Innovations
04/09 -- ‘Community walks’ aimed at truancy prevention
The Prince George’s County, Md., school system has taken to the streets in a major campaign to reduce truancy and chronic absenteeism.
The district formed a partnership with the police department to set up a phone number for people to call if they see any unattended children outside during school hours.
School board members, principals, teachers, community leaders, and students -- led by football players and cheerleaders -- participated in a series of “community walks” to publicize the importance of school attendance and asked business owners to display posters with the phone number to report truants.
“The district posted the phone number throughout the community and asked citizens to put it on speed dial,” says school board member Rosalind Johnson. “We put the number on the district website and talked about it at all our meetings. People called in by the thousands.”
When truants are picked up, they’re assigned to a team that includes the school counselor, social worker, and other staff. The team works with students and their families to address whatever issues -- related to academics, health, family problems, or discipline -- that are preventing students from succeeding in school.
If students still fail to attend school regularly, parents are brought in and warned that they could be prosecuted.
The district’s average daily attendance was more than 91 percent during the first quarter of 2008-09, compared to 79 percent during the same period the year before.
Contact: John White, communications officer, john2.white@pgcps.org; (301) 952-6375.
District creates ‘gay friendly’ middle school
“The Milwaukee school board approved a plan in December to expand a “gay-friendly” high school to sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders. That would make the Alliance School the first public school in the nation designed to meet the needs of gay middle grades students, says Marty Lexmond, the district’s director of school innovations.
Currently, the Alliance School, a charter school, serves about 100 students in grades 9-12 in a building shared with two other small schools. Lexmond expects the school to serve about 120 students in grades 6-12 in a stand-alone facility next fall.
The Alliance School was created four years ago “to focus on young people who were feeling bullied and harassed and dropped out because they felt their school was not meeting their needs,” says Lexmond.
“The school is not limited to students who are gay or who are trying to figure out whether they are gay or not,” he says. “It’s not just about being gay friendly, although we are proud of that. It’s about creating a school for any young people who feel bullied or harassed because they are perceived as different.”
The Alliance School has the same testing and graduation requirements as other Milwaukee public schools. What makes it different is its strong connections with community organizations and social services, a project-based curriculum, and democratically based organization. Students will participate in disciplinary decisions through a peer court and will have a say in how the school spends its funds.
Contact: Tina Owen, Teacher Leader, Alliance School, 042@mail.milwaukee.k12.wi.us
Dome classroom offers tornado protection
A tiny Missouri school district is developing a monolithic dome structure that will serve as both an emergency shelter and preschool classroom.
The rural Niangua R-V School District is in a “tremendous spot for storms,” says Superintendent Andy Adams. “In southwest Missouri, it’s not uncommon to have one tornado per week during tornado season.” In January 2008, a tornado killed a person about a mile from a Niangua school.
A Federal Emergency Management Agency grant covered about 90 percent of the $311,750 cost of the monolithic dome. The rest was contributed by the district and city and county governments.
The structure, which is expected to be complete by the end of March, has perfectly round walls and can withstand 300-mph winds. It’s being built from the inside out, with blown-in foam insulation and concrete sprayed on the inside of a giant inflated tarp. The building is reinforced with a grid of steel rebar.
Half of the structure will be used for a classroom for preschoolers, who now attend class in a trailer. During an emergency, the building could hold 400 people, which is more than the population of Niangua.
Contact: aadams@niangua.schools.net.
Reproduced with permission from School Board News. Copyright © 2009, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789.