At District 95, hope for positive change is growing

Visit almost any classroom in Carbondale Elementary School District 95 on any given weekday and you'll know why so many people are working so diligently to create a culture of collaboration.

It's been almost a year since the school board voted to hire Daniel Booth, principal of Carbondale Community High School, as superintendent of the troubled school district.

Booth's reputation as a collaborator had preceded him. And when he rolled up his sleeves and started talking to teachers and working behind the scenes before his job officially began, progress suddenly  seemed possible.

Booth replaced Interim Superintendent Elizabeth Lewin, who had held the position since May 2017, when the former superintendent, Michael Shimshak, was released from his contract and retired under increasing pressure from teachers.

And although Shimshak's departure came as a relief to most teachers and parents, the problems in the four schools remained. So, those teachers who had faithfully and repeatedly brought their concerns to the board, stood up and spoke up once again.

There were plenty of concerns to talk about, including teacher retention and the difficulty in finding qualified substitutes, not enough classroom space and serious structural concerns, and the lack of teaching materials and the funds to purchase them. But a few more serious and shared concerns rose above the din of complaints, including the lack of a standardized curriculum, discipline that was inconsistent at best and nonexistent at worst, and above all else, the lack of inclusion in the planning and process of change.

"We're going to do this together," Booth told teachers privately and publicly as Interim Superintendent Lewin and school board members cited efforts to assess the needs of the district that were neither as transparent nor as inclusive as teachers would have  liked.

That all changed on July 1, when Booth officially began serving as superintendent. Actually, the change began in January when Booth hit the ground running, meeting with teachers and staff members and listening to their concerns and ideas for improvements.

Before long, there were scores of teams of dedicated teachers who started making specific plans for student improvement.

"What we want is systemic and sustained change, implemented with fidelity to a set of common goals," Booth said. "What we had to have first was a proactive system of clear communication between teachers and administration. It is important that all of the teachers and staff are a part of the process."

That process involves addressing the academic, social, cultural and behavioral needs of each student using Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a complex and comprehensive system endorsed by the National Education Association. In fact, District 95 was one of the first to endorse and adopt PBIS.

The process of change also involves a comprehensive needs assessment, retention and remediation plans, strategies to support teachers and students, and interpreting data to use in curriculum planning for next year.

Yes, CES 95 is already planning for next year, while it continues to reach out to parents and the community about the changes that are taking place now. The district recently held its first Community Family Night at the Eurma C. Hayes Center, with food and raffle prizes provided by McDonald's, the Moreland-Bishop Foundation and Mayer Networks, to introduce families to in-district and community supports and to answer questions about the PBIS system of encouraging good behavior.

More than 100 families came.

Then, they held a special event for parents of students who are English language learners and their children to explain the test measures involved in Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State (ACCESS) for English language learners (ELL's) and how parents could help plan their children's learning goals.

"This focus came about, in part, to responses from changes to the district's Spanish language instruction," said Stephanie Esters, director of communication at CES.

Other inclusive efforts included translating letters from the district and schools into Arabic and Spanish.

When Booth accepted the position in January, he told the school board and the teachers in attendance that he had a short list of priority items. That list - his "four-pronged pillar" - has not changed.

"The first is to love our kids," he said. "We must know them, take a genuine interest in them and never give up on them. That's always our first concern in education. Our teachers and staff really, really love our kids; check.

"Second: we must have a solid curriculum. We've been working in that area and will continue throughout this year and the summer," he said. "Third is good practice in the classroom, knowing what we're teaching and how we're assessing it and helping our students  understand. Teach, assess and remediate if they don't get it. We have systems in place to identify and support those best practices.

"And last, but not least, we must have good communication, lots of dialogue," he said. "That's happening on a daily basis now, on subjects large and small.

"I know that by keeping our focus on these four goals, CES will succeed."

Carbondale Elementary School District 95 has an enrollment of about 1,520 students, almost half of whom are on free or reduced meal plans. Schools in the district are Parrish Elementary (pre-K to first grades), Thomas Elementary (second and third grades), Lewis Elementary (fourth and fifth grades) and Carbondale Middle School (sixth to eighth grades).