GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The Green Bay Public School District is hiring help for Washington Middle School.
Green Bay’s school board voted Monday evening to spend up to $394,000 to hire what it is calling a “turnaround partner.”
That partner is American Institutes for Research, which has a history of turning around struggling schools.
School district leaders say they’ve put a focus this year on improving behavior at Washington after a former teacher brought up safety concerns last summer.
They claim that area has improved, and now it is time to put more resources toward academics.
“There has been a lot to establish a safe opportunity for students, but we want to make sure it’s engaging as possible, that the academic progress is made as well,” said John Magas, Associate Superintendent of Continuous Improvement for the district.
American Institutes for Research uses a three-component approach, which includes a comprehensive needs assessment, leadership coaching, and instructional coaching.
Rhonda Sitnikau spoke to FOX 11. She was the only one of seven school board members to vote against the plan.
“The community was given information three days ago. It’s not an appropriate amount of time in order to absorb what’s happening.”
District leaders say time is of the essence because a needs assessment needs to be done before school is out for the year.
Plus, Maga says the firm is highly sought after and could move on if the district waits on hiring it.
“We all know how to change schools over a longer period of time, but this is an opportunity for us to learn as much as possible how to change schools as quickly as possible.”
Sitknikau says the money could be better used elsewhere.
“There is a lot of mental health issues and we still have class sizes that are not appropriate for teachers, they need support.”
The district says the money is coming from this year’s budget. The district didn’t spend as much on teacher development as originally planned.
The $394,000 would only be for one year.
Magas says it is possible the firm’s work will not be that much. He also says contracting for additional years of work likely would not cost as much.
As part of its agreement to spend the money, the school board added an amendment to hold a session with the public regarding the firm’s needs assessment.
Also, as part of Washington’s turnaround, they are still searching for a new principal.
The state identified Washington as meeting few expectations for its academics in the ’16-’17 school year.
