Two Lake Wales charter schools in turnaround status after receiving D grades

As part of the turnaround process mandated by Florida statutes, low performing charter schools must develop and implement strategies to raise student outcomes once their school grades fall to a D rated school.

The superintendent for Lake Wales Charter Schools says time and hard work will help two of its elementary schools now in turnaround status after low test scores showed their students have not made expected learning gains.

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Principals Anna Barcenas at Polk Avenue Elementary School and Kim Griffiths at Janie Howard Willson elementary school, which both received D grades, presented their improvement plans to the Polk County School Board during the panel’s Tuesday work session.

Polk Avenue had been a B school in 2019, according to the Florida Department of Education.

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Among the several reasons cited for poor student achievement at the charter elementaries was the impact the pandemic had on its families and the student population.

Many of the students are homeless, migrants or English language learners among other factors giving them a potential disadvantage in the classroom compared to their peers. Absenteeism was a factor in learning losses at the schools especially during the pandemic as well - an issue also reported by school districts across the country.

Further, the teacher shortage, academic coaches and paraprofessionals were all in short supply in the charter schools, which has since hired more instructional staff to assist in the turnaround, their principals said.

The FDOE did not respond to a request for further details about charter school turnarounds. The Florida Alliance for Charter Schools, which advocates for the charter educational system, also did not respond to a request for comment.

Time, work key to making schools successful

"I think both principals that are in place are building excellent strategic plans for the future, and at the end of the day it doesn't matter what your population is … it comes down to two key four-letter words: 'time' and 'work,'” said Lake Wales Charter Schools superintendent Wayne Rodolfich, who oversaw A and B schools with similar socio- economic student populations in Mississippi before taking the reins in Lake Wales in July.

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“There isn’t any secret to being successful,” he said. “You have to work very hard and invest a lot of time into it.”

The schools will also emphasize literacy across the curriculums moving forward compared to the past with accelerated reading programs, he said.

“I think both of the principals have dug into the data to see what the issues are,” Rodolfich said of their plans for improvements.

More teacher training, academic plan coaches, lesson plan templates should help

The principals also told the Polk County School Board that over the summer months additional professional development sessions were held and teachers have gained more instructional skills due to the additional training.

Further, new and universal lesson plan templates aligned with state standards for each classroom teacher have been in use this school year and administrators are conducting additional walk-throughs to observe instruction and determine the appropriate level of student engagement is being met during each lesson.

Academic coaches are also modeling lessons to give teachers real time observational training in their own classrooms.

In addition to turn around plans, the Lake Wales Charter Schools are in the midst of renewal applications to the Polk County School Board, Janie Howard Wilson Elementary and Polk Avenue Elementary are seeking a five-year renewal of their charters for the school years 2023 to 2028. They cannot request a longer period while they are in turnaround.

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Parents, teachers voted for created of charter schools

The five schools within the Lake Wales Charter School District are schools that converted to public charters in 2004 after teachers and parents voted in favor of the conversion. The city subsequently added two charter middle schools.

In 2013, the state made Lake Wales a “local education agency,” which meant the city was its own school district, but does not have an elected school board. Like Polk County Public Schools, its board hires a superintendent to run its operations.

Two of seven public schools serving the Lake Wales area did not receive enough votes to join the charter system. Those schools are Spook Hill Elementary School and McLaughlin Middle School, which is currently adding high school grades. Once the high school is fully operational, this will provide K-12 public school options to parents in Lake Wales if they prefer a traditional public school.

The Edward W. Bok Academy North and Lake Wales High School are both seeking 10-year charter renewals for 2023 to 2033.

“We've been faithful to most of the charter with exception of our academic performance,” Griffiths told the Polk School Board. "Our plans are to continue with the IB philosophy,” adding data on students is now being tracked weekly, a literacy team was created, and new academic coaches have been added.

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A new math curriculum has been purchased in addition to a reading curriculum that was brought on last school year. A program that sends grade level appropriate books home for families to keep is also underway. The computer-based supplemental learning program was changed to iReady which helps teachers track learning growth of the students. Some $10,000 was also spent on new library books.

"Our data is an area of concern and with that you can see particularly with ELA and mathematics," she said. For example, the lowest 25% in mathematics went from 6% to 50% of students assessed.

The school also has a 10% homeless population which is a reduction over last school year. The school has an 80% minority population, with about 50% Hispanic and 30% Black students. The instructional staff is 51% certified in English as a Second Language.

The school is also using the Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System to assist with ESE students with learning disabilities. She also said the school has reduced student disciplinary referrals and attendance has reached 91% recently.

Barcenas, in her second year as the principal, made a similar report for her school, which is now using iReady too, hiring an interventionist, implementing the B.E.S.T. standards, which replaced previous Common Core standards. The Polk Avenue school student makeup is 41% Hispanic, 29-31% Black and about 30% white.

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"I think the changes we are making will get us back on where we were beyond pre-pandemic," she said.

The principals' reports gained a positive reception from the School Board with members Lori Cunningham, Mary Beth Wyatt, Kay Fields, Lynn Wilson and Lisa Miller praising them for the efforts to turn the schools around.

Cunningham also noted the cooperation between Rodolfich and Polk Schools superintendent Frederick Heid.

"For working together, this is truly a monumental time in history, in my opinion, of Polk County when it comes to education," said Cunningham. "I think the only thing we are going to gain is very positive momentum having the two systems talk to each other, work together, share knowledge and experiences, share programs."

Paul Nutcher can be reached at pnutcher@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Two Lake Wales charter schools under watch list