Guest Weblog Post: Stouder on FWCS

Fort Wayne Observed invites submissions for guest posts on topics relating to life in Fort Wayne. Guest posts are invited to spur discussion and present a wider variety of viewpoints.

Fort Wayne resident and guest blogger Brian Stouder writes about his family's experience with Fort Wayne Community Schools:

A year ago, our family included an 8th grader and a 5th grader at Towles Montessori school, and a pre-K student at Bunche Montessori school - the only public Montessori school in the United States accredited by the American Montessori Society. My wife and I were quite taken by the innovative, forward-looking, and results oriented environment at these schools, and our young folks absolutely thrived. We valued that in these Montessori schools, if a student is motivated to press on and work ahead, the nature and the culture within these schools encourages and empowers them to do exactly that. Indeed we were (and remain) very proud of these schools, and our students' success within them.

But our 8th grader then finished up at Towles, and the prospect of high school appeared on the near horizon; specifically, South Side High School loomed before us. South Side was my high school, 31 years ago(!), and that was a source of some solace; but, truth be told, we were somewhat frightened. It's a very large school, and we had the general impression that it was a pretty rough place; it looked like the deep end of the pool (so to speak). Further, our general impression was that it was in turmoil, with the massive staff shakeup, including the principal and assistant principals. 

I don't precisely remember how we came to the decision, but a year ago or so, attending Fort Wayne Community School Board meetings became very important to me. Sometimes one or the other kids would accompany me, and every so often I could even get my lovely wife to come downtown with me; but in any case, I felt a need to understand how things were operating, and what challenges were being faced by the district. (Our TV service provider doesn't offer the public access channel, but even if it did, it couldn't offer the chance to informally chat with this or that administrator or board member)

In the course of the last year, I've learned many acronyms, and many highly significant facts about our Fort Wayne Community Schools, and - importantly - I've also seen firsthand how those things addressed at the board meetings flow into the schools where we have students. The most crucial "fact of life" I learned about downtown was the all-important "AYP", or Adequate Yearly Progress cell. In a nutshell, all students, sorted by defined subgroups, must be tested in reading/language arts and mathematics. Those "subgroups" include various racial and economic metrics, so that a large, diverse school system like FWCS (within which 79 different languages are spoken, for example) starts out with a much tougher task, and many more AYP cells to satisfy, than a smaller school system might have; and you cannot fail in any of them. 

FWCS has lots of tools at their disposal, including Pyramid for Success (which boils down to extra attention and supplemental instruction for students who need it, and getting out of the way of students who do not) and an engaged school board that does NOT presume to micromanage daily operation of the schools, but instead resolutely sets district goals and standards, and then holds the administration accountable to those goals, every month.

I plainly confess that I remained apprehensive as our 15 year old entered South Side. We attended a meeting for freshmen at the South Side auditorium, presided by the principal, Mr. Mable, and that was somewhat reassuring. It was good to be inside my old school, but it seemed even more enormous then it had 30 years ago. In fact, it really was quite different from when I attended there, but the principal seemed calm and professional, and that was good. At some point - possibly during that meeting - we learned that Mr. Mable and Mr. Houser (an assistant principal) held monthly parent meetings at the school, called "Inside the Ivy", and we immediately put that onto our calendar. 

Those meetings are simply marvelous. They consist of detailed updates of how South Side is progressing, with regard to key metrics such as attendance, testing, assessments, and any other issues that arise. Every so often, you get a "bonus", too. For example, at one of those Inside the Ivy meetings, I learned that State Superintendent of Public Education Tony Bennett was coming to town a day later. So then, two days later at the beautiful North Side auditorium, I got to meet Mr. Bennett, and ask him a question or two, and take his measure.  I almost certainly would not have learned of his visit AHEAD of time, if not for that Inside the Ivy meeting.

Adding the monthly Inside the Ivy meetings to the week-to-week progression of data we get from Ed-Line (essentially electronic report cards that you get weekly via e-mail), plus the school board meetings, has given me a great deal of reassurance, and peace of mind. For one thing, South Side no longer resides in my imagination as a big scary place full of fearful and unknown things. Instead, I feel like a stakeholder there; it is my school again. And for another, FWCS itself doesn't seem like some huge and technically unexplainable thing that only exists to collect and spend vast sums of money, but instead, strikes me as a genuinely hard-working and dedicated bunch of people successfully navigating a very complex challenge.

And, not for nothing, informally talking about FWCS with my friends and colleagues has become a point of pride. Others are rightly happy with their suburban school systems, or their parochial schools, and that's fine; in fact, that's the way it should be. Ideally, we should all be happy with our schools; and in fact, I am very happy with Fort Wayne Community Schools in general, and with Bunche and Towles and South Side, specifically.

I think that the Fort Wayne School Board of Trustees' resolution of support for the teachers and their collective bargaining rights, as discussed by board president Mark GiaQuinta, is superb, and indeed, it should be remembered just how crucial the cooperation of the teachers' union has been to our schools' current success. I intend to be at Monday's school board meeting, if only to personally applaud when that resolution is adopted.

Comments

[Patrick McAlister]

Mr. Stouder,

I am a product of Bunche Montessori School and I am thrilled to hear the Montessori schools in FWCS are still producing outstanding results. While she just retired, Mrs. McMahan taught me 1st through 5th grade at Bunche. She instilled in me a love for learning and gave me the best foundation for a successful life.

While I did graduate from one of the excellent suburban public high schools in a neighboring district, I am thrilled you are strongly advocating for urban public schools making a difference.

So thank you, Mr. Stouder, for sticking up for good urban schools and good teachers in those schools.

Ed. note: Mr. McAlister is currently teaching through the Teach For America program.

[Evert Mol]

The problem at my former high school obviously isn't due to kids like Mr. Stouder's. The problem is the 70 to 80% who can't pass a stadardized test over a course they've just taken. It's those kids who will eventually drive parents like Mr. Stouder out of the district.

[Ryan Joseph]

The problem IS that Mr. Stouder doesn't realize the lack of education his children are receiving in FWCS. As an individual, who has worked in surrounding county school districts, one only has to see that the 12th grade Social Studies test at South Side is equivalent to the 7th Social Studies test at a number of area schools in surrounding rural and suburban districts.

FWCS is too focused on kill and drill methods that don't produce the critical thinking methods that are needed for success in college and later life. There is recent evidence that the lack of critical thinking, creativity and innovation are holding our nation, and we are going off the deep-end like China. (Read Zhao Yong's blog entries about globalization.)

FWCS has abandoned classes in electricity, woodworking, drafting and welding, to chase down the almighty ISTEP scores. They have abandoned home ec., gym and health in middle schools. While these subject matters are not on the test, these courses often spark a career interest or side hobby.

Furthermore, FWCS' union is too protected on keeping the status' quo pay, and not changing the academic structure or testing system.

[Roger McNeill]

I wasn't real impressed with the School Board donning pro-union sweaters & pom-poms and taking a meaningless vote in favor of the union stance. I'll bet they're real tigers when it comes to protecting the public dime in the tough tough tough contract negotiations.

[Susan Stahl]

Mr. Stouder, thank you for your post. I am the parent of a K student at Bunche and have become very involved with the PTA and volunteering both at Bunche and Towles. Our son is not even close to starting high school, but I have also started investigating the options. By being involved with the schools, I'm also getting to know many older students, some currently enrolled at South Side. I've been very impressed. I've also heard some very positive things about New Tech Academy at Wayne H.S. Earlier in the school year I spent about an hour with Mark GiaQuinta. I walked away from that meeting confident we have a school board president who is truely passionate about education and the success of our children. In fact, all the teachers, administrators and support personnel of FWCS have impressed me in every interaction I have had with them during the past 2.5 years.

The public doesn't seem to understand how difficult it is for an urban school district to make AYP. As stated above, FWCS has 79 different languages alone, bringing their total number of cells upwards into the 120 range. As a comparison, Ft. Wayne suburban districs have in the neighborhood of 11 cells. (I don't recall the exact number of cells for either district, but suffice it say, the difference is astounding.)

It's nice to see others who strongly supports FWCS and the good being done there. There has been so much discussion lately about the sad state of public education in our country. I wonder though...in all that discussion, why are the parents never held accountable? Is it not politically correct? I'm sure the teachers don't want to point fingers as it would appear they're just trying to blame someone else. But what about the politicians and the others making so much noise? Isn't being involved in your child's education considered a family value? The 70% of failing students at South Side referred to above by Evert Mol-where are their parents? Even in the Bunche/Towles Montessori community, a big turnout for a PTA meeting is 20 people. I feel this is a huge issue no one seems to be willing to talk about. If the parents don't support the school, wherever that school may be, how can the children be expected to take their education seriously?