By Howard Weiss-Tisman

BRATTLEBORO - Faced with the possibly of having to fire one of its principals or taking on the federal government, the Brattleboro School Board is choosing to make its case in Washington. The board wants Vermont's Congressional delegation to help put an immediate stop to the punitive sanctions of the No Child Left Behind law.

Working with other boards in the state, and with members of the delegation's staff, the Brattleboro School Board is seeking relief from the federal education law which board members say is doing more harm than good.

Brattleboro's Academy Elementary School is in its second year of corrective action, meaning it has been labeled a failing school for four straight years.

If the school fails to show progress on the test results that will be released next week, the school board could be forced to take a number of actions, including firing Principal Andy Paciulli.

School Board Chairwoman Margaret Atkinson said the board supports Paciulli and is now asking Washington to make changes to the law.

"Academy is facing these sanctions that don't make any sense, and it seems reasonable that before they re-authorize this law that they see what it is doing to schools like Academy," Atkinson said. "They should be asking themselves if this law is really doing what they want it to be doing."

No Child Left Behind has been up for re-authorization since 2008 and Atkinson said the law has been a burden to small rural schools.

She said the one-size-fits-all approach might work in large urban districts, but many of the punitive actions of the federal law do not make sense in a small school like Academy.

Atkinson said Academy houses one of district's special needs programs and the children in those programs will never be able to meet the grade level standard on the tests. She also said the students from low-income households need more support, and while it is reasonable to expect those children to succeed, Atkinson said the staff at the school has been making progress, even if the test scores are not satisfying the state.

The options that the state is offering Academy if it enters another year of corrective action could set the school back.

"As a school in need of improvement, Academy has to choose from among these punitive sanctions and some of them are pretty radical, like firing the principal and the staff or allowing an outside entity to take over the school," she said. "Does that really make sense to remove this staff and principal that have been working hard and doing their best? Is that a reasonable path for this school?"

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which is largely responsible for re-authorizing the No Child Left Behind law.

The No Child Left Behind law was supposed to be re-authorized in 2008 and Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and chairman of the committee, said they would work on the re-authorization through this spring, with a promise to get it to the president this year.

Sanders said he plans to try to make sure that schools like Academy will be considered when the law is changed.

"There are a lot of provisions in this law that I have been against from the start, and which don't work for schools in Vermont," Sanders said. "To simply cast blame on a principal is not fair and we are going to do what we can to change that provision."

Sanders said many provisions in the law are tailored for larger school districts.

He said he has been hearing from teachers, principal and superintendents who want to see more flexibility and as a member of the committee he will work to have those voices heard as the law is reauthorized.

"We have heard from every level that there is dissatisfaction with many of the provisions," Sanders said. "We want schools to give these students attention and not only have schools educate the students for the tests."

The Brattleboro School Board in the fall accepted a resolution asking the Congressional delegation to give schools like Academy more flexibility while trying to improve learning across all grade levels.

The board then brought that resolution before the Vermont School Board Association, which also endorsed it.

Now the Brattleboro School Board members are asking other school boards in the state for support.

Brattleboro School Board member David Schoales was in Montpelier last week asking lawmakers to get involved.

Even though the Vermont Department of Education says principals like Paciulli are not in danger of losing their jobs, Schoales said the school board is looking at some very real sanctions that could kick in next year and he does not want to wait to see if Congress will come through with its promise to finally take up the education law this year.

"The way we read the law, Andy's job is on the line now," said Schoales. "There may be some way to get around that, but there has already been damage done to that school because of No Child Left Behind."

Schoales said along with seeking the approval to retain the principal, the Brattleboro School Board is also asking for the state to ease up on its requirements to assess the children throughout the school year.

After a school like Academy fails to make improvement a number of times, the state sends a school improvement team to help teachers raise the test scores.

That team requires lessons and assessments which Schoales says are taking too much time away from the teachers.

He said since the school has been concentrating on improving its math and language arts test scores, class time for science, social studies and the arts have all been reduced.

The Brattleboro School Board tonight is set to meet to talk about moving the band practices to after school and Schoales said the board is fed up with changing its curriculum to meet the requirements of the federal education law. "The teachers and administration are under an unacceptable amount of pressure," he said."We are making changes that are not in the best interests of the staff or of the kids and it is really damaging the school."