Empowerment Zone schools set new expectations for students, family with 'Quarter 2 reset'

SOUTH BEND — The South Bend Empowerment Zone is launching a reset. And, Davion Lewis, the new director of the five west side schools, says he’s not afraid of ruffling some feathers in the process.

Among his changes this year:

• Clear backpacks for students

• A stricter dress code with uniforms beginning this month

• $25 fines for late pick-up at the end of the school day

• Early release Thursdays

• A firm attendance policy

Lewis, who was named Zone chief in July following the unexpected departure of former leader Cheryl Camacho, began rolling out new policies in late October, near the end of the first quarter of the school year.

After settling into his new role, the chief says the schools are in need of a cultural reset. Setting clear expectations in the classroom will lend itself to a better environment for learning, he says.

The rollout of new policies, however, has drawn attention from parents who feel now is not the time to make major changes. Although supportive of some policies, some parents say introducing a uniform mid-year, during the holidays and after back-to-school sales have passed, is taxing on the community. More than half of Empowerment Zone students qualify for free and reduced price meals based on family income.

Others say community meetings were called only after decisions had been made, leaving parents out of the process.

“It would have been a better idea to maybe start with a slow transition,” said Esther De Landa, who has three kids at Wilson Elementary. “If they would’ve given people a certain timeline, or more time than what they did right now, it wouldn’t have caused as much of an uproar with parents.”

With early year attendance rates low and test scores lagging, however, Lewis says students aren’t learning and timing is of the essence. And, it’s not lost on the chief that the changes his administration makes today could greatly influence the future of the Zone.

“Do I wish I had the opportunity to have rolled out things differently, that we could have engaged parents beforehand as opposed to after the rollout happened? Yes. That’s always the ideal,” Lewis said. “But, we’re in a crisis and we needed to respond urgently.”

Progress interrupted by pandemic

The Empowerment Zone was created near the end of the 2018-19 school year as an alternative to the potential state takeover or closure of Navarre Middle School after years of underperformance in Indiana’s A-F accountability system.

The Zone includes Navarre and four feeder elementary schools: Coquillard, Harrison, Warren and Wilson. Though the schools are still a part of South Bend’s public district, the Zone operates with academic independence and is managed by its own nonprofit board. The arrangement provides a high level of autonomy to Zone administrators so they can make their own decisions about curriculum, scheduling and school-level spending.

Although the creation of the Zone was widely seen as an effort first driven by state officials, a spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Education told The Tribune last summer that the State Board of Education no longer oversees operation of the Zone after a change in Indiana law.

The original plan for the Zone called for a five-year “transformation” marked by increasing scores on the state’s ILEARN exam as well as improvements in attendance and student discipline. Those goals, however, were set well before the coronavirus pandemic.

More:What do this year's ILEARN scores mean for learning recovery in South Bend?

Student attendance rates and test scores in schools across Indiana dropped following a sudden shift to remote learning in March 2020.

While some schools are beginning to recover, Lewis said, he’s not satisfied with where the Zone stands today. Only 6% of students were found to be on grade level for English/language arts studies and only 2% for math in fall testing, Lewis said. Daily attendance rates have failed to surpass 88% and, Lewis said in a recent community meeting, students across the Zone had been missing an average of 20 days of school.

When students were reporting to school, he said, classroom behavior had become a distraction. In the first quarter of the year, the Zone recorded more than 3,000 individual classroom incidents among 2,300 students.

“Our teachers were spending more time dealing with discipline than actually teaching,” Lewis said.

The new director quickly established that in order to bring about academic success, a cultural shift was needed. He’s branding it the Quarter 2 reset.

Linda Lucy, president of the NEA-South Bend teachers union, said she’s encouraged by the new direction and says she’s felt a strong support for educators in the process. The union in South Bend has long called for firmer expectations for students, families and staff as it relates to students’ behavior at school.

“This is a really great effort to try to improve teaching and learning in the Zone,” she said. “Without order, there can’t be teaching and learning. It just won’t happen. That’s got to be restored first, and I think it will be.”

Quarter 2 reset rolling out this winter

Some of Lewis’ changes have raised eyebrows. Parents will now be fined $25 for picking students up late after school. And getting to school on time is considered a priority. Every five tardies will be treated as an absence and 15 or more absences could result in a student being held back at the end of the year.

A stricter dress code — banning hats, pajamas, “excessive jewelry,” flip flops, sandals and more — began in October and the Zone is moving to a full uniform policy this month.

Each student has also been provided a clear backpack to discourage them from concealing prohibited items like weapons or marijuana in their book bags. In the first quarter, Lewis said, educators saw third graders bringing vapes to school.

“For any parent, their child is their most prized possession,” Lewis said. “Even before making sure that kids can read and write, my number one job is to make sure they get home safe every single day.”

More:Empowerment Zone names next chief with background in public, charter education

Zone leadership say these early changes are already showing signs of success. All Zone schools have reached an average daily attendance of at least 87%, Lewis said before the holiday break, with at least one school hitting 91%. His goal is to see all Zone schools reach at least 95%.

Students took mid-year benchmark exams just before the holidays. Lewis said he hopes to see at least 50% of students on grade level for English/language arts and 65% for math by the end of the year.

And, overall, disciplinary incidents are down. Lewis said in early December that administrators had not found any marijuana, vaping devices or weapons in Zone schools since the beginning of the Quarter 2 reset.

Some parents, however, are feeling whiplash from the change. During a series of community meetings this fall, families drew upon their past observations of turnaround efforts in South Bend. Lewis isn’t the first educator to come to the Zone schools, try out some new policies and promise change, they pointed out. What makes this time different? And why implement such sweeping changes in the middle of the year?

Jessi Hale — a parent to a student at Wilson and Navarre — says she’s not opposed to uniforms, but said it would have been easier to learn of the change earlier in the school year. The district’s decision to move to early release times on Thursdays — 1 p.m. at the elementary schools and 2 p.m. at Navarre — also could become a challenge for her family after her dad, who has been watching the kids, has surgery.

“The Empowerment Zone isn’t a bad place,” Hale said. “It’s just all these uniforms and things hitting us out of nowhere and at the worst time of the year. It’s hard.”

'A different leadership'

The Zone is offering an $80 credit per student for uniforms and is looking to expand its partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs for after-school care. Programs were offered to two schools in the fall semester and Lewis said he hopes to expand this to all Zone buildings early in 2023.

The early release days are a key part of administrators’ plan to extend additional professional development time to teachers. Educators can use this time, during regular working hours, to collaborate with other teachers in their school and at other schools across the Zone. Instructors can share ideas both with their peers at the same grade level, as well as those teaching a grade level above or below to ensure a smooth transition for students as they advance through school.

That level of teamwork among educators often means adding extra school days to the calendar, Lewis said, which was not an option this year because calendars were already approved and distributed to families.

Zone leaders said they are hopeful this extra time for teachers exemplifies the Zone’s commitment to its educators and leads to a shift in staff culture. Retention in schools across the country has been a challenge. Despite stipends offered specifically to Zone teachers, only 60% of its educators returned to the west side schools this fall.

More:Here's where incoming South Bend school board members stand on facility planning

Lucy said she’s more encouraged by these changes than others she's seen introduced by past leaders.

“I’ve been less than excited on other occasions,” Lucy said. “But this is different. This is a different leadership bringing, I think, the really, really strong values and focus.”

And although much of the Quarter 2 reset revolves around expectation setting, Lewis says he’s also actively advocating for new student programs that go beyond core academics.

The chief created a new director of student experience position this year. Zone leaders also are working to expand elementary school sports opportunities with teams like basketball, cheerleading, track and soccer being developed. Lewis said he was disappointed when he arrived to find schools lacking clubs, electives and specials.

“Not all of our schools have music, and we don't offer foreign language,” Lewis said. “Those things need to be tweaked, because we need to provide a well-rounded experience to our students. It needs to be holistic. Our students are more than test takers.”

Zone's future undetermined

Lewis acknowledges that it will take time to see results and that time is precious in a school structure operating on a fixed timeline.

The Zone schools are now midway through the fourth year of their initial five-year turnaround plan and, Lewis says, what comes next hasn’t yet been determined.

A clause within the Zone board’s initial agreement with the South Bend district allows the contract to automatically continue for another five years if local school leaders take no action. The Zone arrangement, however, could end if both Zone and South Bend school leaders agree or if district leaders believe the Zone has failed to meet goals established in 2019.

Without advocating a stance on what should happen next, Lewis said he believes the Zone has met its obligations. The chief said his approach is to do as much as he can with the time he is guaranteed but noted that he intends to be around “for the long haul.”

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” Lewis said. “I feel encouraged by some of the improvements in attendance and discipline data that I’ve seen so far, but there’s a lot more work to do.”

Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Carley Lanich at clanich@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @carleylanich.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Empowerment Zone setting new expectations with 'Quarter 2 reset'