Menlo-Atherton High faces sanctions Menlo-Atherton High faces sanctions (October 20, 2004)

By David Boyce
Almanac Staff Writer

The Sequoia Union High School District may have to hire a consultant to help itself and Menlo-Atherton High School out of a sticky situation as a result of running afoul of the federal No Child Left Behind act.

Although the district and school have met all academic performance standards required by the act, the absence of a few sophomores on the day of the high school exit exam last spring has triggered a negative evaluation from the federal government and a set of possible consequences.

High schools are expected to test 95 percent of the sophomores enrolled on the first of two spring exit-exam dates. Students are divided into demographic subgroups; only groups judged numerically significant -- such as students of Caucasian or Hispanic ancestry or students learning English -- are required to reach the 95-percent threshold.

The report faults M-A for a 92-percent participation rate among Hispanic or Latino students, students who live in homes in which English is not the primary language, and students whose parents haven't graduated high school or need assistance with lunch money.

This is the third year that M-A has not met the act's participation-rate criteria. As a result, the school will have to choose from one of the following "corrective actions:" replace school staff member(s), implement a new curriculum, appoint an outside expert, extend the school year or school day, or restructure the school.

The incidental June departure of former M-A principal Eric Hartwig may satisfy one corrective step, said Sequoia's testing coordinator Marianne Splenda in an interview.

As a precaution, the district is also seeking outside advice. To help with costs, the federal government offers districts a $50,000 supplement and $10,000 for each affected school, amounts close to what consultants tend to charge, Ms. Splenda said.

The district and schools -- including Sequoia and Carlmont high schools -- have filed appeals with the state Department of Education. If the appeals fail, corrective steps must be taken within 90 days.

M-A's options are harsher next year, including reopening as a charter school or takeover by the state. "I believe we will solve this" by next year, said Ms. Splenda. The evaluation caused "an intensive examination into who didn't take this test and why," she said.

To really solve the problem, the school needs more remedial classes and the teachers to staff them, she said. "The financial resources needed ... are mammoth," Ms. Splenda said. Finding math teachers who meet the act's requirements is a particular hardship.

NCLB funding is a major issue in the current presidential campaign, with Democratic candidate Senator John Kerry claiming that the act is underfunded.

Other districts in the report include the Ravenswood City Elementary School District, which lists eight of the district's 12 schools as noncompliant.

Although the schools in the Menlo Park City Elementary School District exceeded participation rates, the report faults the district as a whole because it fell below the threshold by 0.3 percent among special education students, said Superintendent Ken Ranella.

Skipping the exam

Of 2,009 Sequoia district sophomores enrolled in 2004, the absence of 22 students on test dates pushed the district into noncompliance, Ms. Splenda said.

At M-A, several sophomores -- some of whom were truant -- had left school by the test dates, said Principal Norman Estrada. In addition, four students were absent on those days "despite our best efforts," Mr. Estrada said.

The missing students came from two demographic subgroups: homes in which English is not the primary language or homes in which the parents haven't graduated high school or need assistance with lunch money. And with the often transient nature of their lives, they can be hard to locate.

"These are students with severe problems," said Ms. Splenda. "They're in a mist. You see them and you don't see them. They're barely there."

The NCLB act is unyielding, however, allowing no explanation of the absences, said Ms. Splenda, adding: "That seems very punitive."

Being overruled

California had a school-accountability program before the arrival of No Child Left Behind, Ms. Splenda said. Among its strong points were public recognition of academic progress, she said. There were also cash awards.

The NCLB act -- enacted in 2002 -- brought in new standards. On the high school exit exam, a passing grade for the state was 350; NCLB reset it to 373, Ms. Splenda said. The state allowed parents to exempt their students, something not allowed by NCLB.

NCLB also does not address the lack of preparation of many incoming students. "They come to us lacking a lot of skill," she said. "How do we play catch up? We don't get rewarded for those students we actually succeed with."

"We were moving in the right direction," Ms. Splenda said. NCLB -- which takes precedence over state programs -- motivates through fear, she added. "What a shame that it's not a celebration of student learning."

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