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Schools

Restart May Be No Start at Boys and Girls High School

"We cannot put a dollar figure on what is priceless: The education and well being of our children."

May 31, 2011

As the leader of Boys and Girls High School, I am committed to collaborative leadership and have not made any decisions in isolation that would have fundamentally changed the essence of the school.

Since I have multiple stakeholders, I choose to consult with them prior to making any substantive decisions. In recent months, New York City Department of Education officials have approached me on two occasions to make important decisions regarding the future of Boys and Girls High School, without allowing adequate time for consultation with stakeholders.

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In both cases, I refused to accept their urgency as mine. On the one hand, they encourage school leaders to establish meaningful partnerships with community and faith-based organizations; while on the other, they expect us to ignore stakeholders when important decisions must be made. I know in my heart and soul that the recent decision of the DOE to move forward with the Restart model is not the best option for Boys and Girls High School.

Given the fact that it appears to be the only option that comes with significant resources makes some people say, “Take it! It may be the best that we can do at this time.” I find myself rejecting this position. Although I understand their logic, they must understand that there are unrealistic expectations that come with this additional funding.

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As people present the argument that money is a primary reason to agree with the Restart model, I offer the following. You give a hungry man one million dollars and tell him he cannot use the money to buy food. How does the money solve his most urgent problem, hunger? The same can be said of Boys and Girls High School. If we receive millions of dollars and cannot hire highly effective staff, how does the money address our most urgent problem, incompetence?

Money only matters when you have autonomy and a good plan. It does not matter when its use is restricted. Understand that the majority of the $3.5 to $6 million grant that may come with Restart would be restricted, primarily, to professional development. Also know that companies are adept at writing proposals to match the available funding. It should be clear to all that the greatest commodity in education is school failure and ultimately student failure.

This is unfortunate. Money alone is not the answer. I have espoused that of all the models being offered, Turnaround would give us the best chance to speed-up the reform of Boys and Girls High School. While I defend all efforts to keep Boys and Girls High School open forever, I do not defend the right of incompetent staff to remain with children indefinitely. The current system enables a disproportionate number of incompetent teachers and administrators to find homes in certain schools.

These schools are eventually labeled, S.U.R.R., Persistently Dangerous, and Persistently Low Achieving. To identify Boys and Girls High School as Persistently Low Achieving is like blaming the victim. The solution is not to close our school but to rather remove the “cancer of incompetence” before it ravages the body to a point where it can no longer function or live.

The Turnaround model would help accomplish this goal.

I appeal to the United Federation of Teachers and NYC Department of Education officials to remain at the bargaining table until all options are reasonably negotiated. In the end, any model that we adopt must allow school leadership to aggressively address staff incompetence.

Any change must be substantive and sustainable. We cannot merely tinker with dysfunction. We cannot put a dollar figure on what is priceless: The education and well being of our children.

Bernard Gassaway
Principal, Boys and Girls High School
Chief Child Advocate

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