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By Joe Robertson and Mara Rose Williams
September 20, 2011
The Kansas City Star

JEFFERSON CITY | Time finally ran out for the Kansas City School District.

The state’s decision Tuesday to strip the district’s accreditation spiked a community already absorbed in saving its schools with a mixture of new fears and heightened resolve.

“Our district now faces a critical test of one of the most important lessons in life — a test of our resilience and persistence,” interim Superintendent Steve Green said. “We can, and we will, bounce back from this setback.”

The change doesn’t take effect until Jan. 1 — a purposeful delay to give Kansas City and its neighboring districts time to sort through a host of complications, including the possibility of families seeking to transfer out of the district.

It gives the state time to intensify what has been a two-year collaborative effort with the district to turn around its flagging performance.

It also gives the district and the community a chance to help families make measured choices about their children’s education.

“I’ll have to look at the charter high schools or maybe even private,” said Tennille Denson, who has an 11-year-old daughter at Holliday Montessori School.

She has liked the district school but worries about what will come when her daughter moves into middle school next year.

“It makes me sad, but I will pull her out of the district,” she said.

The state’s judgment is serious. Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro and state school board members called it an agonizing decision that they know will bring great strain to a district and community that has worked hard to improve.

In the schools, classes will carry on as before. History shows high school graduates’ diplomas will keep their value. But the decision to downgrade the district starts the clock that gives it two full school years — or until June 2014 — to regain accreditation.

If the district fails to rebound in time, the state must intervene. It could take over the district or dissolve it.

The state has no desire to take such action and will work with the district to help in its recovery, but state leaders determined they had to strip accreditation.

“What we had hoped for two years ago did not happen,” Nicastro said. “This is the only recourse we have.

“This is the best decision for the children of Kansas City because it will galvanize definitive action on the part of the community, the district and this department.”

Starting Jan. 1, state law enables families in unaccredited school districts to seek enrollment in other districts, with the unaccredited district bearing the cost. That law currently is tied up in a court case out of the St. Louis area but could have a significant impact on Kansas City and its neighboring districts.

Green acknowledged that the Kansas City district and surrounding districts that “already are at capacity” are concerned the state’s decision could set off a mass exodus of students from Kansas City. Such a move would be costly for Kansas City, he said.

He called on teachers, staff, parents and students to “work together to restore our district. … We expect our students to be resilient and bounce back from setbacks … and as a district we must do the same.”

State school board member Stan Archie of Kansas City urged area districts to work together between now and Jan. 1 to prepare for a transition that will work best for all students in the area.

“My hope is to sit down with Kansas City and neighboring superintendents and talk about what we need to look like for all the children,” Archie said. “Can we have a positive impact on children without a lot of movement?”

A St. Louis-area lawsuit against the Clayton School District complicates the situation. St. Louis has been unaccredited since 2007 and had seen little movement of students because neighboring districts were resisting over concerns with costs and space. But the court case could compel districts to receive students.

St. Louis area districts have been creating waiting lists for families while they wait for the case to resolve, Nicastro said. She didn’t suggest what actions Kansas City’s neighbors should take, but she urged that the districts work together.

“Until and unless all districts and all citizens of the state take responsibility for the success of all of its children, we will not meet our goals,” Nicastro said.

Acting Kansas City school board President Derek Richey called the loss of accreditation a speed bump “that we will overcome with flying colors.” But neither Richey nor Green had a specific timetable for when the community might begin to see student achievement levels approving in Kansas City.

“You will see a faster than gradual increase,” Green said, adding that the district already has a more rigorous curriculum in place under which students will get more one-on-one attention in communication arts, math and science from teachers.

“The district is plowing forward,” Richey said. “This is definitely not a white flag time. We are moving ahead with all deliberate speed.

“This decision is simply asking us to dream bigger. We will be asking and demanding a lot of our community.”

District officials, anticipating the state’s vote, set up a phone bank to answer calls about the process, how it affects students and next steps for parents.

The phone bank is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today through Friday. The number is 816-418-7266.

In addition, two town hall meetings have been planned where Green and other district leaders will offer details on the situation. The meetings: 6:30 p.m. today, Paseo Academy, 4747 Flora Ave., and 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Manual Career Technical Center, 1215 E. Truman Road.

The Kansas City district’s case was one of 18 the state board considered Tuesday. Kansas City was the only district added to the list of unaccredited districts.

The board also considered the Hickman Mills district and put its status on hold for a year. Hickman Mills remains fully accredited, with nine out of 14 standards on the state’s annual performance report.

The Kansas City district has been provisionally accredited since 2002, when it pulled itself out of 2½ years of being unaccredited. But state officials had warned that time was running out on the district’s provisional status.

Kansas City slipped to scoring only three out of 14 standards on the state’s annual performance report, down from four in 2010. The district needs to reach at least six standards to make the provisional level and has to reach at least nine to reach the fully accredited level.

Of the standards the state reviews for district accreditation, only six are related to students’ academic performance. To be accredited, a district could hit all eight non-student achievement standards and only one academic standard to reach the nine needed.

The performance report is only an indication of the district performance and its accreditation status is determined by the state board.

Kansas City has been working with the state for more than two years to improve district performance. Nicastro has praised the turnaround plan Kansas City put in place beginning in 2009 as well as the many reforms that took place under recently departed Superintendent John Covington.