Reply to Catania's Statement on Boundary/Feeder Changes

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Reply to "Catania's Statement on Boundary/Feeder Changes"

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[quote=jsteele]http://www.councilmembercatania.com/catania_releases_statement_on_final_school_boundary_recommendations

I would like to thank Mayor Vincent Gray, Deputy Mayor for Education Abigail Smith, her staff, the Advisory Committee on Student Assignment, and the members of the technical research and analysis team for their incredible efforts and diligence over the last several months in undertaking the important work of reviewing the District’s public school boundaries.  I would also like to thank the parents, guardians and community members who have dedicated their time to participating in the review process, whether through attending community meetings, communicating with elected representatives, or other avenues of public engagement.

The Mayor’s recommendations are sweeping in scope.  They propose wide-ranging changes to our current public school system, including adjustments to elementary school attendance zones, redefined feeder patterns, opening of new middle schools, and student assignment policies that impact school access rights.  For the reasons described below, I cannot support implementation of the recommendations at this time.

There are many aspects of the Mayor’s recommendations that I support.  I appreciate that the proposal maintains the District’s system of matter-of-right neighborhood schools.  However, our students need more than predictable pathways through elementary, middle, and high school.  They must have high-quality schools at every level, in every neighborhood.  I have maintained all along that I cannot support a plan that moves students from higher performing schools to lower performing ones.  Yet the final recommendations do just that.  In addition, the recommendations are silent as to how we intend to improve those lower performing schools.  Asking parents and guardians to take this leap of faith without more is asking too much.  In order to secure the confidence of our public school families, we must focus on the issue of school quality in tandem with the proposed recommendations so that all our students – regardless of where they live – can succeed.  Among other things, we must work with the community to create open and transparent school-specific quality improvement plans.  Much more work is needed in this regard.

In addition to issues surrounding school quality, I am not persuaded that the final recommendations can be effectively executed by the start of the next school year, the timetable proposed by the Mayor.  Successful implementation will require substantial operational planning, additional financial resources and an effective communication strategy.  Yet the recommendations are once again silent.  If not properly executed, the proposed changes will undermine the fragile confidence that parents and guardians have in our public school system.  I believe that thoughtfulness and thoroughness should trump haste.

For these reasons, among others, I intend to take action to delay implementation of the recommendations until at least school year 2016-2017.  Again, while I agree with the direction of many of the recommendations, others I cannot support at this time.  With that said, this proposal will serve as an important foundation for work over the next year to address school quality citywide.  Bottom line, I believe that any changes to the school boundary and student assignment policies must be made in a manner that instills confidence among students, parents and guardians.

My overarching goal has always been to build a system of high-quality schools in every neighborhood.  Over the past 20 months and 144 school visits, I have heard directly from students, parents and guardians, and school leaders, as to what our students need to succeed.  Together we have made great progress, resulting in transformative legislative actions to improve school quality.  Among others, my Focused Student Achievement Act ended the outdated and harmful practice of social promotion.  The Parent and Student Empowerment Act, which I authored, provides parents and students with an advocate and a voice within the public education system.  My Comprehensive Planning and Utilization of School Facilities Act takes critical steps to improve facility planning in the future and the physical space in which students are learning.  And just today, the first day of the 2014-2015 school year, over 36,000 students will benefit from my Fair Funding Act, which invested $80 million in our public schools to help close the achievement gap.  I believe that developing a well-resourced boundary and student assignment plan that addresses issues of school quality will build on these achievements and serve all our students as we work towards improving public education across the city.

I want to again extend my appreciation to the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor for Education and all who participated in the boundary review process.

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