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Because of construction in the school, classes are held in a “student
learning complex” just east of the school. Photo: Kyle Johnson
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A school day at Eastern Senior High School still seems remarkably normal. The students still chat in the hallways in between class, they still participate in extracurricular activities and cheer on their football team, and the gymnasium is filled with the smell of school lunch food and the sound of students milling around.
But in this far from normal year, the school is shut down, with work underway on a top-to-bottom overhaul of the nearly 300,000-square-foot building. Classes are held in the “student learning complex” covering the tennis courts just east of the schools.
A spokesperson for the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, the DC agency responsible for updating the city’s schools, said that the complex cost about $1.5 million to build. Keeping the regular school open during construction and closing off individual sections of the building at a time would have cost about $5 million.
The student learning complex is a system of trailers connected by elevated and covered walkways. The walkways, which are essentially large decks, have been named with input from the students and staff. University Lane contains the offices college-bound students go to for advice on getting into and paying for college; Main is reserved for the row of rooms housing the school’s administration.
Classrooms are just a little smaller than the rooms in the school, but in many other ways, they are nicer. The classrooms, and almost everything in them, are brand new, a vast improvement on the disrepair found in some parts of regular building.
On a tour of the complex, students and staff said they were pleased with the Eastern they will occupy this year.
Stephanie Robinson, a senior, said that starting the school year in a different environment was a big transition, but it also has been exciting.
“It’s good to come to a new place and still see faces that you know,” she said.
“Eastern was a really well put together school, and this is, too,” said senior Antoinette Barbour. “And being outside in between classes is actually a great transition for seniors planning to go to college.”
The OPEFM spokesperson said the complex is a lot easier to keep safe than the original school building because there aren’t spots for students to hide. Security cameras lining the tops of the walkways also keep the complex safe.
Donovan Tate, a senior planning to go into computer programming, said he likes the complex but is excited for the school to reopen next year.
“That’s good. That will be better for the future generations,” he said. Tate is also happy that the reopened school will get new computers.
Continuing a Strong Tradition
If you ask those familiar with Eastern for an example of something the school is doing right, the health academy is frequently mentioned first.
Craig English was hired to run the academy in 2005, but it had existed for about 20 years prior to English’s start. English worked in the health care industry for 10 years before being approached by a friend at the school system who told him about the health academy job.
“If you told me then that I would be a teacher today … I probably would have laughed and said no way,” he said. “But I enjoy my job. I’m very lucky.”
The health academy currently offers emergency medical technician (EMT) and pharmacy technician training. Students completing the program can become certified in those fields, helping them seek a career in health after graduation.
Hands-on training is a big part of the curriculum. Students practice performing CPR on an adult and baby dummy, take a look at the skeleton standing in the classroom and work at community events.
“We expect our students to kind of really become a part of that,” English said of the students’ work to help the community through health service events.
The health academy has also partnered with outside organizations to enhance learning and bring in more resources. CVS helps run the pharmacy technician training and the DC Fire Department helps out with the EMT certification. English said he is also looking to partner with UDC to start a nursing program in the academy and allow students to get UDC credit while in high school.
Kenneth Clayton didn’t know he wanted to go into medicine before enrolling in the academy, but the senior is now focused on that occupation. He’s not sure what specialty he will pursue, but he said he wants to be “the main doctor in the hospital.”
The health academy will be one of the few holdovers when Eastern’s new academic program starts next year. Charity Fesler of the school system’s Office of Portfolio Management said that the academy will be expanded to include a college preparatory focus.
English is on board with that plan, saying that increasing the “rigor and relevance” of the courses will help students succeed.
“We want them to pursue secondary study because we know in this day and age you can’t just have a high school degree and expect a great job,” he said.
Two Years to Prepare
Eastern failed to meet yearly progress targets in last spring’s DC Comprehensive Assessment System (DC CAS) test, which is used to determine if schools are meeting the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act.
About 21.5 percent of Eastern’s students were proficient in reading on the test, one percent less than the year before. Less than 10 percent of all students, and less than 2 percent of male students, were proficient in math. The proficiency targets were 55 percent for math and 57 percent for reading.
Because Eastern’s students have annually scored well below the performance targets, the school is in its second year of “restructuring” – the No Child Left Behind classification that calls for dramatic changes at a school to improve education. Fesler said this year’s scores are one of the reasons “why we are going through this renovation process,” and said improving education at the city’s public high schools is one of the greatest challenges facing the school system.
Sophomore students take the DC CAS each spring, and Eastern won’t have any sophomores until the 2011-2012 school year.
Having a few years to prepare for the next round of tests could help the school perform better in 2012, according to Eastern Instructional Coach Stephanie Reid. She said that the teachers have been busy implementing the school system’s new teaching and learning framework this year, in addition to emphasizing the importance of literacy and numeracy among the students.
Schools can get around the testing performance targets if they meet the “safe harbor” threshold by increasing student proficiency in a subject area by at least 10 percent in one year. If Eastern does not make safe harbor or reach the testing goals in 2012, the school will have to take some more restructuring steps.
“That’s not going to happen,” Fesler said, adding that the school system is optimistic that their academic redesign will improve the school’s academic performance.
An Opening at the Revolving Door?
As was noted in last month’s column, Eastern has had a rotating cast of principals in recent years – upon taking over last year, Principal William Chiselom was the 11th principal over a 13-year span.
School system officials have not said much publicly about Chiselom’s chances of retaining his role next year. At a recent planning meeting, school officials said next year’s principal would be identified by January.
Reid’s career has been similar to Chiselom’s: both taught at Eastern before moving to MM Washington (Chiselom was principal there), and both came back to Eastern last year. Reid said the school is on the right track and is ready for next year’s transition to a remodeled building and a redesigned academic program.
Annette Chisolm, an English teacher at Eastern, said she was “very biased” about wanting Chiselom to stay on as principal because she has been happy with the progress the school has made in his tenure. Chisolm started at Eastern last year.
“He is, from what I see, embracing the notion that Eastern is a very strong academic school,” Chisolm said. “My thinking is in order to move anything forward, you have to have some sort of semblance of loyalty.”
Talking broadly, Fesler said that there are good and bad things about sticking with someone who knows the school and hiring someone from the outside.
“I think both have their advantages, and that will have to be part of the decision-making process going into it,” she said. |
