Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 3-9-18

Feature
Board Approves External Manager For 7 Failing Schools
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
On Tuesday, during their regular meeting, members of the Hillsborough County School Board approved Phalen Leadership Acade- mies (PLA) as the External Operator for 7 failing schools.
Last week, the District’s Procurement Services Team and School Superintend- ent Jeff Eakins selected the company as their choice as the External Operator for the 7 failing schools. Phalen Leadership Academies will take over the day-to-day op- erations of the schools on July 1st and have a 1-year contract with 2 additional 1- year renewals.
Superintendent Eakins said, “Starting in May, our District Divisions
JEFF EAKINS Hillsborough County School District Superintendent
and leadership may imple- ment supports and changes as we normally do when we begin the summer. Also in May, PLA will schedule lis- tening and learning visits to each campus, partnering with administration to col- lect data and conduct a soft
EARL MARTIN PHALEN Founder and CEO of George and Veronica Phalen Leadership Academies
audit. This tour and data will then be used to make recom- mendations to District lead- ership about targeted professional development ideas and other identified needs for the school going forward.
“Under the contract, PLA
will have broad authority and will work in partnership with our District when it comes to all decisions,” he said.
Superintendent Eakins said if any of the schools improve their grades to a “C” or better, those schools will remain under the jurisdiction of the Hills- borough County School Dis- trict.
Last October, the Florida Department of Education gave the District a deadline to improve the grades of the schools to a “C.” The School District was ordered to pro- vide TOPs (Turnaround Op- tion Plans) at: Foster Elementary, Mort Elemen- tary, Oak Park Elementary, Potter Elementary, Sheehy Elementary, and B. T. Wash- ington Elementary Schools. Memorial Middle School is the only secondary school on
this list.
About Phalen Leadership Academies
It is a turnaround opera- tor that works to transform underperforming schools into high-quality facilities. It is a non-profit organization, currently serving more than 4,000 students in 10 schools in Detroit, Michigan, Indi- anapolis, Fort Wayne, and Gary, Indiana.
It was founded in 2013 and based in Indianapolis, Indiana.
A web page dedicated to the HCPS Turnaround School Plan at http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/d oc/2081.
For more information about Phalen Leadership Academies, visit their web- site at www.phalenacade- mies.org.
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