Posted on 07/15/2002 4:00:56 PM PDT by summer
Sunday, June 16, 2002
The Associated Press State & Local Wire
Principal Frances Gupton, Jacksonville, FL, and Kevin Twomey, president of the Jacksonville-based St. Joe Co --
Do business leaders belong in public schools? This principal now says: YES!
School-business program aimed at raising grades
By Ron Word
Principal Frances Gupton stopped celebrating her school's high marks on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests to fire off an e-mail to a businessman who helped her inner city school make an academic U-turn.
The message was for Kevin Twomey, president of the Jacksonville-based St. Joe Co., who had volunteered as a mentor for Gupton's management skills at West Riverside Elementary School.
"Bada-bing! We're a B!" Gupton's e-mail said.
Three years ago, when West Riverside was a "D" school, Gupton and Twomey began a partnership, hoping to raise test grades for the school's 380 students. They knew it would be a challenge. Last year, the school scored a "C."
About a third of the school's students speak English as a second language and three-fourths of the students get free or reduced lunches at the two-story school built in 1911.
Gupton will be the first to admit she was skeptical of the program with Twomey.
She had seen other programs that required schools to meet new state standards while stretching money, teachers and administrators to the limit.
"My first thought was, 'Oh no, not another program," she said.
How could an outsider overcome the economic and social problems many of her students face?
"Kevin and I had an instant chemistry," said Gupton.
Twomey and Gupton were part of a program called Partnership to Advance School Success or PASS. The mentoring program was designed by the statewide business group Council on 100 to improve the performance of "D" schools and raise their scores to a "C" or better within three years on the FCAT tests.
Twomey's boss, Peter Rummell, St. Joe's chairman and CEO, was chairman of the council's education committee, which determined effective principals were a key ingredient to producing quality education.
Neither Twomey nor Gupton were given any direction on how he was supposed to help the school, but he went with an open mind, following Gupton and looking for ways to improve.
"I don't think either of us had any expectations," Twomey said.
Twomey agreed to spend one day a month at the school. He watched Gupton deal with a range of issues, from getting rid of rats in the school to listening to complaints from teachers and parents.
He told Gupton her role was like "the sloped gutter on the roof of life." As principal, all the school's troubles flowed into her lap.
If a janitor called in sick, she would pick up a broom. If one of the cafeteria workers didn't show up, the principal helped serve lunch.
Twomey taught her to act like the school's chief executive officer. He showed her how to delegate responsibility.
"I had to convince the teachers that they didn't need me all the time to solve their problems," Gupton said.
Twomey also taught Gupton to look for creative solutions.
When the state stopped funding pre-kindergarten programs, the school district told the schools to start charging parents. Gupton knew parents wouldn't be able to pay, so she diverted $72,000 from her operating budget to pay for the pre- kindergarten program.
As part of the program, St. Joe agreed to donate $100,000, which Twomey and Gupton decided to use for performance-based incentives.
In the first year, teachers got an extra $1,000 by arriving to work on time, preparing quality lesson plans and teaching through the end of the year.
This year, teachers will receive an extra $1,000 because their students improved their test scores.
Last year, West Riverside posted the highest reading scores among Duval County Elementary Schools, even doing better than a school for gifted students.
Twomey rewarded the top students with a limousine ride to an exclusive downtown club, where the youngsters dined on lobster and chicken fingers.
Some of the children enjoyed their first ride in an elevator and feasted on their first magnificent view from the top of a the 37-story Modis building.
"It has been a wonderful experience. I came to love that school," said Twomey, who also serves on the University of North Florida Board of Trustees.
Several other St. Joe employees, Twomey said, work as mentors at the school.
"There is no shortage of enthusiasm for this school," Twomey said.
The PASS program, Gupton said, has changed the focus of the school and its teachers.
Gupton now sees her role as chief executive officer of the school and relates her students' test scores to stock prices. It's the job of the school to make them go up, she said.
In addition to the program with St. Joe, Southwest Airlines also had a big impact on the school. One of the school's students, 11-year-old Sam Young, won a national essay contest sponsored by the airlines.
The prize was a trip in May to New Orleans for the day for the 21 students in the class.
Gupton hopes to continue the association with Twomey and St. Joe, but he was not sure whether he can continue because of his association with other educational groups, including his post on the University of Florida trustee. No matter what happens, Gupton says the students have benefited
"The biggest gain is student achievement," she said.
And she has changed her tune about mixing school with business.
"Business does belong in schools."
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Another article is linked in this caption:
St. Joe Company president and West River Elementary students
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Well, duh!!!!
(1) principal: $75k per year, needs training in how to lead. (?)Next, it will be, 'business men show principal how to read'.
Meanwhile, Mr. Businessman gets a tax write-off and his mug on the front page, at the same time dumping H2SO4 into a storm sewer.
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