|
When
Romules Durant, Ed.D. became Superintendent of Toledo Public
Schools (TPS) he faced a city frustrated with the district’s
state of affairs. Contentious discussions among stakeholders
and critics about persistent budget challenges; pernicious
labor relations and piteous student performance were the
norm.
Currently,
TPS is seeking two renewal levies – Issue 5, a 6.67 mill
ten-year renewal for emergency requirements and Issue 6, a
5.8 mill five-year renewal for current expenses and
permanent improvements. No new money is being requested, so
the average homeowner of a house valued at $65,000 will
continue to pay the same $20 per month that they’ve already
been paying.
Today,
only five years after taking the reins, Durant
enthusiastically trumpets a new and much improved school
system designed to meet the current and future needs of
contemporary students.
I spoke
with Dr. Durant concerning the levy and the current state of
the District.
Perryman:
Why should the public approve Issue 5 and 6?
Durant:
Again, to speak on the progress the district has made since
I came in as superintendent from day 1 up unto this point.
In 2010 our graduation rate was at 63%. Within my first year
of work, we jumped to 70.3%, then 72%, to where now we’re at
79%. Our minorities were graduating around 50% and now
they’re up to 76.7%. Not only that but we cleared $100
million out of the budget. Our enrollment in 2010 was at
22,000; went down to 21,000; We are now up to 23,000, taking
us back to our enrollment back when it was 10 years ago. So
again, we’re gaining more kids and increasing our graduation
rate within it, all happening within the last five years.
Perryman:
What other changes are you proud of?
Durant:
Coming into the district, we literally had only 4 Advanced
Placement courses. Right now we’re at 23. Also, through our
College credit plus program we’re adding about 800-900
students taking college courses. 11% of last years’
graduates all graduated with college credits. We have built
12 associates degrees during this time in TPS. We have more
associate degrees than some community colleges have, all
within TPS within that timeframe. We’ve also increased our
industry partners to over 600. At the same time when I came
in, there were 80 internships in the district and 95% of
them were all at Toledo Technology Academy. We are now at
over 500 internships throughout the district.
We have
added 2200 students into our career tech, meaning more kids
are now going into career technical programs than at any
other time. Kids can choose to go into agriculture, botany
and aviation. We have magnet schools. All our magnet
schools have a 98% graduate rate. Jones Leadership Academy
is one that focuses on business. You walk out of there with
potentially an associate degree in business. And I’ll give
you another one, through a new partnership between TPS,
ProMedica and the University of Toledo, we will be launching
a pre-med high school.
So
again, developing and launching more thematic high schools
that are having impact in regard to college career
readiness. And, kids also have an option to attend
traditional schools that have vocation. So right now,
Rogers already has construction academy within Rogers High
School. Next Fall, Waite High School will also have a
construction academy within the school.
Perryman:
What separates TPS from other like schools?
Romules:
Whether urban or other schools, TPS is the most
comprehensive school district in Northwest Ohio and in the
State of Ohio. Meaning, we have as many programs as Penta
County. We offer as many AP courses or foreign language
courses as anyone else, including Latin or Russian. Our kids
can take courses for college credits. We would have the
highest enrollment of 8th graders in college in the state
because Toledo Early College is providing, and we’re the
only ones right now, that allow 8th graders to have
admission. So again, when you say what separates us from
them? I’m not talking about only urban schools, I’m talking
about all school districts because when you look at our
thematic schools, a good percentage of the students come
from the suburbs.
Perryman:
The reality is that we’re talking about 21st
Century urban education, which is very different from that
which I experienced several decades ago or that you went
through recently. Urban education today has numerous
challenges, evidenced by the F received by TPS on its most
recent State Report Card.
Durant:
So, if a child was already 2 years behind before they even
start school, it’s a social issue that says we’ve got a
system that’s not aligned to today’s time and these kids are
showing up already a year to 2 years behind. They don’t
grade kindergartners when they first start off because if
they did they might be establishing that there are a lot of
failing communities.
Perryman:
So, the difference between TPS and others, including charter
or even private schools, is that TPS educates kids who are
disadvantaged or disabled and they are factored into the mix
whereas other schools are able to exclude these particular
students from their systems.
Durant:
That’s exactly right. Here’s the thing, just this year we
added 452 kids, who have never been in TPS, with Individual
Education Plans (IEP), special ed. Educating those students
is something we’ve got to take on. 20% of our student
population is in special ed. We have 2000 kids who are
homeless and another 360 are in foster care. When you put it
in perspective, that’s close to about 3200 and 3300 kids
within one district are either homeless or foster care,
which is larger than some suburbs have total enrollment. The
bottom line is we don’t have a choice in who we do or do not
educate because our door is open to everybody.
Perryman:
Along those lines, a recent study done by scholars at the
University of Virginia concluded that kids that went to a
private school did no better than those who attended public
school when you control for family income and family
resources. So private schools are not a better choice for
low-income students.
Durant:
As poverty decreases, performance goes up. The issue is
that we haven’t solved the issue of poverty.
Perryman:
So that grade of F on the report card is really a measure of
the amount of poverty in the district.
Durant:
I keep telling people that this is not a grade of this
district; this is the grade of the social system that the
district operates in and that’s not something under our
control. We can, however, bring efficiencies and
partnerships, which provide the opportunity for our students
to have a great educational experience. We have been
building the bridges to accomplish that over these past five
years.
Perryman:
Developing community partners, in my opinion, appears to be
invaluable.
Durant:
There’s no way TPS can do this alone. You need social
service agencies and you need the churches. My thing is
we’ve got to awaken the faith-based community to take back
our community. I listened to you once give a sermon that
asked, “When did we turn over our responsibility of raising
kids to the schools?” I took notes, because it was the
truth. It is impossible for schools to both rear or raise
children and also educate them.
Perryman:
Finally, five years is a very short period of time to move
the needle forward. Yet, people want immediate results
without understanding the complex dynamics of the
large-scale institution that you lead. You’ve had to
evaluate, correct and fine-tune the structure and processes
of your system. You’ve had to build the bridge as you walk
on it, so to speak.
How have
you done it?
Durant:
No sleep. (Laughter). Literally having all hands on deck
and seeing the big picture. Seeing that I’ve got to work on
the front end so I can get it on the back end. Sometimes you
just don’t know what you don’t know, you need to try it
out. It’s really doing all those things as well as
embracing the community, going to the churches, getting more
and more people involved. The average tenure for a
superintendent is 3 years, if you’re African American or
minority it’s less than 3. You’ve really got to really keep
moving.
I’m just
TPS proud and I appreciate the support from yourself and
others.
Perryman:
Thank you.
Vote yes
on Issue 5 and Issue 6!
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
|
