Citizen Proposes WJCC Expand ALL, Implement Coaches

By Amber Lester Kennedy Saturday, January 15, 2011

One James City County resident disappointed with the options for at-risk students decided to do something somewhat uncommon: he has written his own proposal.

Steve Vignolo, an active member of the Citizens for Education advocacy group, e-mailed a proposal for alternative education in Williamsburg-James City County schools to the School Board members and local media outlets earlier this week. He proposes that for one year, the division operate the Academy for Life and Learning, add two student advancement coaches to one middle school and continue to administer the middle school Response to Intervention program. After one year, the division will have the data it needs to make an informed decision on what works, Vignolo said.

While people frequently e-mail and call the school board members with suggestions, Chair Jim Nickols said it’s not often that they receive a full proposal. He said he couldn’t speak for all the members of the board about whether Vignolo’s proposal will gain traction, but did say he reads and reviews all suggestions that come his way.

“I think the approach is that each individual school board member reads the proposal and they determine whether or not it applies to the situation in which they find themselves,” NIckols said. “If this proposal speaks to him or her, they might bring that to the table.”

He also said that the board members learn things about personnel and student issues that for legal reasons must be kept confidential. “I appreciate the concern, but on the other hand, I’m in a position to know things most people don’t know,” Nickols said.

Vignolo has been active in the Citizens for Education group since its first meeting in December 2009. In that time, he said he’s visited the Academy for Life and Learning, has met one-on-one with most of the board members and school administrators, and has been watching the school board meetings. Vignolo, who retired to the area in 2006 and has three grown children, said he is interested in helping at-risk students because it helps the community to have an educated workforce.

Since early December, the board has been considering closing the Academy for Life and Learning at the end of this school year. The school currently has 46 seventh- and eighth-graders enrolled; the students and their parents have praised the program for its approach, which combines individualized attention with lessons on good citizenship. The board members have said they acknowledge that the program has made great gains, but want to find a way to reach more students, while trimming the budget.

In response to the board’s request to address those issues, the administration prepared a proposal to close ALL, which has a budget of $570,000, in favor of hiring three student advancement coaches for the middle schools at a cost of $225,000. Programming improvements would cost an additional $45,000, resulting in a savings of approximately $300,000.

The student advancement coaches would seek to help about 40 students in each school and would be responsible for overall “student advancement, management, intervention and transition of learners in grades 6-8.” The coaches would track the progress for the students by developing Individualized Learning Plans.

In his proposal, Vignolo said everyone can agree the schools need a plan, but the current proposal would close a program that works. “Furthermore, the coach proposal does not address perhaps the most important question: Who will teach these students?” he wrote.

He suggests the division allocate $750,000 in the budget to helping at-risk students. He would like to see the division increase ALL’s enrollment to 60 students, which he believes could be done with the current budget within this semester.

At the same time, he’d like to see the division implement the coach system at one middle school, but add two coaches to provide more attention to the 40 students. He estimates that could be done for less than $180,000.

Finally, he’d like to see the division operate ALL, the coach program and its Response to Intervention program for the 2011-12 school year and track results in grades, SOL scores and behavioral/discipline issues, comparing the data to the students not deemed “at-risk.” Also, the schools could gather data based on interviews with students, parents, teachers and administrators, he said.

“At the end of the year, the community will have 1) started a new program, 2) expanded one that works to make it more cost-effective and 3) evaluated both (plus RTI) using comparable metrics and data,” Vignolo wrote.

Board Vice Chair Ruth Larson said she does agree one coach to 40 students might be a difficult stretch, but doesn’t believe the division could increase the enrollment at ALL as quickly as he suggests. “We’ve been trying to do that. ALL is a voluntary program, not mandatory,” she said. “I think Anthony Mungin (principal of ALL) and our middle school principals have worked really hard so that when they see a student that fits well into what ALL offers, they’ve reached out to students and tried to get them to attend ALL.”

She said that she welcomes any proposal, but before considering it, she would take it to the administration and have them evaluate the ideas. “We’d have to see if it’s even workable for the school division,” she said. “They’re the ones that have get buy-in from our teachers and administrators.”

Vignolo said he doesn’t expect a response from the board, but wanted to give the members and the public an opportunity to look at his ideas. “I really want to get to a point that when a decision is made, the timing is appropriate,” he said. “With the investment we’ve already made in ALL, the outpouring from parents and students, I think we should look at expanding ALL and see what the citizenry says about it.”

The board will further discuss the student advancement coach idea and the Individualized Learning Plans at its Tuesday work session, starting at 7 p.m. in the Stryker Building in Williamsburg. Read the agenda here.