By Stacey Becker

Prescott Elementary School might lose its principal at the end of the school year.

"We feel that we have a very good principal at that school, but we have not found a way around that," said Associate Superintendent Lynne Devaney.

It's all because of the charter school's recent designation by the Iowa Department of Education as a persistently lowest-achieving school.

"This is really a double-edge sword, and we feel it at every turn," Devaney said Tuesday during an Educational Programs/School Operations Committee meeting.

Prescott is the first district school to receive the designation, part of No Child Left Behind, given to Title I schools that are Schools in Need of Assistance and in the bottom 5 percent of Iowa schools.

Officials with the district and Dubuque Education Association worked together to create a draft proposal for a School Improvement Grant, which requires persistently lowest-achieving schools to choose a reform model created at the federal level. Devaney said they chose the transformation model, which forces the district to replace the school's principal and improve Prescott through various strategies. "It was less invasive (than the others)," Devaney said.

Superintendent Larie Godinez said Prescott Principal Chris McCarron might lose her position, but she will not lose her district job. "As far as I'm concerned, she'd be assigned to another administrative position," Godinez said.

The U.S. Department of Education will fund $3 million through the grant to two, three or four persistently lowest-achieving schools for one guaranteed year. The schools are expected to sustain the reform model for a total of three years, even if the model is not fully funded by the grant.

 "We're walking a tightrope," Devaney said.

If Prescott does not receive the grant, the future of McCarron is unclear. Godinez said she might stay at Prescott or go to another school that's a better fit. District officials considered not applying for the grant; however, they discovered Prescott would lose its Title I money that helps fund some of the teachers. "We felt we would definitely have to write this grant," Devaney said.

Here are some of the other Prescott changes included in the draft grant proposal:
* Prescott staff would receive an additional 74.5 hours of paid staff development that would occur either during the summer, on weekends or after school. Through staff development, Prescott is expected to see increased student achievement and refocus around fewer initiatives. "We feel strongly that they need to narrow down their focus," Devaney said.
* Prescott's one full-time instructional coach would address literacy issues, and an additional instructional coach would address math issues.
* A social worker with experience in issues related to pediatric mental health would be added to the staff.
* Prescott would have co-teachers in all classrooms, instead of only the top three grade levels, to help reduce teacher stress and increase student achievement. One of the reasons for staff turnover at Prescott, according to the draft proposal, is teacher stress.
* The grant also requires the use of financial incentives for staff. "We have to talk about it," Devaney said. "We don't like it. We don't want to go there." To help increase the number of experienced teachers at Prescott, teachers would receive an additional 5 percent to the current district early-retirement incentive in return for three years or more of continuous service prior to retirement at Prescott. "We know that the retention of teachers with experience has been a challenge at Prescott," Devaney said.

Prescott also would use a rigourous, transparent and equitable teacher and leader evaluation system using student growth as a criteria for financial incentive.

Measures of Academic Progress, a computerized test, would be used as the indicator of student achievement growth in grades two to five. The test is offered three times per year, so teachers could revise instruction during the fall and winter assessment periods. Financial incentives, which would be the equivalent of one week's compensation based on the individual teacher's average yearly pay for that school year, would be distributed to all teachers and administrators if students improve from fall to spring by 10 percent.

"This isn't going to cure the problem," said Lesley Stephens, a school board member.

The final grant proposal is due March 30. District officials will learn in April if Prescott received the grant.