school board meetings, reminded the board that in previous years, they pledged to put alternative education on the agenda of every meeting and work session, but haven’t done that. “It sounds to me like you’re shooting from the hip and solving problems piecemeal,” he said. “Just tell me you have a point in all this.”

His frustration was echoed by board members, who said they aren’t happy with the way alternative education has been addressed. “I understand the community’s frustration; we have not been consistent in our approach to this issue,” Larson said. “I don’t want to say this decision is not about the money, because I have to always think about the money. And when I think about the money, I weigh the number of students being served at ALL versus the number of students served at their home schools.”

Board member Elise Emanuel repeated the students’ statements that they weren’t respected at their home schools. “It’s the human interaction that seems to be missing,” she said. “We don’t want them to not be recognized, encouraged, welcomed and find joy in learning as they obviously are in this small ALL Academy.”

Lindsay said the division plans to address climate issues and try to be truly personalized in their approach. She recognized, however, that it likely would not be an immediate success. “We will help you get to this place,” she said. “I assure you we will fall down, but we’ll get up.”

The board asked Lindsay to return to the next meeting with another draft of the proposal reflecting some of the ideas discussed.