Andrew H. Wilson Charter School’s commitment to open enrollment and involvement in the OneApp program may lead to slower growth in overall student scores, Principal Logan Crowe said at a board meeting Tuesday night.
OneApp, the unified school enrollment program that matches students to schools by accounting for family preference and geographic location, also provides schools with information on students’ proficiency levels as measured by standardized tests.
According to Crowe, 44 new students have been admitted between grades 4 and 8, with approximately three-fourths of those students testing unsatisfactorily in English language arts and one-half testing unsatisfactorily in mathematics in the year before attending Wilson. Moreover, many incoming students have not been evaluated for special-education needs, further complicating efforts to reach these students.
“We’re showing growth,” Crowe said, but added that Wilson’s policy against screening out transfers “is going to make it hard” to sustain that growth.
Crowe said that through OneApp, the school is receiving students who have “surfed” schools from year to year, and told an anecdote of one family who switched schools for a student four times in less than six weeks.
“The RSD is letting this happen,” Crowe said to the board.
Board President David Winkler-Schmit and Sister Juanita Chenevert both made positive mention of Wilson’s partnership with the Center for Restorative Approaches in their presentations to the board. Chenevert said the CRA programs encourage the students to discuss personal issues and share problems they are experiencing.
Last month, seven students were suspended at Wilson, a decrease from the previous month.* Crowe said the decrease was due to working with the CRA, students and parents.
Also at the meeting, the board voted to approve Ross Anderson as a member and as board secretary. Anderson was a teacher through the Teach For America program and currently serves as Manager of Alumni Impact in TFA’s New Orleans office.
Board members attending the meeting were Nancy Marshall, Will Bradshaw, Derek Rabb, Eric Griggs, Chenevert and Winkler-Schmit. James Baker and Kristyna Jones were absent.
*Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that the school’s suspension rate was 7 percent, instead of saying seven students had been suspended.
Really? The principal sounds ridiculous! Imagine that!you have to take kids where they are and possibly try and educate them? Sounds like the principal is justifying his anticipated low school performance score and test scores in the spring.
On target alright. But I guess that WILSON principal will say anything to justify the outrageous salaries that he and so many of these CEO/principals now receive as part of their “tour of duty.” What are this guy’s qualifications, or is this another instance in the RSD/ORLEANS charter landscape of “who you know,” not credentials, etc. If the WILSON board is that dumb to keep these kind of principals in place (for years), then I guess they deserve to get an earful of this kind of propaganda at monthly board meetings – the problem being, however, is that the students should get a top-quality, free and appropriate public education, and no matter how much the State/LDOE (White, Dobard, BESE) manipulates scores and/or takeovers (my gawd – this is a D school/out of 200 points), the students always wind up being the losers.