State Blocks Dulce Schools From Changing Improvement Plan

This story was originally published in the Rio Grande SUN on July 12, 2018.

The New Mexico Public Education Department rejected requests from the Dulce Independent School District for changes to its Most Rigorous Intervention plan.

Last year, the Department identified Dulce Elementary School as one of four schools in the state in need of a major overhaul due to low student achievement and low school grades. For the last five years, Dulce Elementary School has received a grade of F.

The District submitted its first Most Rigorous Intervention application to restructure and redesign the school in February and the plan was rejected by the Department in March. District officials resubmitted the application in April, which was rejected for a second time by the Department at the end of that month.

The Education Department conditionally accepted the District’s third application, submitted May 5. With the acceptance of the plan comes the ability for the school to get up to $2 million in Title I funding that can be used to improve student academic achievement.

Education Department Secretary Christopher Ruszkowski’s acceptance letter includes a list of conditions that must be met by the school.

For the school to remain on track, every teacher must be rated as effective, highly effective or exemplary by the first day of professional development for the 2018-2019 school year; officials must create a teacher compensation package, hire a new principal with a track record of increasing school and student performance; increase student instruction time with the school’s highest performing teachers; specify expected outcomes of any tribal or community school partners; and use research-based curriculum, instruction and assessments.

The letter also provides a timeline for how the school’s Title I grant money will be used in the next four years.

“If the Dulce Elementary School earns a 6th and 7th “F” rating in the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years, then the federal grant allocation for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 will be withheld and repurposed for School Closure during the 2019-2020 school year,” he wrote. “In that case, the school will close at the end of the 2019-2020 school year. If the school earns a combination of “D” and “F” ratings over the upcoming three academic years, the school shall close during the 2021-2022 school year.”

In her response letter, District Superintendent Pamela Montoya asked for the Department’s understanding on several of the outlined expectations.

First, the school’s 2017-2018 school year grade should not be included in the years used for assessment in closing the school because the Most Rigorous Intervention process was not in effect at that time, she wrote.

During a July 10 interview, Ruszkowski said the District may have misunderstood why the school year will be included in the assessment.

“What we want to do is include as much of an opportunity as possible for schools to improve or get better and ultimately exit the MRI status, that is our shared, ultimate goal,” he said.

When the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act was passed, officials within the District knew that the elementary school would be identified as a Most Rigorous Intervention school, Ruszkowski said.

This gave the schools additional time to make changes to bring up the school’s grade.

Montoya also accepted, with understanding, that “every reasonable effort will be made by the first day of teacher professional development for the 2018-2019 school year, 100 percent of teachers at Dulce Elementary School will have earned a summative rating of Effective, Highly Effective, or Exemplary.”

One of the school’s biggest challenges is the recruitment and retention of qualified teachers.

In her response, Montoya did include a formula for increased teacher compensation. Each teacher will be eligible to receive a $500 incentive award one year of growth within each semester for every student not on grade level. This will be determined by a Northwest Evaluation Association assessment.

In the June 7 reply letter, Ruszkowski rejected all of Montoya’s requests for leniency.

“Your most letter (sic) dated May 30, 2018 requested particular modification to that conditional approval,” he wrote. “The New Mexico Public Education Department will not entertain any modifications from DISD at this time given the dire status of your district’s and your students’ futures. NMPED may determine, at its sole discretion, which of the additional input provided by your district warrants further consideration.”

Montoya did not return phone calls or email, by presstime, requesting an interview.