Thomas MacMillan Photo
Teachers began interviewing Wednesday to keep their jobs, as a charter group set to work on its plans to make major changes at one of New Haven’s most struggling schools.
The Urban Youth Center (pictured), a small transitional school for grades six to eight at 580 Dixwell Ave., is being closed at the end of this academic year and reopened in the fall under new management. It is among a first batch of public schools to be transformed as part of the city’s nascent school reform drive.
This week marked the beginning of a new partnership between the New Haven Public Schools and a not-for-profit called Domus, which runs two charter schools in Stamford. On Monday, the Board of Education gave the school district the OK to contract with Domus to take over management of Urban Youth.
Urban Youth is one of two schools, along with Brennan/Rogers, due to be reconstituted in time for next school year. Teachers who want to work there will have to sign an “election to work” agreement. They’ll have to consent to significant changes in work rules, including a longer school day and a longer school year.
Teachers at the two so-called “turnaround” schools won’t get automatically rehired; they have to reapply. They were given until Sunday to decide whether they want to stay. At Brennan/Rogers, 17 of 32 teachers reapplied for their spots, according to school officials. At Urban Youth, four of nine teachers reapplied. One major reason teachers didn’t stick with the turnarounds was that the longer school day posed a child care problems, according to teachers union President Dave Cicarella. Those who don’t want to stay will be guaranteed jobs elsewhere in the district.
The Partnership
Those who do want to stay on at Urban Youth interviewed Wednesday with two members of Domus’s staff, according to Domus Executive Director Mike Duggan.
The new middle school already has a name — Domus Middle School — and a new head of school for next year.
Melissa Bailey Photo
In an interview Wednesday afternoon, Duggan (pictured) outlined a few more details of what he the new school might look like, based on a model Domus has developed over the past 11 years in Stamford.
He painted a picture of a school with extra resources surrounding struggling kids — a school where students wear uniforms, teachers give individualized attention, parents pledge to pitch in, and where counselors are on-call to address the litany of problems that, in a poor urban district, can get in the way of learning.
Domus, now an $11 million not-for-profit social services agency, began in 1972 running a home for boys in Stamford. Since then it has expanded its mission to education. It now runs two charters, a middle and a high school.
Domus founded Trailblazers Academy Charter Middle School in 1999 with only 72 students. The school has since grown to serve 165 students in grades six to eight.
The students at the Domus schools typically start between three to five grades behind their peers, Duggan said. Teachers try to help them catch up through small classes of about 12 kids, and through extended school day with extra literacy tutors and academic help. Student scores still lag behind district and state averages, but have improved dramatically.
The Board of Education (BOE) Monday approved the framework of a contract to bring a similar smaller program to New Haven. The school would serve 48 students in grades six to eight. The new New Haven middle school will be Domus’s first endeavor outside of Stamford. Unlike Domus’ Stamford schools, Domus Middle won’t be an official charter school, and will not get state charter school funding. It will be run by Domus, and funded by the New Haven school district.
New Haven school reform czar Garth Harries said the district chose to bring Domus aboard because it had shown success dealing with exactly the same population that Urban Youth does.
“We don’t have a monopoly a good ideas or expertise,” Harries said.
Harries called bringing Domus aboard “fundamental to a portfolio strategy,” where different schools are managed differently according to their needs. He noted that Domus’s Trailblazers school now has a waiting list for both students and teachers.
In its vote Monday, the BOE gave the district permission to pay Domus up to $40,000 for an initial startup phase until Aug. 31, then another $807,200 to run the school for the first year. In addition to that budget, the district would pay for a number of services, including school uniforms, custodians, teachers, special education services, food and transportation. (Click here to view Domus’ proposed budget, which gives more details.)
The school board approved the agreement Monday without discussion, after it was reviewed and recommended by the Administrative/Finance Committee on April 5. Liz Torres, one of two board members present at that meeting, said she has personally toured Domus’ middle school in Stamford. She highly recommended the program.
The contract would be a net increase of about $300,000 to the school budget. Most of the costs included in the contract are already being paid for by the district, according to Harries. He said the increase in costs is largely due to added support for families and after-school activities.
The added costs would be part of a $3 million increase in the school board budget in mayor’s proposed spending plan for 2010-11. The mayor is raising homeowners’ taxes by an average of 9 percent, in part to support his 5‑year school reform campaign.
Asked about the increased cost in tough budget times, Duggan responded that Domus’s new model will help the city in a variety of ways, including in curbing juvenile crime, because students will be in school nearly 12 hours per day instead of on the streets.
Family Advocates
One key part of the Domus model will come in the form of new staffers called “family advocates,” Duggan said.
Family advocates are school-based problem-solvers and counselors who work around the clock to “remove barriers that prevent students from reaching academic goals,” he explained. In Stamford, each family advocate is assigned to 25 students. They work at the school and make home visits. They’re also on call 24 – 7 to tend to pressing needs.
At the core is a recognition that, especially in a poor urban district, outside factors may lead a student to lag behind in school.
For example, if a student isn’t showing up to school because he doesn’t have clean clothes, a family advocate might visit his home and learn that the washing machine is broken. The advocate might help fix the washing machine, allowing the kid to come back to school. Or a family advocate might learn that a family is stressed out because Grandma needs blood pressure medication. The family advocate could help the family connect with the service provider it needs to help Grandma — and get the student back on track.
New Leadership
Domus plans to hire two family advocates, as well as five other non-teaching staffers, for the new middle school. Domus has made two hires so far, according to Duggan.
Mike McGuire has been chosen as the future head of the new Domus Middle School, according to Duggan. McGuire, a former teacher, has been with Domus for 11 years, Duggan said. McGuire has served at different times as the director for each of Domus’s two charter schools.
Richard Cheng, who currently teaches at a Domus Middle School, has been chosen as director of curriculum. He’s one of about seven Teach For America graduates who currently work at Domus. Cheng will supervise the family advocates, and he’ll meet weekly with teachers to see how they’re doing and offer support, he said.
In running the new school, Domus aims in general to replicate the model it has developed in Stamford, Duggan said.
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Duggan acknowledged the new digs aren’t optimal. The 1968 cement bunker on Dixwell Avenue that houses Urban Youth, formerly the Martin Luther King School, is one of the few schools that has not been rebuilt.
Duggan said when he first saw it, his reaction was, “You’re kidding me, right?”
He said Domus would see if it can switch to a new building.
Changes Afoot
New building or not, Domus will forge ahead to “create a culture and community” for new the school.
Duggan said Domus will make sure each component makes sense for New Haven before implementing it, but New Haveners can expect to see something like this:
At Trailblazers, all students wear uniforms of khaki pants and shirts with school logos. School starts each morning with a community meeting, where adults check in with students before the learning gets under way. At the beginning and end of each class, teachers stand at the classroom door, shake each student’s hand, and look them in the eye.
“A lot of the work is based on relationships,” Duggan said.
The school has a special focus on parental engagement: Each family is asked to commit 30 hours of service to the school. They make cakes for bake sales and organize graduation ceremonies. If their work schedules are demanding, they might work from home doing mailings or making phone calls.
Duggan said while experts say it takes three years to establish a new school culture, Domus will approach the task with “urgency.”
Over the summer, the new staff will begin to reach out to students and invite them into the school, Duggan said. Before school starts, they’ll already know the staff, and where to get an extra pencil if they forget to bring one, he said.
He said Domus is looking forward to being part of New Haven’s nascent reform drive.
“I think it’s great that a community has said, these are young kids who usually struggle, who get the short end of the stick,” he said. New Haven’s drive reflects an important premise, he said: “We just can’t pick who gets to move forward — we all have to move together.”
Let's see now...
Extended school day, longer school year, staff on call, TFA-centric, serving the most challenged student population, putting aside the standard work rules, etc. A Do-whatever-it- takes attitude...
A charter school by any other name...
Mike Duggan is a local guy who has been doing some of the hardest work in the Stamford district for a long time. Its great that he is finally getting a chance to help New Haven.