Comments (0) | |

Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009

By the numbers

Numbers are fascinating in what they can reveal. Granted, numbers sometimes lack nuance, but they can, in cold, stark relief, tell us where we stand when compared to our peers as individuals, companies and even school systems.

For example, there are 180 school systems in Georgia that report the Adequate Yearly Progress of their schools. One hundred and thirty-five of those systems have 10 schools or less. Bibb County schools are the sixteenth-largest system in the state, measured by its 2008 school population of 24,968. Remember that number.

As you would guess, the Atlanta region has the highest school populations. Gwinnett County had 157,219 students last October. Cobb County had 106,747 students in 114 schools. DeKalb County taught 99,775 students, Fulton County 88,299 and Atlanta city schools, 49,032.

It’s understandable that superintendents in those large districts are justly compensated. Running a school system with thousands of employees and students is tough sledding. Beverly Hall in Atlanta pulled down, acccording to the state Department of Education in 2008, $353,710. Is she worth it? Seventy-seven percent of her schools made AYP in 2009. Seventy-six percent of her students are on the free or reduced lunch program, a statistic that is an indication of fiscal poverty.

J.A. Wilbanks in Gwinnett makes $343,954. Why? Ninety-seven percent of his schools made AYP in 2009, and he oversees a $1.9 billion budget. Granted, only 40 percent of his students use the FRLP.

Sharon Patterson, Bibb’s superintendent, was the sixth-highest paid school leader in the state in 2008 (discarding former Peach County superintendent Charles Daniel, who somehow convinced the Peach County Board of Education to make him the third-highest paid superintendent with a student population of only 4,077 before he resigned.)

As with any executive, unless the books are kept by Wall Street bankers, results are measured by profit, efficicency of operations, or in the case of schools, the quality of its students expressed in a host of data from AYP to graduation rates. Bibb’s numbers are poor on both counts. It has a 61 percent graduation rate, and 53.7 percent of its schools didn’t make AYP.

One of the most common excuses given for the poor performance of Bibb County’s students is the number of children on the free and reduced lunch program. Last year, almost 75 percent were on the FRLP. In Atlanta, Hall is producing results despite having a slightly higher percentage of her students on the lunch program.

Of the 10 systems with the highest-paid superintendents, only four have less than 60 percent of students on the FRLP, and none has less than 64 percent of their schools making AYP, with the exception of Bibb, where only 46.3 percent made AYP in 2009.

In Houston County, David Carpenter, has more students than Bibb (26,285), and according to the DOE, 48.52 percent of his students are on the FRLP. Still, 100 percent of Houston’s schools made AYP.

Certainly AYP is not the final measure of a school system, but it is a measure, and Bibb’s numbers are not adding up.

The former chancellor of the University System of Georgia, Stephen Porch, surmised that university presidents had great ideas when hired, and he generally gave them five years to implement those ideas. If they were successful, it was time to bring in new eyes that could take the university to the next level. If they weren’t successful after five years, they never would be.

Our superintendent and school board have accomplished much in the area of bricks and mortar, but is it time to bring in people who can move the academic needle? That’s a community discussion that should begin now.

Charles E. Richardson is the Telegraph’s editorial page editor. He can be reached at 478-744-4342 or via e-mail at crichardson@macon.com.