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December 9, 2011

Gompers teachers: We will stay dedicated despite phaseout

by Rachel Cromidas, at 7:34 pm

Samuel Gompers High School, one of 19 schools slated to close, was quiet before dismissal Friday afternoon.

Some of the teachers at Samuel Gompers Career and Technical Education High School held their breath when administrators called them into the school’s music room shortly after third-period this morning. Moments later, officials from the Department of Education and the teachers union announced that Gompers would be one of 19 schools the city tries to close this year.

Gompers’s progress report card grade dropped from a C to an F this year. But even last year city officials had flagged the school for its low performance, making it one of a handful of schools eligible to receive federal school improvement grants. When Gompers wasn’t selected for the funds, some predicted that closure would become a more likely intervention for the school.

The news still came as a surprise for three teachers I spoke to today, who asked not to be identified because they were instructed not to speak to reporters.

“It came as a complete surprise to us,” said one technology teacher. “Our school management team told us they had a strategy and as long as we followed it we’d be okay.”

The teacher, who has been at the technology-focused school for nearly a decade, said this year administrators told teachers to document all of their lessons diligently and collect more data on student improvement — policies that rankled some more experienced teachers.

“A number of years ago we were a B school,” he said. “It seemed like our numbers were getting a little bit better, but every year the requirements are higher. All of a sudden we’re a C school, and then the expectations got even higher.”

The teacher could be out of a job within four years if he doesn’t find another teaching position before the school would close in 2015. But he said he would “stay dedicated” to the school and defer the job hunt.

“I’m going to be here when they turn off the lights,” he said. “I’m going to act like they never told us this. My determination will not change.”

Another teacher echoed that sentiment and also said she was “very angry” about Gompers’s place on the closure list and intended to protest it. The Panel for Educational Policy, which has never rejected a city proposal, will vote early next year on whether each school on the list should be closed.

When school administrators gathered students in the auditorium to explain the news, ninth-grader Abraham Garcia said there were mixed reactions from the crowd, with some students cheering and others whispering concerns over how the decision would affect their paths to graduation.

Juan Carlos Sanchez, a sophomore, said he did not believe the school’s failing grade or potential closure were merited. “Gompers is a great technical school. The teachers do their best, but the students don’t all respect the teachers,” he said.

Junolia Perez, also in 10th grade, said the school, which was one of her first choices to attend, had not lived up to her expectations so far. “I wanted to take a certain program for architecture and design,” she said. “This year they got rid of it.”

Earlier this year students from Gompers marched through the Bronx to call on the DOE to give the school more support.

Students at the protest told GothamSchools they were worried the school would be closed if it did not receive federal school improvement funding, which the school could use to purchase more teaching materials:

The students say more engaging lessons and new computers and textbooks would motivate students and increase attendance. One student said his history class uses textbooks in which the most recent president is Ronald Reagan. Other students said that the principal, Joyce Mills Kittrell, could interact more with students.

“We definitely need new teachers and a new principal,” said Lopez, the Gompers junior.

At the time, DOE officials said Gompers was not chosen for the federal program, known as “restart,” because it lacked strong leadership:

The city chose schools for the restart plan that it felt showed signs of improvement and enough leadership capacity to work with outside organizations to make serious adjustments, said Department of Education spokesperson Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld.

“The schools we didn’t choose for restart just did not have the type of leadership and staff in place that we felt could effectively team up with an educational partnership organization,” said Zarin-Rosenfeld.

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  • Mike

    Why would a “C” school be “flagged for low performance”?  I always thought a C meant “average”.  What does “low performing” mean?

    How did they determine that the leadership and staff weren’t suitable for restart?  Is there an official process?

  • Gustov Ado

    How can a school with an enrollment of 600 students have 8 assistant principals?  That’s a $900,000.00 salary for administrators and a lame duck principal. Kitrell and her poor choice of useless AP’s is the problem.  Kitrell single handed destroyed the school. 

  • Pogue

    “The teacher, who has been at the technology-focused school for nearly a
    decade, said this year administrators told teachers to diligently
    document all of their lessons and collect more data on student
    improvement…”

    Ahh, and therein lies one of the fallacies of the DOE = “Collect more data”.  For a school system that collects and records high school students attendance each and every week, you would think if a school was having trouble with cutting and attendance, the DOE, with their network leaders and “consultants” and data specialists would be able to provide help and solutions to an immediate problem, but NOOOOOOOO!, (as Steve Martin would say), they do nothing, offer no help, and let institutions fail so Eva can open up a selective charter. 

    Their overpaid, inexperienced DOE consultant staff doesn’t have a clue on how to help a school.  And, for those who have a bit of experience?  They got out of the classroom because they didn’t know what to do there, either.

    When the NYC DOE could be a helpful doctor, it chooses to be a mortician in waiting.

    It is corrupt from the top to the…top.

  • Ricky Recardo

    I agree with Mr. Ado.  The way Kitrell has run the school after Hawthorne has been a big joke.  The new AP of organization was a major bad decision she put in that position.  Kitrell is the poster child that all aspiring principals need to study in the leadership academy on how to be an incompetent school leader.  She joins a list of over-payed ineffective african-american sorority sisters like Sharron Smalls that incompetent Superintendents put into position to run schools.  The whole C-30 process is another big joke..

  • Guest

    At Irving they were telling us “There are still kids here who need help.”  We were like “Duh, we don’t need you to tell us that, it’s what we’ve been telling you for years.”  When will the DOE realize that closing schools down rather than helping them?  This has don irreparable damage to an entire generation of children in this city.  Shame on the DOE, shame on City Hall, shame on this mayor.  Almost half the schools being closed are ones you opened, your strategy is a failure.

  • http://twitter.com/MaryConwaySpieg Mary Conway-Spiegel

    All comments below have merit.  Gompers is a PFSA school.  I’ve spent time in the building met students, visited classrooms and was a guest at an inspiring PD meeting.  My assessment of Gompers was posted last month on the PFSSA website  http://www.pfsany.org/news/
    GOMPERS is a GREAT CTE School with GREAT TEACHERS WHO CARE AND WHO ARE NOT “FAILURES”.  DOE allowed Gompers to atrophy like all its CTE schools, the type of school DESPERATELY needed right now in this economy (read Pathways To Prosperity).
    I’m not a fan of blame.  Who’s RESPONSIBLE?  The Department Of Education.  Yes, CTE schools MUST HAVE CTE specialized leadership…MOST DO NOT.  Yes, the outside vendors who get all the money that students never see are too far removed to support a school and get it off the PLA list.
    Beyond DOE being wholly responsible for Gompers “failing” we all know enrollment at these struggling schools is at the core of the issue.  At Gompers there are large numbers of succeeding students, but the majority of students have IEP’s, are ELLS, have special needs and arrive at Gompers needing remediation.  I REPEAT these children ARRIVE needing remediation and wrap around services.
    Gompers was ALLOWED to “fail.”

    …infuriating…hence the CAPS.

  • old teach

    Sol Stern in a op-ed in yesterdays daily news correctly points to the real legacy of Bloombergs department of education. Fact, the budget under this administration has risen from 12 billion to more than 24 billion. How much has gone to improving schools that needed additional resources? How much has gone to consultants who do not go near a student? How much has gone to construction for new small schools and charter schools? How much has student achievement risen under mayoral control of city schools? Why after continued minimal progress on standardized national tests is this administration allowed to close schools that they have been responsible to improve?

  • Ellen

    What happened to Greg Betheil, who was in charge of the CTE schools?  Is that still a division within the high schools structure

  • Lore4321nz

    All though it’s certainly a good point that these schools need help, I think the approach is wrong. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. The DOE could easily put together a team of staff to go into schools and give support and take the reins. They could walk the school staff through how they could improve their situation. This would include the principal, assistant principals, coaches, SBST/ISC team, guidance counselors, teachers, paras, aides, main office staff and all the way down to the custodians and kitchen staff (and I only mention them all because these situations fester over time and grow like a cancer within the school).

    The team that goes into the schools should be a handpicked team of effective, efficient, knowledgable, experienced school administrators or ex school administrators (perhaps whom have already retired) with a proven track record of continuous success.

    They can help schools by working with the principal to re-write the CEP to focus the school direction, restructure the staff,

  • Lore4321nz

    and ultimately help them learn or relearn how to run a great school. This team should all work together to see troubled areas and use their experience to place pieces of the puzzle that are missing, and if a piece is missing, they can recreate a new piece with a solution.

    Sometimes people need a hand and a last chance. I’m sure deep down inside, the school staff does have the students best interest at heart. The DOE know what a great school looks like structure-wise and they also know what a bad school looks like. Why not duplicate these results by using the people best suited to run and turn schools around. Let’s tap into a golden nugget.

    If after one or two years of this

  • Lore4321nz

    they show no immediate and drastic change, then I say by all means close the school. The focus should be to train and retrain the staff from the ground up.

    What about the students in the school right now you say? In the long run, this may help save thousands of future students. The ones in the school at the moment should be offered free tutoring by successful teachers from other schools to give them much needed and immediate help. It’s only fair.

  • michael

    The DOE needs these large buildings to house these new charter schools. They will do everything in their power to shut them down. That includes sending countless poor performing students there, to starving these schools of essential funding.

  • Yuynbngfgfe

    so sad to read these pathetic comments by activists, parents, employees, etc.  No one gives a ___________!  O.K., do you get it now?  You can write all you want on this webpage but it is meaningless.  Have fun but try not to get pissed, a bunch of schools are closing, so what?  Let the kids fry, who really cares anyway.

  • Mario

    He is now the Executive Director of the Office of School Programs and Partnerships Partnerships – I do not know if the CTE Dept. even exists even more.

  • nymom

    The poor performing kids wont be allowed to attend the fancy new charter school…

  • http://twitter.com/MaryConwaySpieg Mary Conway-Spiegel

    Exactly.

  • Empty

    Yeah baby …….. next year we hit Lehman High School, Clinton High School.  Let’s really _________ the Bronx up!

  • guess

    This is the only country in the world that tries to fix school problems by closing them. This method of evaluating school just promote corruption, schools are passing students that are not ready, in order to make the numbers and not end up like Gompers. I know for sure a lot of schools that are worst than Gompers and they receive a better grade. Why the DOE does not check those data since they are so much into data.  My question is where are the parents of the 600 students? why are they not helping the staff to keep the school open? It is everyone’s responsibility to help.

  • THE DOE IS OUT TO SILENCE US!

    It’s all about the building and the location… I am keeping my eye on the schools that recently got a “c”.. they are next.

  • THE DOE IS OUT TO SILENCE US!

    The Bronx parents have to come together to put politicians in office that will put parent goals for our students, school districts and our borough on their agenda. Closing schools costs twice as much than it would cost to fix the problems in a school. Imagine if we came together and what a force we would be. Trade schools in the Bronx are closing what are they being replaced with? Nursing, Plumbing, Auto Mechanics, Carpentry.. all these schools are being phased out.

  • cte wins

    It is now in the office of Postsecondary Readiness. New head, David Fischer.

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