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Keisha Campbell, Principal, Howe School of Excellence:
AUSL gives an unprecedented commitment to allow students to be successful. We take to heart the meaning of excellence. Our model is to expect excellence every day. We have three year-one goals for improvement and we measure them: school culture and climate, student and staff attendance and parent satisfaction. Regarding school climate, our goal was to reduce misconduct by half. The first month of school before the turnaround, there were 19 infractions and the first month after the turnaround, we only had six. Attendance went from 90 to 94 percent and we had 85 percent parent satisfaction.
In December, AUSL hosted a visit for potential funders and invited parents. One parent stood up and began to weep. She remembered the days when she drove her kids to school and there would be chaos and fights. Her children didn’t want to go and they’d cry. She would tell her kids to hop out of the car and quickly shut the doors. She drove away telling herself she was a bad mother to allow her children to go to school there. She’d cry all the way to work. But she didn’t have a choice. Now her kids rush her in the morning, “We need to get to school on time.” She feels good about leaving them there. She says it’s not the same school and she feels privileged that they go to Howe. |
