RELATED: Springfield schools might eliminate academies at high school
Springfield High School students currently choose one of five academies — Health and Human Services; Visual and Performing Arts; Business and Law; Digital Media and Communications; and Science, Technology, Engineering, Applied Arts, and Math. But the academies don’t have an even distribution of students, resulting in some counselors and principals with too many students and others with not enough.
The school needs to make sure students are getting one-on-one time with counselors and teachers to make sure they are prepared to pass tests, Superintendent Bob Hill said. School leaders have predicted up to 70 percent of the current sophomore class might not graduate because of new state requirements.
High School Secondary Education Director Marvin Jones gave a presentation during a board of education work session this week and informed the board the high school teachers have been requested to work on at least one of three areas — family and community connections, pathways and focus periods.
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The district, as part of the restructuring, has identified connecting with students’ families as important to making sure students are in the best situation to succeed.
Pathways are a curriculum a student takes to graduate high school and possibly earn a certificate in a subject area. The pathways are fluid, Hill said, and are designed to make scheduling easier but also flexible in case a student decides to change their career goals.
Focus periods are times where students will get a chance to sit down with a teacher or counselor and discuss what they need to do to earn a diploma. Hill said the district is still exploring focus periods and it’s undetermined how often the periods would occur.
Teachers were asked to pick which group they want to help participate in and many did. However, Superintendent Bob Hill said he fears some teachers aren’t going to participate fully.
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“There is an unfortunate misconception of many high school staff members that the decision has been made, it’s been decided and we are just going to roll it all out in the end and nobody’s input matters,” Hill said. “And I have said that from day one that is absolutely false. It becomes an excuse quite frankly and I am really tired of excuses.”
It’s an opportunity to be a part of a change, he said.
“We are giving people the opportunity to help design what is best for kids and what is best for that high school,” Hill said. “And really I don’t think participation should be (voluntary), I think it should be mandatory and I am not going to accept excuses anymore. I am not going to accept the excuse that we were not given an opportunity.”
Jones said the school has developed a plan with three layers to make sure each teacher gets an opportunity to participate in the discussions. Administrators will hold after school meetings with each group first, however Jones said they understand that some staff members won’t be able to make each meeting.
An email will be sent out to staff who didn’t show up for a meeting so that they can contribute electronically. And if the email doesn’t get a response, Jones or another administrator will visit the teacher during a planning period to get their input.
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Hill said he hopes the high school staff will work together to make sure if any changes are made that they are successful.
Springfield Teacher Union President Jim Townsend couldn’t be reached for comment, but said previously teachers have seen problems with the academies.
“They are seeing some inequities in the small school structure,” Townsend said. “There are scheduling problems, there are two that are fairly large and two that are actually small schools. Trying to keep the pathways available so students can still get the rigorous education is important, but so is a connection with students.”
This isn’t the first time staff have been asked their feelings on the issue, according to the district. Jones said in his initial presentation to board members in January that a large number of staff said in a survey they felt academies need to be eliminated.
Number of staff in each academy
STEAM: 26
Health and human services: 33
Visual and performing arts: 34
Business and law: 14
Digital media and communications: 13
Source: Springfield City School District
Continuing coverage
The Springfield News-Sun first broke the news that school district was looking to make changes to the high school and has continued to dig into the proposed changes.
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