So, Charlotte Observer editor Fannie Flono likes the fact that state education bureaucrats are going to intervene in the fiscal, organizational, and educational affairs of the Halifax County school district. No surprise there.
But Fannie acknowledges that (surprise!) it takes competent people, not state intervention, to improve a school.
In response [to Judge Manning’s threat to close low performing schools], then-Gov. Mike Easley sent turnaround teams to the districts. CMS took drastic action, establishing its Achievement Zone to focus intensive effort on struggling schools, putting proven effective principals in the schools and moving out poorly performing teachers and moving in more of the highly effective ones.
That’s paid off at several schools. West Charlotte is a stellar example. Since John Modest became principal in 2005, the school has zoomed from less than 40 percent at or above grade level to over 60 percent.
Notice in the above quote that the actions of the school system, not then-Gov. Easley, improved schools like West Charlotte. That improvement came about by hiring competent administrators and teachers, not via state turnaround teams. And it doesn’t (or shouldn’t) require a bunch of consultants from DPI to tell a school board and superintendent that they need to purge ineffective personnel and hire competent school and central office staff.
