TUSD has stripped two schools of their magnet status under the district’s latest plan to improve achievement and racial balance.
This is the district’s second attempt to get its plan past the federal judge overseeing its desegregation case.
The first version, approved by the board last summer, was rejected in January by U.S. District Judge David Bury. He criticized TUSD for failing to identify specific activities schools must undertake to attain magnet status and for not taking into account how much it would cost.
This time the nearly 200-page plan outlines strategies, needed resources, evidence of implementation and their associated costs.
The plan approved by the TUSD board Tuesday night was submitted to the court in May.
The goal of magnet schools is to attract a racially diverse student body by creating schools so appealing that they draw students from across the district. Those that succeed are not only racially diverse, but also have higher academic achievement than non-magnet schools.
TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez told the board that this iteration of the district’s magnet program plan is “part court-ordered — a heavy part court-ordered — and a lot of collaboration and dialogue.”
It was developed in consultation with Special Master Willis Hawley, a national desegregation expert Bury appointed to oversee TUSD’s efforts, and Hawley’s implementation team.
One example of the give-and-take is the elimination of the magnet status this school year at Cragin Elementary School, near North Tucson Boulevard and East Fort Lowell Road.
Cragin — along with Mansfeld Middle School near the UA campus — was recently added to TUSD’s magnet schools amid objections by the desegregation plaintiffs. Hawley also criticized the move, saying that adding the already-integrated Cragin was disingenuous.
Though TUSD felt strongly about both new magnet schools, it agreed to withdraw Cragin’s status, though the school will keep its funding for another school year.
TUSD did negotiate to retain Mansfeld’s magnet-school status.
The second TUSD school to lose its magnet status in the fall is Ochoa Elementary, in South Tucson, which has been identified as highly performing but having little chance of integrating.
Instead, Ochoa is set to become a “lighthouse” school where highly successful teachers share their expertise and classrooms as models.
In its lighthouse role, Ochoa will continue to receive magnet funding for three years.
TUSD said it hopes the collaborative nature of its newest plan will help it get approved and put it on track for better integration and academic improvement.
Nine of TUSD’s 20 magnet schools earned grades of A or B. Fewer — six — are considered racially integrated.
For the next two school years — the deadline by which all magnet schools must be at least close to attaining integrated status and achieving academic performance-related goals — the magnet department will provide oversight of each school’s improvement plan and take an active role in improving instructional quality.
Among the achievement goals are receiving state letter grades of A or B, having math and reading scores above the median and reducing achievement gaps between racial groups.
TUSD says available resources will be leveraged to achieve success, unlike years past when magnet schools often complained of being left to their own devices.
A- and B-rated schools that are integrated, or close to it, will divide magnet coordinators’ time between supporting recruitment and achievement.
C- and D-rated schools will primarily focus on student achievement.
Each year a special master will submit two reports: one documenting integration and one on student achievement results.
The special master may recommend schools with little chance to integrate to immediately relinquish magnet status.
If the special master recommends eliminating a school’s magnet status, and the court approves, recruitment and marketing funds will be reallocated.
Students attending that school under the magnet program would continue to receive transportation until they reach the highest grade in that school. They would then return to their neighborhood school unless the family uses open enrollment.
Magnets eliminated due to achievement deficits will receive funding allocated them for the following year. Transportation will continue for a time, and TUSD will create a plan so the school can continue basic functions.
Schools with a better likelihood of integrating have until June 2017 to meet standards.
