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Managing Editor NEWS ANALYSIS SPRINGFIELD The success of the city's high schools and the future of School Superintendent Joseph Burke were the subjects of two separate meetings on Thursday that provided provocative comparisons. At a press conference at 1:30 p.m., Burke announced his criticism of the phase "drop-out factory" to describe the city's schools. "I strongly reject the provocative term of 'dropout factories,'" he said. He added the phrase sounded as if the school system was "deliberately failing students." "That is not the case," he said. Burke was referring to an Associated Press story about a study performed by John Hopkins University for the wire service examining graduation rates nationwide. The phrase was used in the story to denote schools that have a graduation rate of 60 percent or less, but it was not used in the actual report. Burke said the statistics in the report covered the years 1993 to 2002, with some 2004 figures also used. He felt these statistics were older than they should be for a study of this kind. He also pointed out the methodology used for the study was different from the way graduates are counted in Massachusetts and didn't follow specific groups of students. He said there needs to be a standardized means of computing graduation rates across the country. "This is a well-intended report that has created confusion," he said. He handed out the 2006 graduation rate for Central High School 76.3 percent and for Putnam Vocational Technical High School 56.9 percent. He said that rates for Putnam had shown improvement. Upon a request from this reporter, he then gave the figure for The High School of Commerce 54.5 percent and the High School of Science and Technology 52.4 percent. While Burke may not like the phrase "drop-out factory," his statistics clearly showed a severe problem in the Springfield schools. Those figures contrasted with ones he shared showing the increased number of students who were passing the MCAS. The class of 2007 had a 74 percent passing rate in 2006 and increased the level to 85 percent in 2007. Burke said there appears to be no correlation between passing the MCAS and graduating. He attributed the city's high dropout rate to boredom, "push-out" which he described as teachers telling students they would be better off out of school and a lack of job opportunities locally. To combat boredom, Burke said the School Department must accelerate its curriculum to challenge students and have classes that show a direct connection to available jobs. Burke said the department has hired two new counselors to address the dropout problem and noted that many of the city's eighth graders are not ready for high school. There are also a significant number of fifth and sixth graders, he said, who are performing at two grade level beneath where they should be. He said plans are being developed for a mandatory summer school for these students that would have full-day sessions for 30 days. Currently, summer school is 25 half-day classes. "We are thinking of a radical reform of it [summer school]," he said. Burke was invited to the meeting of the Ad Hoc School Committee and City Council group that met at 4:30 p.m. that day, but failed to appear or send a representative. Chairman of the group, City Councilor Jose Tosado, had called to meeting because of numerous phone calls questioning the leadership of the city's schools. Although Tosado said the meeting was not about Burke, but rather about the status of education, the meeting focused on issues concerning how the city is going to assess Burke's performance. Burke's current contract will be completed June 30, 2008 and Finance Control Board Executive Director Stephen Lisauskas said the board is considering how it should move forward in whether re-hiring Burke or seeking new candidates for the job. When asked by School Committee member Antonette Pepe what would determine a search for new superintendent, Lisauskas said the FCB would determine if a search would best for the children of the city. Lisauskas said there might be a role for the public in the search, although h could not say exactly what that would be. He did say the FCB would welcome letters and e-mails. School Committee candidate and activist parent Orlando Sanitago offered a thick pile of news clippings to the committee to show the on-going problems in the city's schools. "What is out contractual obligation to our children?" Santiago asked. He criticized not only Burke, but also Burke's four deputy superintendents. "It's not just Dr. Burke," he added. School Committee member Michael Rodgers noted that since Burke became superintendent in 2001 the composite performance indicators for math have risen from 40.9 percent to 52.6 percent and the English scores have gone from 54.2 percent to 68.2 percent. Rodgers said the district has made progress, and, considering the turnover in teachers due to the lack of a contract, he said he was happy with the numbers. | ||||||
