School Board Vote: Elementary School Will Close Forever

Concerned Parents Say:

School Board Kills The Best Thing

Going At Emery Unified

In a final unanimous blow, the Emery School Board of Trustees voted to forever shutter Anna Yates Elementary School Monday night, demonstrably, the best thing happening here at the Emery Unified School District.  The clock is now ticking for Anna Yates, the gem of Emery Unified; as the doors will close on the last child in the spring of 2015 when students will be shuttled over to the high school site where the Center of Community Life on San Pablo Avenue is now being constructed.

Some parents have lamented the closing of Anna Yates comes at a time of great and building academic synergy at the school; educators internally and external parental forces have conjoined to dramatically drive up academic achievement over the last few years.  The results have been reflected in the rising test scores; the Academic Performance Index (API) indicates Anna Yates has met and exceeded all the academic goals for this year, moving from an API score of 780 last year to 815 this year eclipsing the statewide API average of 788.  This year's dramatic jump comes following rising scores for the last five years at the school.

Emery High School, also known as Emery Secondary School on the other hand remains mired in a morass of low morale and low achievement, well below State averages.  The school has not met any of the District or State academic goals for this year.  The API scores at the high school shows an actual decline from 636 last year to 635 this year.
This decline has happened amid great pronouncements to the contrary from the District about rising academic achievement at the secondary school over the last couple of years.  Teachers there have complained about low morale and a recalcitrant administration profiled in a follow up audit by the National Center for Urban School Transformation earlier in the year.  The report condemned the District for its poor performance at Emery Secondary School.

Anna Yates Elementary School was recently
remodeled at a cost of $9 million.

The Board voted to close the elementary school Monday  despite a vocal opposition group of some 70 letter signers who pleaded to be allowed to make their case for saving the school last summer.  Board members, one by one told the  dissenters the School District had already decided about closing the school, a charge confirmed by Schools Superintendent Debbra Lindo last Saturday at a community meeting.  Ms Lindo contends the District had decided to close Anna Yates more than ten years ago despite assurances made by the former Superintendent and Board President Josh Simon in 2010 that the citizens would be allowed to decide that in the design phase meetings for the Center of Community Life.
It was noted at the time that Measure J, the plebiscite that citizens supported in 2010 to sell the school bonds necessary to build the new school, made no mention of closing Anna Yates Elementary School, giving ammunition to those who contend that citizens and parents should have been permitted to weigh in on the wisdom of closing the school.

Concerned parents have complained as the elementary school is closed and a new facility is built co-located with the high school, the management staff, critical to the rising test scores at the elementary school, will be dramatically reduced.  District officials have confirmed this, citing cost savings from such a reduction as a major reason to close Anna Yates.  The closure will leave one large school with one management culture, and likely worse academic outcomes looming for Kindergarten through 6th grade children, parents say.

Follow Up Schools Report: High School "At Risk"

NCUST's Devastating Follow Up Report:

School District Ignores Fix-It Recommendations At High School 

Just in time for the start of the new school year, Emery High School has received another failing grade according to a follow-up report released last week from the National Center for Urban School Transformation, an education center funded by San Diego State University Research Foundation, tasked with evaluating Emeryville's schools.  The report was meant to track implementation progress as a result of recommendations from an assessment report presented by the National Center last year.  That report, a sobering affair by any standards, showed a High School in failure on many counts leading to lowered academic results here at Emery.  As with last year's report, the NCUST assessment team this time also faulted mostly administrators.

The NCUST team now recommends the District explore alternate solutions such as transforming the school to what it calls the Emery Early College High School, a place where a high percentage of students complete one or two years of college credit by the time they graduate from high school or a Career Partnership Academy where students complete internships in local companies such as Bayer/ Novartis or Pixar. 

  

Dr. Joseph Johnson
Executive Director
NCUST

Same as last year, the assessment team was headed up by Dr Joseph Johnson, the Executive Director at NCUST.  Dr Johnson personally assisted in the survey conducted at the schools and the follow-up assessment report. 

The new report notes many areas of last year's recommendations that the School District ignored outright or failed to implement properly.  The report now ominously warns of collapsing enrollment as parents seek a higher quality school elsewhere, "We are suggesting that the school is at risk of suffering diminished enrollments until the school is not sustainable" the report warns.  

The new assessment calls into question the School Board's commitment to change they promised after last year's report.  School Board member Josh Simon called for an implementation program to facilitate the recommendations in the wake of that report.

Elementary School Praised

Emery's elementary school, Anna Yates, as a contrast, received generally high marks and is shown to be continuing to improve.  The areas of improvement called for are mostly minor and not systemic.  Both teachers and the administration were praised by the report.

High School Condemned
Of the ten identified areas of concern needing improvement at the High School, seven either failed utterly or didn't improve enough to satisfy the assessment team.  Two areas showed clear progress and one area was deemed "difficult to assess". 

Perhaps the most distressing assessment for School District officials is the observation that the Center of Community Life, a high concept "school as the hub of the community" and long held out by the District as the lifeline to the failing High School, will not be sufficient on its own to turn the culture around. 

The Center of Community Life 

"will not be sufficient" 

to fix the schools

The report was generally positive as far as teachers at the High School are concerned, finding the ongoing problems there mostly with an unsupportive administration disrupting an environment where teachers might be encouraged to improve.  From the report, "One teacher explained, 'It’s hard to become a better teacher if you have to hide your weaknesses to keep your job.'  Teachers were not particularly open or clear about the sources of this tension.  In addition to discussing their lack of trust with colleagues, teachers discussed their lack of trust in the superintendent. They described the reduction in force as a contributing factor. They perceived that the superintendent had assured teachers that layoffs would not occur. They felt betrayed when layoffs were announced."

"We are suggesting that the school 

is at risk of suffering diminished 

enrollments until the school 

is not sustainable."

Administrators were further shown to be operating in a crisis mode, "Administrators did not perceive that they had adequate time to visit classrooms, especially after March 15th when the reduction in force went into effect. We did not acquire evidence that teachers had experienced opportunities to provide feedback to or receive feedback from their colleagues" the report noted.

Bright Note

The assessment team found some improvement, notably a greater sense of orderliness over last year, "The number of suspensions has declined; on the day of our visit, fewer students were waiting in the office because of discipline issues; classrooms and hallways were more orderly; and students reported a greater sense of order throughout the school."  However the assessment tempered the observation with an admonition that student behavior is at a low standard, "While there is substantial evidence of improvement over 2011-2012, there are still classrooms where students are not expected to adhere to high behavioral expectation." the report adds.

The entire NCUST follow-up report may be read here:  http://bit.ly/PEThY0