Bekah McNeel

Tag: SAISD

The McNeels Choose a School, Part Five: What’s in a neighborhood?

January 16, 2019 No Comments

When applying for SAISD’s choice programs, parents may choose three programs per child. While we started out with the ambitious goal of visiting about five schools before applying, by the time we visited our top three choices, we were pretty much set. Both kids are in the lottery for Steele Montessori. Moira went on the Kinder waitlist at the Advanced Learning Academy, and both kids are in the lottery for Mark Twain Dual Language Academy. 

While Moira is an obvious candidate for dual language—she watched Frozen in Spanish the other day, and still quotes the few phrases she could understand—we don’t know yet how well Asa take to it. Moira was bilingual in French and English until she was two and a half, thanks to her caregiver (not her monolingual parents). She later picked up Portuguese from our Brazilian au pair, Jessica. Asa, who was home with Jessica all day, did not pick up as much. Moira loves all things verbal, including, I suppose, the Romance languages. 

Of course, interest aside, there are tons of reasons to seek out bilingualism for children, especially in San Antonio, where speaking Spanish is a huge advantage socially and professionally. 

Learning two languages is good for children’s brains as well, as evidenced by Moira’s early exposure and continuing ease picking up vocabulary. 

At the Twain prospective parent night, the principal recalled funny examples of how students who learn Spanish from an adult speak Spanish with adult formality, whereas students who speak to other students in Spanish sound much more natural. 

Of course, “sounding natural” is a happy outcome for families whose main goal is bilingual biculturalism. However, the academic value of their language skills will be determined by a standard assessment. How we assess students ultimately determines the value placed on each skill, and English is still the lingua academia of the American public school system. To be considered bilingual, an English speaking child has to know less Spanish than a Spanish speaking child has to know English. The stakes are higher for Spanish speakers picking up English.

Dual language, SAISD says, is the most effective way to achieve those ends for Spanish speakers, while allowing them to maintain and build on their native language—which is not a goal in traditional ESL. Dual language programs are supposed to be made up of a 50/50 mix of English and Spanish speakers. The children learn from each other, socialize in both languages, and learn their other subjects in both languages.

Twain is in high demand, as are all programs that promise bilingualism and biliteracy. Spanish in particular is super “hot right now.” In many places the demand for Spanish immersion programs comes a predictable pushing out of lower income students, some of whom are the very ones who would benefit most from learning in their native language, and celebrating a language they hear spoken by family members. SAISD’s rapid expansion of dual language programs—this year 45 campuses, nearly half of all SAISD schools, offer dual language services— and the Diverse by Design socioeconomic protections at Twain make it unlikely that middle class families will take up a majority of the district’s dual language seats in the immediate future. 

For us, the main appeal of Twain is its location, which brings up a far more interesting point.

We live less than one mile from Twain, which puts it at the top of Lewis’s list. We could, in theory, walk our kids to school. Forgotten lunchboxes…emergency vomit calls…all significantly more convenient to remedy. 

Twain is snuggled between Monte Vista, where the median home value is $499,000, and quickly re-gentrifying Alta Vista where median sale prices have gone up 33 percent in the past year. 

If this whole choice process were only about curriculum, Irving Dual Language Academy should be in similar demand. Both are Diverse by Design schools. Both wall-to-wall dual language. Both are building the student body from the ground up with families who have specifically chosen that school. 

However, Irving does not have the same student profile that Twain does. It’s student body skews poorer than the target 50/50, while Twain’s skews a bit wealthier.  Twain has a waitlist a mile long—we’ve been told multiple times that despite living less than a mile away and applying with a three year old, that we have little chance of getting in. Our chances at Irving, given our socioeconomic status, would be better. 

Irving is located in the heart of the West Side. The homes in Irving’s zip code, 78207, have a median value around $78,000. It is, in a way, a test case for the district to see if appealing instructional models can overcome class anxiety.

I recently drove the route between Twain and Irving, watching the neighborhood change around me. Sidewalks became spottier. Tree canopies thinned. All the signals of middle class economics changed to working class as I turned south on Zarzamora and west on Culebra. Thanks to years of reporting, I’m familiar and comfortable on the West Side, but I tried to take myself back to the first time I parked my car at the Lincoln Heights apartments. Would I have, in that frame of mind, been willing to leave my child in a place that I had been so conditioned to fear? 

I don’t know. 

It looks like SAISD administrations-past never anticipated such a question.

While the communities and instruction at Twain and Irving are similar, and similarly enthusiastic, their buildings bear signs of a different attitude, one that would have said a lot about what administration expected from these schools. One has windows, and a charming Hollywoodville school facade. The other, like Lanier High School and Bowden Elementary School, was built windowless, ostensibly for safety— a signal to parents that the neighborhood is something from which children must be protected. For now, one building signals “classic neighborhood school” the other signals “it’s 1973, and things have gotten out of control.” 

I didn’t apply to Irving, and I don’t think it would have been somehow more virtuous for me to do so. I also do believe that many wealthier parents will embrace the school, as long as it serves students well. I just can’t help but notice the many ways in which our segregated city has left its imprints on our psyches–what we fear, what we want, and where we feel at home.

Rumblings continue in the battle over SAISD-charter partnership

February 19, 2018 No Comments

San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel President Shelly Potter addresses members of the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers Support and Personnel, Stewart Elementary parents and staff at a rally outside Burnet Elementary before the school board votes on whether to move forward with a partnership between Stewart Elementary School and Democracy Prep Public Schools, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018.
Photo by Alma Hernandez for Folo Media

“Whose schools?”

“Our schools!”

“Whose schools?”

“Our schools!”

That was the call and response chant on the steps of the SAISD administrative building ahead of the January 22 board meeting, in which the board voted to move forward in a charter agreement with Democracy Prep, a nonprofit organization that runs charter schools in Louisiana and the Northeast. 

Following the Jan 22 meeting SAISD authorized Democracy Prep– which had not previously been approved to operate in Texas– to effect a school turnaround at Stewart Elementary, a traditional neighborhood school currently in its fifth year of failure to meet state standards. Authorized through SAISD, Democracy Prep can open more schools in Texas. 

The 2017 law that incentivizes SAISD to contract with Democracy Prep, Senate Bill 1882, requires the school to serve every single child living in the Stewart attendance zone, if they chose to go there. What this means for special education and English language learners had not been fully worked out at the time of the January 22 meeting, but Martinez assured the board that it would be fully explored as the district hammered out a performance agreement and subsequent contract.

The Texas Education Agency had not finalized rules for SB 1882 in time for the February 20th board meeting. The district will check the terms of any partnership by those forthcoming rules before bringing the performance agreement to a vote. Final rules will be published by Feb 26, with guidance following on March 12, per the TEA website.
In the meantime, tension continues to build between the district and the union.
The San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel, the union representing faculty and non-administrative staff in the district, rallied ahead of the Jan 22 meeting to protest what they describe as the abdication of responsibility.
Later that night (once the decision was official) the Alliance Facebook page posted a summary of the meeting that ended with, “The district administration, in effect, admitted they do not know how to do their core mission of educating our district’s students and because of that they are bringing in a company from New York City to do the job that they are evidently not capable of doing.”

One of the Alliance’s concerns is what will happen to students who would not typically thrive on a Democracy Prep campus. Because of its history as an independent “no excuses” charter district, Democracy Prep schools have not operated under the same legal requirements to accommodate students considered part of “special populations.” 

Democracy Prep was not on the agenda at the Feb 12 board meeting either, however Alliance president Shelley Potter presented an extensive list of performance recommendations to the board during the citizens to be heard portion of the meeting. Under the title, “What Our Community Demands from Any Proposed Charter School Operator in SAISD” the two page document lists six categories of detailed assurances the Alliance would like from the district, including transparent planning, high quality curriculum (including bilingual or dual language instruction), classroom management policy, and family supports. Two sections pertain to teacher and employee concerns.

Martinez has made his position known as well. In a January 24 interview with nonprofit news site The 74 Martinez noted that while the district has many choice schools, Democracy Prep is the first time he’s gotten backlash. He attributes this to the teacher contract issue.

“For every other option, the employees have reported to us, so we’ve been able to open new models with little resistance,” Martinez told The 74, “Is it coming from parents? The short answer is “no.” I had a parent meeting last week to explain this, and it’s not coming from them. I’m proud of the trust we have built with parents. Parents want these choices. The backlash is coming from our unions and alliances in San Antonio. It’s about having charter schools that don’t have union contracts versus schools with union contracts or union right.”

SAISD Superintendent Pedro Martinez at a school board meeting Monday, Jan. 22, 2018, where a vote was taken to move forward with a partnership with Democracy Prep Public School to takeover Stewart Elementary starting in the fall. Photo by Alma Hernandez for Folo Media.

He went on to say that the district will choose partners who treat teachers well. While the details are not yet finalized, faculty contracts were non-negotiable for Democracy Prep, Martinez said, the charter school will be the employer, not SAISD. Teachers currently have protective contracts at SAISD, Democracy Prep practices at-will hiring. This came as an abrupt surprise for the faculty of Stewart.

During the Jan 22 board meeting, members of the Alliance spoke passionately to the board. Alejandra Lopez, a teacher at Stewart, accused the district of robbing the parents and faculty of their “right to self-determination.” Given the chance, she said, the parents would have participated in a redesign and used their voice.

As a matter of policy, the board does not respond to comments during the citizens to be heard. However, before the board voted to move forward with the arrangement, Martinez spoke to the issue of parental choice.

The parents of Stewart students have been advocating for their students for years, he said. The evidence is in the rapidly declining enrollment at Stewart as students have flocked to Brooks Academy and other nearby charter schools. 

“Those parents do have a voice,” Martinez said, “They walk.”

Enrollment at Stewart has been falling for years. During the 2016-2017 school year, Stewart served 542 students. Enrollment had fallen from 560 the year before and 565 the year before that. Many of those students went to charter schools like nearby Brooks Academy.

I watched the attrition first hand when I was reporting for the Rivard Report.

In the spring of 2016, photographer Scott Ball and I followed three students at Stewart as a way to highlight the need and possibility for change under Martinez, who was then in his first year as superintendent. One of the first students we interviewed was a fourth-grader identified as a good student who needed strong supports to stay on track. His guardian told us that she had put him on the waiting list at Brooks Academy after talking to other parents who had done the same. While their chief concern was middle school, they wanted to start applying early so as not to miss their chance.

When we came back for a second interview, we were informed that the fourth-grader had left Stewart to attend Brooks Academy.

Data supports these parents’ decision. Brooks Academy may or may not be the best long-term decision, that data simply won’t exist until the school has been around longer. However, the data does support the decision to leave Stewart.

Mike Villarreal, a University of Texas at Austin researcher and former State representative, also spoke at the Jan 22 board meeting. Through a collaboration with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Texas Workforce Commission, and several local school districts, Villarreal has been able to trace graduates of various San Antonio area elementary schools into adulthood.

Long term student outcomes for Stewart were not good, Villarreal said. Even before Stewart had fallen out of compliance with state standards, it was graduating students into a future of low performance.

Stewart graduates who were in the workforce in 2016 made an average of $18,000 per year, Villarreal’s data showed. State average is $34,000. Only about five percent earned post-secondary certificates and degrees within six years of their projected high school graduation, compared to 20 percent statewide.

“I’m here to celebrate what you are already doing which is keeping your eye on student outcomes,” Villarreal said to the board.

SAISD has room for 15,000 more students…where will they live?

February 13, 2018 No Comments

One of the quirks of Texas government is the disconnect between school districts and the cities they serve. While districts answer directly to the state, bypassing city government, decisions made a city hall directly affect the health of schools.

Take, for example, housing.

A resolution unanimously adopted by the San Antonio ISD board (with President Patti Radle and trustee Debra Guerrero absent) at its Feb 12 meeting highlights the inextricable link between quality housing and quality schools. As the city fires up its task force to pursue a “Comprehensive Housing Policy Framework”, SAISD has stake in the conversation, trustee Ed Garza told me. Currently three SAISD trustees have City Hall on their resume. Garza served on city council from 1997 to 2001, and for two terms as mayor beginning in 2001. Radle served on city council from 2003 to 2007, and Guerrero from 1997 to 2001.

“You can’t really talk about infill, affordable housing and mixed income communities in the oldest part of San Antonio without talking about neighborhood schools,” Garza said.

The resolution acknowledges the role of housing in the district’s declining student population. Since its peak in 1968, the district has lost around 26,000 students, and can currently absorb at least 15,000 more into its existing facilities, the resolution states.

The northward sprawl of the city over past decades has left substantial gaps in quality family housing near the city’s core, which is served by SAISD, the county’s third largest school district with around 50,000 students. Other districts south of downtown have felt a similar attrition of middle class families looking for new or stable housing in the $100,000-$200,000.

The average home value in SAISD is around $70,023, according to the district. The state average. In those parts of the district serving the East and West sides of San Antonio— including two of the nation’s poorest zip codes, 78207 and 78208—the situation is far more bleak.

In 78207 more than half of the population, are renters and the average home value in 2016 was $62,000. In 78208, the 2016 average home value was a bit higher, $76,000. However, the percentage of renters was higher as well, and the median income was roughly the same. The later zip code runs into recently gentrified Lower Broadway where property values are climbing.

Concentrated poverty, Garza explained, makes it almost impossible for either schools or housing to improve without one another.  Schools can become the catalyst, but if there’s not transformation of the neighborhood, Garza said, “It doesn’t allow the neighborhood to elevate or start to break the cycle of poverty.”

Without the building stock to house them, Garza explained, families migrate northward where a virtuous cycle continues to feed middle class housing and schools.

The schools are not without culpability in the decline, acknowledged Garza. In some of the neighborhoods already experiencing “regeneration” (Garza does not like the term “gentrification”), such as Dignowity Hill and Monticello Park,  “We have not seen that translate into neighborhood school attendance.”

That’s changing in some neighborhoods where district efforts and housing stock have worked in concert. Lamar Elementary, located in Mahncke Park, is starting to attract its own middle class neighbors back to the school, which had seen enrollment decline for years.

The district has also launched ten “diversity by design” schools, which are not bound to an attendance zone. These schools use attractive curriculums and instruction models to appeal to families from across and outside the district. By attracting those parents, as well as families in the immediate neighborhood, SAISD chief innovation officer Mohammed Choudhury has been able to diversify the socioeconomic mix of students on these campuses.

However, open enrollment alone cannot solve the entire problem of segregation and economic isolation, Choudhury has said, housing will be critical.