The regular meeting
of the AISD Board of Trustees on Monday featured few items for action, but
plenty of talking, both before and on the dais, about trustee Loretta Edelen’s
“Six Point Plan.”
The plan, introduced in May by Edelen and other black leaders during the
district’s budget deliberations, calls for “full restoration of funding for the
lowest socioeconomic level schools” and for the contracts of principals and
teachers at those schools to be tied to the academic performance of the
students for whom they are responsible. It also calls for using “successful
programs” (noted black educator Marva Collins has been invoked often) and for
providing “necessary support services to schools to help students be
academically successful.” Following established educational goals on a strict
deadline, as established by the Texas Education Agency, is also one of the
points.
Jeff Travillion, president of the Austin chapter of the NAACP, along with
several other by-now familiar school board regulars, told the board that a
sense of distrust between the minority community and the school district has
been proliferating. One reason: Bond advisory committee reports about facility
needs on the east side of I-35, if implemented, would still render those
schools inequitable with others in AISD, Travillion said. In order to move
forward in good faith, he said, “we need implementation of the Six Point Plan.”
Superintendent Jim Fox has stated in recent months that he already agrees with
most of the points. Speaking directly to items on the Six Point Plan on Monday,
deputy superintendent for instructional services and school operations Oscar
Perry told trustees that AISD administration is not ready to tie principals’
and teachers’ contracts to student performance. Doing so won’t “necessarily
lead to student success,” he said. Instead, offering extended-year contracts,
which allow time for more preparation and training, as well as recruiting
educators trained in urban education, might be the way to go, Perry said.
Trustees’ comments varied. Tom Agnor said he found the notion of employee
contracts tied to student performance “superfluous.” Melissa Knippa said she
herself hadn’t completely abandoned the idea that staffs at AISD’s
non-performing schools should be scrapped and begun anew. Liz Hartman said most
of the points in the Six Point Plan were already incorporated into the board’s
long-term goals for district improvement. The board’s most prominent business
type, Jerry Carlson, had an unanticipated reaction: “It takes a long time to
fix this system. I wish it was as easy to fix as a business. It’s not.”
Discussion of and possible revision to the plan are expected to be ongoing.
Trustee Ted Whatley praised Edelen for bringing it forward and said he thought
changes were already afoot.
Other district business: Deputy superintendent Perry, hired nine months ago,
has been lured back to the State of Georgia to head up its education
department’s technology division. Perry has been Fox’s right-hand man for 16
years, through several states and school systems. Trustee Diana
Caste�eda was the only board member who voted not to release him from
his contract because she didn’t want him to go (neither did the other members).
Kay Psencik, associate superintendent for instructional support services, will
assume Perry’s job. Darlene Westbrook, who has served in AISD administration in
a variety of capacities, will take Psencik’s position, once Westbrook’s
replacement as Area 5 superintendent has been found.
This article appears in January 12 • 1996 and January 12 • 1996 (Cover).