THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 14, 1994 TAG: 9406140336
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE STAUNTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940614 LENGTH: PORTSMOUTH
For a year, the school district has studied the idea of contracting with a for-profit company in hopes that a different style of management would get better results than those achieved through the public school system.
{REST} But the idea has won few supporters and significant opposition from some civic and education organizations.
At a news conference Monday morning, Trumble announced that proposals submitted by four school management companies had all been rejected by a review committee.
Trumble declined to go into detail on the rejections. But he said the concerns revolved on financial stability and curriculum plans that some members of the committee found questionable.
With more time, Trumble said, the committee can fine-tune the city's request for bids. He cited as an example that the committee wants the companies to spell out the improvements they would make to school buildings and school equipment.
The process will start over and will be concluded by the end of the summer, Trumble said.
``I must be willing to explore every program that has the potential to help our students,'' Trumble said. ``I owe that to the students . . . and I think everyone wants to make sure that we would get the project off the ground right.''
The next step will occur at the June 30 School Board meeting. Trumble said he would ask the board to reject all four plans while also seeking the board's nod to issue another request for proposals. He would then create another review committee, which would issue its recommendation to the board at a later date.
Committee members, who have not been publicly identified, have declined to be interviewed.
The administration's original plan called for a private takeover of five schools this fall to see whether student achievement would improve.
The contract would run for up to five years, but the superintendent and the board would still be in charge. School-management companies say they can get better classroom results by using the same dollars in a smarter way.
On Monday, Trumble said ``one or more'' schools would be targeted this time. They probably won't be the same five schools, several of which showed notable gains according to the latest standardized-test results, he said.
Three newly created ``community'' elementary schools that will open in September 1995 will be closely eyed for privatization, he said. The schools will be nearly all black, with many disadvantaged students.
Any plan adopted wouldn't be implemented until September 1995 - the same year the superintendent hopes to spearhead another project in which building-level staff members would have more authority to make budgetary, personnel and other decisions governing their school.
School-improvement teams themselves could earn a contract to run schools, Trumble said.
The announcement signaled the beginning of what could be a drawn-out process that many would rather see killed.
``I think the schools will be fine if teachers check themselves and teachers and administrators do their jobs and stop pussyfooting around,'' said Lucy M. Overton, chairwoman of the Community Review Committee, a grass-roots group that works with the district.
Few of the city's most influential education and civic coalitions openly supported privatization as a means of improving student achievement, attendance and parental involvement. A group of about 20 parents from one of the targeted schools formed an opposition group.
In community forums and fliers, the prospect of privatization ignited charges of educational abandonment. And in many instances, the administration's plan - which aimed to close the achievement gap between white and black students - generated anger and confusion among some of the people Trumble said would benefit from it.
It's unclear whether things will be different the second time around.
``They shouldn't jump into something they're unhappy with,'' said Paul W. Robinett Sr., a member of the Portsmouth Schools Foundation, a nonprofit group that raises money for the district. ``It may be wise for them to perhaps pick one school and apply privatization to that to see if it really will work.''
Portsmouth's look at contract management has put it in the national spotlight with a handful of other districts, attracting two of the most well-known school-management companies: Education Alternatives Inc. of Minneapolis and The Edison Project of New York City.
The nine-member School Board, with three seats up for appointment this month, has been divided on privatization.
But board members said the yearlong investigation has been worthwhile because Portsmouth has learned more about nontraditional ways of providing education. Others said the discussion has spurred some schools to reform themselves more quickly.
This fall, the district also plans to adapt some of the ideas found in the proposals, such as slightly extending the school day for the most disadvantaged children.
``You would hate to look back 10 years from now after having rejected the idea and find out that it was the way to go,'' board Chairman J. Thomas Benn III said. ``On the other hand, you would hate to find out five years down the road that things are no better and may be worse. I think the administration has learned a lot. . . . We just need to hone the (request) down.''
{KEYWORDS} PRIVATIZATION PORTSMOUTH SCHOOLS
by CNB