Press-Enterprise, The (California)
May 13, 2011
HEADLINE: Board may be option for struggling school

By Michelle L. Klampe

The Lake Elsinore Unified School District is considering adding an alternative governance board at Elsinore Middle School to help the struggling campus meet federal accountability targets.

An administrator from the Riverside County Office of Education gave the Lake Elsinore school board an overview of the restructuring options and a more detailed report on the alternative governance board model at its meeting Thursday.

Elsinore is the only Lake Elsinore Unified school in program improvement, a federal sanction system for schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress, or AYP. Elsinore has been in the program since 2003-04, has made academic gains but not enough to exit program improvement. Schools must meet their targets for two straight years in order to exit.

"It's not that they're not successful," Superintendent Frank Passarella said. "They just don't make AYP. We really feel like we need to explore looking at something different."

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools in the fourth and fifth years of program improvement must restructure in an effort to improve.

One of the options for restructuring is the alternative governance board, said Melissa Bazanos of the county office of education.

The board's role could include meeting regularly to discuss issues at the campus, visit classrooms, meet with teachers to talk about strengths and weaknesses, provide feedback and recommendations to the school and report to the school board.

The team could include teachers, administrators or parents. The board would hold formal meetings open to the public, she said.

"It's not about being punitive, it's about support," Bazanos said.

"What can we do" to help the school.

Passarella said the district is planning additional visits to schools using the model.

He expects to bring a proposal back to the board for consideration at a future meeting and hopes to have something in place for the 2011-12 school year.

"We're just trying to do something to help them," he said.

"This seems to be something that has been successful" in other schools.