Remember Deborah Gist?

As in West Virginia, educators in Oklahoma have reached a breaking point, fed up with stagnant wages and cuts to education funding. The idea of a walkout began to gain traction in mid-February after a proposed salary increase failed to win enough support among lawmakers. A ­superintendent circulated a petition asking colleagues if they would support a teacher walkout.

I WAS REVIEWING the press for Weekend Quotables this morning, when I came across this Washington Post story on the growing revolt among low-paid Oklahoma teachers.

WaPo reports:

At a local restaurant, it was a teacher who served Deborah Gist recently. At the Reasor’s grocery, there’s sometimes a teacher behind the register. And then there was the Uber that the school district chief hailed to catch an early-morning flight — a teacher sat behind the wheel, trying to earn some money before heading to the classroom. There was a stack of student journals on the passenger seat.

“It’s just so wrong that it just hurts my heart,” said Gist, who has been superintendent since 2015.

My reaction to the hand-wringing quote -- Wait a minute. Could this possibly be the same Deborah Gist?

And sure enough, it was.

For those who don't know, or can't recall, it was Gist, fresh out of Eli Broad's training academy, who served as Rhode Island's state superintendent back in 2010. She's the one who pushed local Superintendent Frances Gallo to fire all the teachers and staff at Central Falls High School back in 2010. In the face of national blowback from unions and school activists, Gist was forced to retreat and most of the teachers were hired back. But the school and the entire town of Central Falls never fully recovered from the debacle.

The worst part was Obama's Ed. Sec. Arne Duncan giving his nod of approval to Gist's assault on the state's teachers and the President himself hailing her mass firing as an "act of courage". 

As teacher Paul Murphy wrote in a recent WaPo column,

The staff of Central Falls High School in Rhode Island sure didn’t sign up expecting the president of the United States and the secretary of education to endorse their collective firing. While we may have expected to be treated like dirt by Republicans, we didn’t sign up knowing the Democratic Party would abandon us in such a publicly humiliating way.

It's only fitting, I suppose, that after being run out of R.I., Gist would wind up in "right-to-work" (for less) state, Oklahoma, where public schools are miserably underfunded and teacher pay is at the nation's bottom (ranks 49th), lower even than West Virginia where the rolling teacher revolt began earlier this year.

So sorry, Deborah Gist. Your hand-wringing won't get it. We remember you.

Time to get rid of the IL State Charter Commission

On March 20th, HB 3754 that would dissolve the ALEC-created Illinois State Charter School Commission passed the House by a vote of (78-33).  Today the bill is being heard in the Illinois Senate Education Committee. You can tell members of the Senate Education Committee that you support the senate version of this bill, SB2627, by filling out a witness slip.

Reminiscent of Central Falls

TURNAROUNDS...Byrd-Bennett's loot, pillage and burn approach to Chicago school reform is just "school closings under another name", says the CTU. "Turnaround" has become reform-speak for fire everyone -- teachers, staff, janitors, lunchroom ladies. The mass firings at McNair Elementary and Dvorak Technology Academy on the West Side and  Gresham Elementary on the South Side represents the scorched-earth approach reminiscent of Arne Duncan's assault on Central Falls High School in 2010 and has little to do with school improvement. Rather, it's more payback against the teachers union with Rahm/Byrd-Bennett flexing their muscles because they can. Important to note that turnarounds are exclusively in Chicago black and Latino communities and those mostly people of color. 

They've dropped all pretense of using so-called data-driven reform or even their own distorted version of teacher evaluation based on student test scores. Now it's simply naked aggression on a public school system they never have supported -- fire 'em all, let God sort 'em out --- and handing public schools over to private school operators. 

Racial lines of Chicago

CHICAGO 4TH MOST SEGREGATED CITY...If the mayor's school "reform" and  two-tier education strategy is aimed at supporting and promoting gentrification and isolation of the city's black neighborhoods, it's working. Atlanta Black Star reports that Chicago remains in 4th place among the nation's most segregated cities. 

In Chicago, north side neighborhoods like Edgewater and the Gold Coast are nearly exclusively white, Black people lodge on the South and West Sides. Hispanics dwell in southwest and northwest areas of the city.

WHITENIZING CHICAGO...What the report doesn't mention is that the blue areas of the map, signifying the city's segregated black communities, are dramatically shrinking in size. Chicago has lost somewhere around 200,000 African-Americans in the past decade. 

Remembering Central Falls, I hear that Duncan is staying put

Anonymous reader points to Lynn Sweet's column in the Sun-Times which tells us that Arne Duncan wants another term and "there is no plan for a change."

While I'd be happy to see Duncan go, I'm not so concerned with that now, since it would only amount to a cosmetic change at best. Obama shows no sign of evolving in his understanding of education reform and it's clear (to me at least) that Duncan was never capable of an original thought on the topic. He's only doing what the president and DFER hedge-fund "reformers" tell him to do vis-a-vis Race To The Top, teacher unions, privatization, testing, etc...

I'm reminded of this as I head off the Providence for the Coalition of Essential Schools Fall Forum where in neighboring, economically devastated  Central Falls, the current war on teachers, their unions, and public schools began full-force in 2010. I'm recalling that it was not only Duncan, who heaped praise on Rhode Island's moronic state superintendent Deborah Gist for firing the entire Central Falls H.S. faculty and staff, but the president as well. Duncan called the cowardly deed "courageous",  but Obama was quick to join in and publically second the motion.

So regardless of which bureaucrat fills the DOE seat, we will be back in the schools and in the streets struggling to save our schools. I'm taking seriously, the words Obama himself imparted the other night in Chicago.

The role of citizen in our democracy does not end with your vote. America's never been about what can be done for us. It's about what can be done by us together through the hard and frustrating, but necessary work of self-government. 

Teacher bashing 'reform' has left Central Falls High School in chaos

Superindent Gallo blames teachers for her mess

Central Halls High School is Rhode Island was the opening salvo in corporate reformers' current war on public schools and on teachers. The mass firing of teachers and service staff was hailed as "courageous" by Obama/Duncan. The school and the city (the smallest and most economicaly depressed in R.I.) was thrown into chaos.

Looking back a year later, NPR reports:

The debacle at Central Falls High has gotten national attention because President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have publicly sided with administrators arguing that teachers must be held accountable for students' dismal test scores. Last year, only 7 percent of students tested at grade level in math, 24 percent in reading. This year's test results could be worse. Why? "Because of our low expectations in the classroom — meaning teachers,"  says Supt. Gallo, the administrator who carried out the firings.

Central Falls High has become a cautionary tale about the complexities of school reform and whether the federal government should be dictating what those reforms should be.

Central Falls firings were first shots fired in current war on teachers

History may well record the mass teacher and staff firings at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island last February, as the opening salvo in this administration's war on teachers and their unions.

The firings sparked outrage among teachers, organized labor and parents. Students organized walkouts in support of their teachers. Supts. Gallo and Gist, who had led the assault with full support from Pres. Obama and Sec.Duncan, were ultimately forced to retreat and bring those teachers, who hadn't moved elsewhere, back into their classrooms. They were rehired only after the union agreed to a longer work day and made other concessions to try and save jobs. At the time, State Supt. Gist promised that the changes would result in "dramatic achievement."

But the damage to the school and to the economically-ravaged town of Central Falls was a fait accompli.

Eric Tucker writing in today's Washington Post describes the fallout from this devastating betrayal by an administration that only weeks earlier had  promised reform done "with teachers, not to them."

Writes Tucker:  

"President Barack Obama appeared to endorse the firings, saying drastic action may be warranted when schools show no signs of improvement. The White House declined to comment this week"   

Yes, Obama went so far as to call the mass firings, "courageous," a clear signal to state education leaders of what was demanded of them if they expected to receive their share of federal Race To Tbe Top funds.

As for the city itself, Tucker writes:

Heavily Hispanic Central Falls is Rhode Island's smallest and poorest city, with a population of nearly 19,000. One-quarter of families live in poverty and 65 percent speak a language other than English at home. The city is under the control of a state-appointed receiver, who says its problems are so dire that Central Falls should consider merging with neighboring Pawtucket. 

The mass firings have proven to be a disaster, both for school reform and for all the citizens of Central Falls. It's been a failed reform strategy everywhere it's been tried. Obama and Duncan are now tight-lipped about their support for the debacle. Ironically, AFT Pres. Randi Weingarten, in her latest call for an end to teacher resistance to Race To The Top,  is holding up the "reform" at Central Falls as a model of collaboration.

Because the district and the union had built a relationship based on trust, they refused to take the easy way out. They stepped outside their comfort zones, took on the very difficult task of crafting a new form of school governance, and, together, have taken promising steps to turn around these schools.

Collaboration indeed.

Labor Day Weekend Quotables

Obama's Labor Day speech

"I don't want to give them the keys back." Obama said to the cheering crowd. " They don't know how to drive." He added, "They're going to pop it into reverse and have special interests riding shotgun and we'd be right back in the ditch."

Fired teachers return to Central Falls H.S.

Several students this week said the mass firings were unnecessary and that teachers were unfairly scapegoated for problems beyond their control. Central Falls, a cramped city just a square mile in size, has budget problems so severe that this summer it was placed under the supervision of a state-appointed receiver. (WaPo)

Retiring SEIU leader, Anna Burger

“We have not developed public policies that support working women the way we should,” she said. “When women can be forced to work mandatory overtime when they have children at home and don’t have access to child care, that’s a huge problem. (NYT)

Best quote: reporters to Gov. Brewer

“Governor, please answer the question about the headless bodies." (Gail Collins, NYT)

Rat race

"It's a race to the top and the rats are winning." (Sabrina)

'Making decisions together' -- What a concept!

Edweek headline reads: Making Decisions Together: The Rebirth of Central Falls High School.  

Yes that's right, making decisions together in Central Falls where State Ed Commissioner Deborah Gist had, only months earlier, with Arne Duncan applauding wildly in the background, forced the firing of every single teacher and staff member in the school. It was their way of sending a message that teachers no longer had collective bargaining rights and that states would have to toll the No Child Left Behind Race-To-The-Top bell or go bankrupt.

Of course that didn't wash and won't. A national labor push-back plus student and community protests forced Gist to concede and the teachers were all rehired. Duncan and Obama were left with pie on their faces for having overstepped their bounds in the first place. They were hit with another pie yesterday when a Democratic House tagged RTTT for $800 million to be used to bring thousands of teachers back into their classrooms rather then firing them.

Now, Gist is singing a different tune and trying to save a little face herself.

"I can’t imagine that anyone looking at it would say we have backed off on our reform agenda."

Indeed, you can imagine it Deborah. Many of your conservative think-tank friends are saying just that. But I agree with you.Your agenda had little or no reform from which you could back away.

Yes, "making decisions together." What a concept! It's so crazy, it just might work.

******

One question I have is, why do we need a state commissioner of education? What does she do for $200k/year? Especially in the smallest state in the Union. Can somebody tell me?

"It's Not OK to Hate Teachers"

John Thomas, Chicago Theological Seminary

A recent action alert from the United Church of Christ reported that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is predicting that up to 300,000 jobs in public schools may be lost due to the recession.  In cities like Chicago and Cleveland school officials are predicting class sizes of 35 to 45 for next fall.  Meanwhile, as high school seniors plan for their graduation ceremonies, a new round of “blame the victim” seems to be in vogue.  In this case it is the vulnerable teaching profession that seems to be under siege... (Read the rest here)

Hess tries his best to spin CF mess

AEI's teacher-bashing spinmeister Rick Hess, tries his best to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear (Gist's mass firings at Central Falls H.S.). A massive push-back by organized labor, students and teachers nationwide forced Commissioner Gist and Supt. Gallo to rescind the firings and hire back all 93 teachers and staff before legal action would have forced the issue.

In this interview with Gist, Hess tries to make it seem like this was the plan all along, that the firings were just part of a "poker game" bluff to make the teachers union accept violations of the contract without any negotiations. Notice how he tries to lead Gist into accepting a certain percentage of firings as a benchmark of success. Gist of course, refuses. 

RH: Okay, but suppose that, at this time next year, we see that just five or six of the school's 93 teachers are removed. Would observers be right to be skeptical that the process was toothless?

DG: It's not about removing any particular percentage of teachers. It's hard to know what the proper percentage would look like. But I strongly encourage people to be skeptical. We should be skeptical. I want people to take a hard look at us, and I'm going to do the same with the district and with my staff. But it's not about the percentage of teachers we remove. It's about the quality of the evaluation and about performance. I expect there will be turnover, but how much there is remains to be seen.

 And so it goes.

More Gist:   But there are some great teachers at the high school and, because teacher evaluation is so poor around the country and in the state, we don't have good evidence as to who should stay and who should not. This deal gives us the opportunity to make those decisions in a more informed way and gives folks the opportunity to be a part of the reform movement. 

Yes, commissioner. You should have thought of that before you made Central Falls the poster child for failure of Duncan's Race To The Top. 

Second thought: Why is this paid flack for the right-wing think tanks being given a blog at Edweek? Just asking.

Teachers, staff all rehired at Central Falls H.S.

Things have come full-circle in Central Falls, R.I. where 87 teachers, guidance counselors, librarians and other staffers, who were arbitrarily fired without due process, will now return to their jobs without having to reapply. More than 700 people had already applied for the positions.

The firings were pushed at first by an over-zealous State Commissioner Deborah Gist, and a near apoplectic local supt.,Fran Gallo, both bending over backwards [no pun intended] to please Arne Duncan's reform agenda.  Duncan, in turn, praised the mass firings as "courageous" and held up mass teacher firings as the new face of school reform as well as an implied threat to any union that wouldn't play ball on RTTT.

But the fired teachers got such overwhelming support from students and fellow teachers around the country, including thousands signing on-line petitions, that Gist may have been told to stand down and reopen negotiations. She was also facing court action that likely would have stopped the firings any way.  Instead of firing teachers, the school's principal was reassigned to another school, which is probably what should have been done in the first place. Other changes, according to WaPo, may include "a new evaluation system designed to inform teaching and learning, and targeted and embedded professional development." In other words, all things which could have been done originally without the crisis mentality and without threatening the very economic viability of the poor town of Central Falls and making its name synonymous with teacher bashing.

The Answer Sheet's Valerie Strauss (who always seems to make a lot of sense) says, Duncan & Obama should have kept quiet in the first place, on the firings.

What do you think would have happened if Obama and Duncan had not taken sides when the teachers were first fired, and instead had urged the opposing sides to work harder to reach a better solution? I think it is fair to assume that the negotiations would have reached success a lot sooner, sparing the Central Falls community a lot of grief.

If there is a humorous side to all this, it's watching the conservative think-tankers stumbling all over themselves trying to figure out whether or not the board vote to rehire all the teachers was a "victory" for the right-wing. AEI's Hess says it was. Fordham's Smarick says no. Both are wrong as usual.

More background on Central Falls firings.

School closings, the new face of reform

As school districts struggle with state budget shortfalls, school closings and mass teacher firings have become the new face of school reform. Central Falls High School in Rhode Island, where an entire faculty and staff were fired, became the poster child for Arne Duncan's so-called Race to the Top, complete with threats to school districts nationwide that only compliance could save them from de-funding.

The latest to comply is Oklahoma City where the school board plans to RIF 75 of 155 teachers at U.S. Grant High School strictly on the basis of flat student standardized test scores.

From NewsOK:  

The reform plan would remove half the staff and the principal if the principal had been there for more than two years. Under the same federal guidelines — and in pursuit of the same grant dollars — a school board in Rhode Island last month announced that every teacher at the failing Central Falls High School would be fired, causing the community to protest.

Who's buying Duncan's new NCLB?

"Revolutionizing" education

Arne Duncan has already sold his rewrite of No Child Left Behind to the neocons (yes they are still with us) and to the conservative forces within the Democratic Party. Or should I say--THEY have already sold it to Duncan. Now he is trying hard to sell it to teachers and their unions. But so far, they aren't buying. Duncan claims his blueprint will "revolutionize education."

But leaving his usual hyperbole aside for a moment, "better tests" doesn't speak to the real problem of misuse of testing, as a way to punish schools and individual teachers, rather than as an analytic tool connected to classroom teaching. As to mislabeling thousands of schools as "failures," this has all along been Duncan's favorite tactic to promote widespread school-closing and turnaround strategies in underserved communities.

Duncan continues to label thousands of schools as "dropout factories" and to call for the closing of (depending on his audience) 1,000 to 5,000 schools and mass firings of teachers. If you want to see what Duncan's rewrite of ESEA is all about, just look at Central Falls, R.I. where Duncan openly supported (called it "courageous') and probably helped engineer the firing of the entire faculty and staff of the local high school, without regard for the quality of the teachers or the positive improvements currently taking place at the school.

And it's hard to believe that "opportunites for professional growth" crap when 21,000 teachers are being fired in California and 17,000 in Illinois.

Finally, Duncan's so-called blueprint is designed to replace contractual agreements negotiated between teachers and school districts with federally-mandated turnaround policies, most of which have no research to back them up. This would all but eliminate to role of unions and teachers rights to collectively bargain the contracts under which they work. It would make it that much easier to replace experienced teachers with lower-paid, non-union TFA cadets and privatize the management of public schooling.

Teachers are smart to look at this latest version of NCLB with a critical eye.

QUOTABLES

Tribune Columnist Mary Schmich

Anyone who watches the march with an open mind will see that these young people aren't aliens. They're us. They are Chicago, and the immigration laws are squandering their energy and possibilities. In other words, squandering our possibilities. And her full name, which she finally says is OK to use, is Tania Unzueta. She is undocumented. She is trying not to be afraid. ("Undocumented and unafraid")

Herb Kohl

My feeling is that progressives should advocate a "race to equity" - a multibillion dollar initiative to bring some of the most impoverished schools up to the material and pedagogical conditions of the most effective public schools in the country. (Living in Dialogue)

Teacher of the year, Anthony Mullen

A butcher's bill has come due in Central Falls, Rhode Island and a nation awaits the fate of 93 school employees. Will these teachers and staff be brought to an oak cutting board? Will the visceral remains of teachers be wiped clean from the school district's cutting board and stain a sawdust covered floor? Lines have been drawn, rhetoric spewed, and children await resolve. (Road Diaries)

Fallout from Central Falls

If the firings proceed, the best, most experienced teachers will find jobs elsewhere. Who will replace them? After the headlines fade, the students at Central Falls could be the biggest losers. (Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe)

Obama's blunder in Central Falls

I very much appreciate the support from President Obama for the decisions we have made regarding Central Falls High School. Though these decisions have been difficult, I am confident that we have made our decisions based on the best interest of the Central Falls students. --State Supt. Deborah Gist

Instead of simply accepting Supt. Gist's version of what's in the "best interest" of the students, Obama should have talked with some before supporting the mass firings of their teachers. Now those current and past students are making their support for the teachers loud and clear.

I'm also wondering if Obama ever considered the potential economic impact on this small town, of the firings of 93 professionals, and their possible replacement with young, inexperienced TFA out-of-towners at non-union salaries. Central Falls is not like Chicago or New York, where teachers can move to other schools or maybe find jobs in the private sector. Now many will likely have to leave CF to find work, taking families with them, selling homes if they can. Central Falls, with a population of 18,000, is the smallest, most densely populated city in the nation's smallest state (possibly in the nation).

40% of youth live in poverty

The median income for a household in this, Rhode Island's poorest city, was $22,628, and the median income for a family was $26,844. Males had a median income of $23,854 versus $18,544 for females. The per capita income for the city was $10,825. About 25.9% of families and 29.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 40.8% of those under age 18 and 29.3% of those age 65 or over.

Firing 93 teachers and staff, having them collecting state aid or moving, will likely have a devastating effect on an already suffering community.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Senator from Harlem, critic of privatization

“If there are people fleeing from something, it is cause for alarm,” he said in an interview in his office. Using an analogy he favors when talking about charter schools, he said: “That should tell you there is a fire, and those who are responsible should find out what is causing that fire, not just create a new place for those who flee and leave the rest inside to burn there.” (Sen. Bill Perkins)

Rhode Island supe's collateral damage

The “turnaround model” now recommended by the superintendent and supported by Education Commissioner Deborah Gist is the school-reform equivalent of detonating a bomb within a school. The collateral damage done already should suffice to give policymakers pause. (Monica Teixeira De. Sousa)

Obama supported R.I. teacher firings

“I ripped the Obama sticker off of my truck,” said Zeph Capo, a midlevel official at the Houston Federation of Teachers who trains classroom teachers. “We worked hard for this man, we talked to our neighbors and our fellow teachers about why we should support him, and we’re having to dig the knife out of our back.” (New York Times)

The struggle continues

Central Falls teachers and their supporters rallied in West Warwick on Thursday ahead of a meeting of Rhode Island's Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education.

After Supt. Frances Gallo balked at the demonstration, a union official responded that the rally was about unity:

“This is about supporting teachers and students. Whenever teachers can get together to support each other and to support their students, I don’t think that should interfere with anything,“ said Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers’ Union.

Questions remaining

According to this morning's Times, it looks like Supt. Gallo and the Central Falls board are in retreat. After first refusing to even meet with the union, Gallo announced yesterday that she welcomes the union’s input on a transformation plan for the high school. Gallo, said an offer made late Tuesday by the Central Falls Teachers Union gave her hope the issue could be resolved without mass firings. The union has already appealed the firings to the district’s board of trustees and filed a complaint with the State Labor Relations Board and national reaction, especially from labor, to the mass firings has been overwhelmingly negative towards the district and state leadership as well as towards Obama/Duncan.

Questions remaining:

• Was an unenthusiastic Gallo pushed into this rash move by an overzealous State Supt. Gist?
• Was Gist (an Eli Broad Academy fellow and obvious Michelle Rhee wannabe) led to believe that the mass firings would win her favor with Arne Duncan and improve her chances of getting RTTT $$$?
• Can or should the district and union reach a compromise on work rules and pay issues by negating the existing contract, which both parties agreed to and signed?
• Can Gallo retreat without Duncan's blessing?

Stay tuned.

Obama's support for mass teacher firings have a price

Union leaders say they are "appalled" by Obama's cheer leading of Central Falls teacher firings. Even though they say they are sticking with Dems in elections, Obama/Duncan escalating attacks on teachers and their unions will be costly.

Coming the day after union presidents sharply complained to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. over stubbornly high unemployment, stagnant wages and the administration’s failure to do more to create jobs, the statement — voicing a rare vehemence toward a Democratic president — underlined the disillusionment of an important Democratic constituency. (New York Times)

But union leaders want to keep their seat at the table, one they didn't have under Bush. They still hope to influence ESEA reauthorization and are closely watching Arne Duncan's testimony before the House Education and Labor Committee.

Happy Birthday Doc!

It's Dr. Seuss' birthday today. I'm sure if the good doctor was in Central Falls, R.I. yesterday and heard Obama's pile-on speech attacking the 94 fired teachers, literacy coaches and other staff, he would send off one of his famous rhymes to to the prez:

“Your Majesty.
Please… I don’t like
to complain.
But down here
below, we are feeling
great pain.”--Yertle the Turtle

Shades of Reagan

If there was any doubts that the mass firings of Central Falls H.S. teachers came straight from the top, Obama put them to rest yesterday when he took a public kick at the 93 fired teachers and staff yesterday, blaming them and them only for lagging test scores.

Obama's speech, tantamount to a declaration of war, was reminiscent of Ronald Reagan's 1981 busting of PATCO, the air controllers union and marked a major open break with reform partner Randi Weingarten and the AFT.

The only question now is, will the AFT and NEA stand and fight or lose all credibility as a voice for their 4 million members?

In a joint response, Weingarten and local union officials said:

"We know it is tempting for people in Washington to score political points by scapegoating teachers, but it does nothing to give our students and teachers the tools they need to succeed."

In an interview, Weingarten said Obama's comments about the school "don't reflect the reality on the ground and completely ignore the commitment teachers have made to turn things around." Seemingly trying to put the president's speech in the best light, Weingarten said the union was "profoundly disappointed by the comments" and said the president "seems to be focused on . . . incomplete information."

Does she really think that Obama would make such a strategic move without first getting all the facts?

National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel echoed Weingarten's Obama-is-naive response:

"It's time for federal officials to get out of the blame game and into the classroom. One thing is certain: Firing the entire faculty of a school that is on the path to improvement is no recipe for turning around a struggling high school. And relying on a magical pool of 'excellent teachers' to spring forth and replace them is naïve at best and desperately misguided." ... in reality, we all know that the solution is not blame, it is collaboration...collaboration among school employees, management, parents and communities."

The AFT also took the opportunity to offer a 2009 report that highlights turnover in leadership (6 principals in 4 years) and a variety of conflicting, failed, top-down reform programs.