Green Says KC School District on The Rise, Will Challenger Charter Schools for Students September 30, 2014

Kansas City school Superintendent said Monday the trouble school district is “on the rise”.
Green used charts, pictures and occasionally sarcasm to makes his points in his ‘State of the School District’ speech.
Green says the 2015 goal for the district is to regain full accreditation and achieve a district-wide score of 110 of a possible 140 point on the state achievement tests.
In 2014 the Kansas City district regained provisional accreditation and receive 92 points on the state test.
Green also said it was time to launch new programs in the district.
One of them is aimed at competing with charter schools within the district for students.
Enrollment has dropped steadily for most of the last decade because of turmoil in the district.
Green says, “We’re not going to sit back and let people keep taking out kids”.
“We’re going to make choice hard,’ Green said.
“We’re not going to sit back and let certain entities sell our parents a bill of goods that that is (charter schools) a better situation, when you look the numbers, it’s not better.”
At one point during green’s speech, his slide show offered three pictures all on the screen at the same time. One was a picture of former Superintendent John Covington, who left the district suddenly, creating the opening for Green; a second picture was of retiring Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro and a third picture was a full school bus.
The images were on the screen as Green talked about outside turmoil and the threat of student transfers disrupting the district.

Green Dismisses State Board, Says District Is Moving On October 22, 2013

Kansas City School Superintendent Dr. Stephen Green says His district needs to keep its eye on the ball, despite being turned down by the Missouri Board of Education in the district’s request to have its accreditation rating improved.

“We need to keep going full throttle, together, to deliver a third consecutive year of improvement, regardless of the politics swirling in our periphery,” Green said in an open letter Tuesday.

Under state law, Missouri students may transfer from a failing school district, which is what the Kansas City school system is considered in the eyes of the state, without accreditation.

The State Supreme Court heard arguments in a case involving student transfers out of Kansas City into neighboring suburban schools. A ruling from the High Court is expected later this year or early in 2014.

The State Board’s action is not a surprise. Earlier, Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro recommended the Board not change Kansas City’s accreditation status. The State Board did not even take a vote on the matter.

The district scored an 84 of a possible 140 points on last spring’s state tests. They had hoped that would earn the school system enough points to move into provisional accreditation.

Nicastro challenged the Kansas City claim that it had shown three years of academic progress. She and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) want to see a sustained trend of improvement under the new, tougher state tests.

Green vows to keep pressing for academic improvement despite the questions surrounding the student transfer issue.

“We won’t sit still waiting for their certification,” he wrote.

There is also a team of consultants working on plans to improve the district. Earlier this week, those consultants warned against expecting any dramatic academic improvement in the Kansas City school system.

Green Deal: $250K/Yr 2 Years, plus 2 1 Year Renewals April 2, 2012

Dr Stephen Green gets contract as permanent superintendent. Had been acting Superintendent since last summer

Flash KC School Board Appointed Superintendent. ‘Interim’ Title Removed April 2, 2012

Developing

Neth Details KC School Board Elimination Plan, Superintendent Warns of ‘Slippery Slope’ March 29, 2012

Clay County State Rep. Myron Neth introduced a bill Thursday to eliminate the elected school board of the unaccredited Kansas City, Missouri School District.
Under his plan, the elected board would be replaced by a five-person appointed ‘Special Administrative Board’ (SAB) Three members could be appointed by the Missouri Education Commissioner; two more could be appointed by the Mayor of Kansas City. Neth, however, made it clear, the make-up the board could change if the bill proceeds forward.
Kansas City School Superintendent Sr. Stephen Green warned, “anytime you’re considering overriding or overruling the elected process, I think that’s a slippery slope”
‘We’ve had two decades of a school district that has been unaccredited or provisionally accredited,” countered Neth in an interview with KMBC TV, “therefore, there has been a lack of leadership”.
The bill was introduced very late in the legislative session. There are about six weeks left. Neth says part of the delay was a lack of agreement among the Republicans controlling the legislature.
“They’re kind of held up because there is a lot of division just within the majority party on a lot of those things,” said Neth.
GOP leaders have made it clear they want school reform to be a signature issue of the session. Neth says his bill may get a hearing at the House education Committee as early as Wednesday. He is a member of that panel.
“That’s what concerns me,” said the Superintendent in another KMBC interview.
“The timeline seems to be quite rushed,” said Green.
This is just one of several Kansas City school reform plans that may be considered in the next couple of weeks by lawmakers.
Under this plan, the Kansas City schools that perform will would remain as they are.
Neth’s bill would place struggling schools into a charter school model, with the SAB as the sponsor. The schools would be operated by independent vendors who would have a contract with the district.
“It would be well over half the schools that would go charter, for sure”, according to Neth.
The model for Neth’s bill is what took place in New Orleans, Louisiana.
When Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, it gave school administrators there an opportunity. Their public school system was struggling, too.
Neth says 4 out of 5 New Orleans schools were converted to the charter format. He says New Orleans charter schools still struggle, but they are improving.
The struggling urban district of 17,000 students has drawn attention from state lawmakers because of turmoil in the district.
Late last summer, KC Superintendent Dr. John Covington abruptly resigned. His department shook the district as well as state educators.
His departure was followed within weeks by the official notice that the district has lost its state accreditation because of consistently low scores on the state exams. The Kansas City District was stripped of its accreditation on the first day of 2012.