Joint Motion for Partial Unitary Status as to Transportation
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Northeastern Division, approved a Consent Order on April 24, 2015 in the school desegregation case that provides Huntsville City Schools a pathway for providing equitable educational opportunities to all of its students, regardless of race, and to reach “Unitary Status.” Implementation of this Consent Order will provide benefits to all students in many areas, including:
- Math acceleration
- AP and honors programs
- Career Academy programs
- Magnet programs
- School facilities
- Access to quality and diverse teachers and faculty
- Guidance programs to assist students with college applications
- Performing arts
- Extracurricular activities
- Positive school climate with an updated Code of Conduct
- Majority-to-Minority transfers
Consent Order Documents
Inaugural Consent Order Reports
Second Consent Order Reports
Third Consent Order Reports
Fourth Consent Order Reports
Fifth Consent Order Reports
Sixth Consent Order Reports
Seventh Consent Order Reports
Individual Reports Information
- Student Assignment
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This section of the Consent Order provides information regarding the student assignment plan including a list of schools and grades served; information about school openings, closures, and renovations; attendance zones and feeder patterns, majority to minority transfers, and magnet programs.
Links:
- List of Schools and Grades Served
- Majority to Minority Transfer
- Magnet Programs
- College Academy Information
- Equitable Access to Course Offerings & Programs
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The focus of this section is professional development for teachers, counselors and administrators; equitable distribution of teachers; providing Pre-Kindergarten districtwide; elementary gifted programs; special education services; math acceleration; support services for math and English Language Arts; honors, AP, and IB courses in secondary schools; performing arts class reviews, career academies. Additional support programs addressed include: after school programs; guidance counseling; students at risk; parent/guardian workshops; industry/community partnerships’ financial assistance with fees for courses, exams and magnet program activities. The District and individual schools will participate in self-monitoring to identify, analyze and monitor racial disparities, if any, as outlined in the Consent Order.
- Elementary Gifted Programs
- College Information
- Scholarships - 2016 Update
- iRegister
- Math Acceleration
- Presentation May 2015
- Update July 2015
- Extracurricular Activieties
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This section of the Consent Order outlines the expectations for core activities to be offered in all schools. The District will work with elementary and middle/junior high schools to establish participation targets. In addition, the District will take efforts to ensure students are aware of clubs and extracurricular activities available in their schools.
- Faculty
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This section addresses recruitment, selection and hiring of administrators, faculty and certified staff; assignment of certified staff; and records maintenance.
- Facilities
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The focus of the facilities section of the Consent Order is to provide equitable facilities so that no matter where a student attends school the facility will provide the student with equal access to a quality education. This section outlines the construction plan for new facilities and renovations. Implementation of the District playground plan, installation of SMALLabs in schools with grades seven and eight and elimination of portables are also key components of this section.
Click the links below to learn about each facilities project:
Playgrounds
SMALLabs
September, 2015 Update
June, 2015 Update
- Student Discipline, Positive School Climate, & Effective Classroom Management
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This section focuses on the use of positive school climate strategies to foster student engagement and reduce disruptions to learning related to discipline issues. The District will update the Code of Conduct and will implement positive school climate programs in all schools.
2016-17 Behavioral Learning Guide for Elementary (DRAFT)
2016-17 Behavioral Learning Guide for Secondary (DRAFT)
2016-17 Behavioral Learning Guide for Elementary (Spanish-DRAFT)
2016-17 Behavioral Learning Guide for Secondary (Spanish-DRAFT)
2015-16 Code of Conduct
Dress Code for 2015 – 2016
Inaugural Consent Order Reports
Filed November 15, 2015
- Introduction
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Defendant, Huntsville Board of Education (the “Board”), files this day its first, annual Consent Order Report with the Court. The Board has filed this notice to help the Court, and the citizens of Huntsville, better understand the many documents that compose this inaugural Consent Order Report. This notice provides context and explains notable features of nearly every document in the Consent Order Report.
The Consent Order Report and this notice provide the Court baseline data necessary to benchmark the Board’s implementation of the Consent Order as it is reported in future Consent Order Reports. Where possible, this notice also highlights the steps the Board has taken to begin implementing the Consent Order in the 2015-2016 school year. It is the Board’s hope that this filing will provide the Court and the Huntsville community an update of the Board’s implementation progress.
The inaugural Consent Order Report is extensive and consists of numerous, complicated documents. To create this Report, the Board’s employees undertook a herculean effort to collect the necessary information and to compile the information into a reportable format. These employees performed this daunting task while simultaneously working to implement the Consent Order. Although there is still work to be done, it is difficult to overstate the Board’s commitment to a faithful and successful implementation of the Consent Order.
- Student Assignment
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M-TO-M Transfers
II.D.8.a: A report containing the following information for each application requesting a transfer effective for that school year: student identification number; applicant name; address; race; grade level; home/zoned school; school(s) to which transfer sought; each type of transfer requested; the outcome (including, for each transfer granted, identification of the school to which the transfer was approved); and the basis for the denial, if any. II.D.8.b.1: Transfer wait list information maintained pursuant to Section II.D.2.b.12., as of the expiration date of the wait list. The District may report this information separately or as part of the Excel spreadsheet described in Section II.D.8.a.
Exhibit II.D.8.a II.D.8.b.1.pdf
II.D.8.b .2: Results of M-to-M surveys conducted pursuant to Section II.D.6.b.; This section says: b. Devise and conduct annual survey for M-to-M students and their parents/guardians inquiring about the school climate, effective operation of the M-to-M program (including transportation), and suggestions for improvement of the M-to-M program. The District will permit students/parents to complete the survey anonymously (if the student and parent/guardian chooses).
II.D.8.b.3: District marketing efforts regarding the M-to-M program, including examples of marketing materials.
Magnet Schools/Programs
II. F. 1: For each magnet program, student applicant data for the previous school year that includes: the number of applicants, disaggregated by race; the number of students accepted, disaggregated by race; the number of students who are not accepted, disaggregated by race (including reason(s) for a student not being accepted); the number of students enrolled, disaggregated by race; and the number of students who withdrew or transferred out of the magnet program, disaggregated by race, (including the reason(s), to the extent available, for the withdrawal or transfer).
II.F.2: A report of magnet marketing and recruitment efforts taken for the previous school year, including samples of brochures and advertisements, and where appropriate, the date and location of the marketing and recruitment.
II.F.3: A report of the magnet courses offered at each magnet school/program for the current school year.
II.F.4: The District’s efforts to review and respond to duplication of magnet courses in the District since the District’s previous annual report.
II.F.5: A report that includes for each student enrolled in a dual enrollment course: the student's name or identification number; school attended; the magnet program attended, if any; grade; the name of each dual enrollment course; and the institution of higher education affiliated with each dual enrollment course.
- Equitable Access To Course Offerings & Programs
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All PDF documents on this page are those certified as filed by the U.S. District Court in Huntsville, AL, and may not be fully accessible per Section 508 standards.
III.M.1.a: A list of all AP and IB diploma courses taught in each high school for the current school year and the enrollment in each AP or IB Diploma course in each high school for the current school year, disaggregated by race.
III.M.1.b: Academic proficiency of students in English and Math in the District and by school, as measured by the State assessments for the previous school year, disaggregated by race.
III.M.1.c: A list of teachers hired or assigned by each high school to teach an AP or IB Diploma course in the current school year, the course(s) taught by each teacher, the number of sections taught by each teacher, and the credentials of each teacher.
III.M.1.d: A report for each school that includes the employee number of each teacher, his or her race, professional degrees, certifications, years of experience (less than 3 years and more than 3 years) and course or courses taught.
III.M.1.e: A list of professional development activities required by Section III conducted in the previous year, including the date, duration, subject matter, presenter, and number of individuals in attendance by group (e.g., principals, teachers, etc.).
III.M.1.f: A list of parent/guardian outreach activities conducted in the previous school year, including the date, duration, and approximate number of individuals in attendance, and estimate of participation levels by race.
III.M.1.g: A list of student support services offered in the previous school year pursuant to Section III.H.
III.M.1.h: A report for the previous school year of the results of the survey required by Section III.I.7. and action steps taken based on the survey results.
III.M.2: The District will provide the data reviewed and the plans developed pursuant to Section III.M. to the United States. The District will provide a summary of the data reviewed and the plans developed pursuant to Section III.M. to the Court.
- Extracurricular Activities
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All PDF documents on this page are those certified as filed by the U.S. District Court in Huntsville, AL, and may not be fully accessible per Section 508 standards.
IV.H.1: A list of extracurricular activities offered in the District, by school and core activity category where applicable.
IV.H.2: School participation rates and targets in the Elementary School Core Activity and the Middle/Junior High School Core Activities and any actions taken by the District to support schools in meeting participation targets.
IV.H.3: A description of measures taken by the District to make students aware of academic clubs and related extracurricular opportunities.
- Faculty
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All PDF documents on this page are those certified as filed by the U.S. District Court in Huntsville, AL, and may not be fully accessible per Section 508 standards.
V.D.1: A list of the members of each committee involved in the recruitment, hiring, assignment, retention, or promotion of administrators, faculty, and certified staff. The list will include: name of committee; each committee member's name; his or her race; position (title and location) and date(s) on which he or she served on the committee.
V.D.2: Documentation of any exigent circumstances pursuant to Section V.A.1.
V.D.3: The total number of certified administrators, by race and position, in the District’s central office.
V.D.4: The total number and percentage of teachers and administrators, by race and by position, in each school facility operated in the District. For reporting purposes, principals will be identified separately from assistant principals.
V.D.5: A list of each certified staff member, such as administrators and faculty, transferred, including: his or her name; race; position; self-reported years of experience; school to which he or she was previously assigned; school to which he or she was transferred; effective date of the transfer; indication of whether the transfer was requested by the certified staff member or initiated by the District or both; and the reason(s) for the transfer.
V.D.6: A description of the measures the District is taking to ensure the equitable selection of Black principals pursuant to Section V.A.2.
V.D.7: A list of all recruiting/job fairs in which the District participated, including the date and location of each such fair.
V.D.8: A list of each central office certified administrator hired, including the administrator’s name, race, position, date of hire, and starting salary (including step and grade).
V.D.9: A list of each central office certified administrator promoted, including the administrator’s name, race, prior position and salary, and new position and salary.
V.D.10: A list of each certified staff member, such as administrators and faculty, who received incentive pay, including his or her name, race, position (title and location), salary grade and step, and incentive amount.
V.D.11: A list of certified staff members, such as administrators and faculty, who were demoted, suspended, or dismissed/terminated, including each person’s name, race, position/title, and date of demotion, suspension, or dismissal/termination.
V.D.12: A list containing information about each candidate submitted to a school for consideration to fill a vacant position, including: candidate’s name; his or her race; an indication of whether he or she was screened at the District level; his or her certification(s), if any; his or her self-reported total years of experience; school and vacant certified position for which his or her name was submitted; date on which that submission occurred; candidate(s) selected by the principal to fill the vacant certified position; and candidate(s) placed in the position.
V.D.13: A list of all candidates nominated for the TOSA program, or any similar program, and for each eligible candidate: candidate’s name; his or her race; school to which he or she was assigned; grade level(s) and/or course(s) he or she taught; individual who nominated him or her; an indication whether he or she accepted any invitation to interview; members of his or her interview committee; and an indication whether he or she was selected to participate in the TOSA program or any similar program.
- Facilities
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All PDF documents on this page are those certified as filed by the U.S. District Court in Huntsville, AL, and may not be fully accessible per Section 508 standards.
VI.C:
The District’s progress on the construction of Morris Pre-K-8 School, Jemison High School, McNair Junior High School, Grissom High School, Whitesburg Pre-K-8 School, and Hereford Elementary School.
The District’s progress on the renovation of Martin Luther King Elementary School
The District's progress on the renovation of AAA.
The District’s progress towards removing remaining portable classrooms.
Implementation of the District’s Playground plans.
Implemenation of the District's SMALLab Plans.
- Student Discipline, Positive School Climate, & Effective Classroom Management
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All PDF documents on this page are those certified as filed by the U.S. District Court in Huntsville, AL, and may not be fully accessible per Section 508 standards.
VII.I.1: The District’s Student Code of Conduct implemented after the effective date of this Consent Order or after the previous annual report.
VII.I.2: A list of professional development activities required by Section VII, including the date, duration, subject matter, presenter and number of individuals in attendance by group (e.g., principals, teachers).
VII.I.3: The information provided to parents/guardians pursuant to Section VII.
VII.I.4: For each school, the total number and percentage of students receiving a disciplinary referral, disaggregated by race, in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, expulsion, school referrals to law enforcement and alternative school placement and plans/strategies developed and implemented as a result of the District’s review in Section VII.G.
- Monitoring, Reporting, & Oversight
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All PDF documents on this page are those certified as filed by the U.S. District Court in Huntsville, AL, and may not be fully accessible per Section 508 standards.
X.A: The District will provide the United States a copy of its student enrollment database electronically in Microsoft Excel or similar format and will file with the Court a report of its student enrollment, disaggregated by school and race.
X.G: The District will provide the United States and the Court with its annual budget and a list of District expenditures related to the implementation of the Consent Order for the previous school year.
Second Consent Order Reports
Filed November 15, 2016
- Introduction
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Defendant, Huntsville Board of Education (the “Board”), files this day its second, annual Consent Order Report with the Court. The Board has filed this notice to help the Court, and the citizens of Huntsville, better understand the many documents that compose this Consent Order Report. This notice provides context and explains notable features of nearly every document in the Consent Order Report.
As the Court is well aware, the Consent Order (Doc. 450) requires a variety of reports. Nearly all reports require data from the preceding school year, which, for this year, began July 1, 2015 and ended June 30, 2016. Unlike last year’s report, the data in these documents are from year 1 of the Board’s implementation of the Consent Order.
Issues driven by the interactions of newly blended student populations; Confusion and reluctance on the part of the faculty, staff, and administration concerning the boundaries set by the Consent Order; and During at least the latter half of the 2015-16 school year, the City of Huntsville, like the rest of the country, experienced the issues associated with the political season being in full swing.
The first year of implementation was a learning experience for the Board, the City of Huntsville, the students and their families. There are many aspects of this year’s report – such as student discipline data – that the Board believes are aberrations. The first year of implementing any change is difficult, and the Consent Order required many changes. Additionally, many of the difficulties associated with these changes were exacerbated by a number of factors present for the 2015-16 school year:As part of its Consent Order Report Filing, Huntsville City Schools also files a cover document that provides more details about the reports. This document is called a "Filing Notice," and it includes clarifications, pertinent background information, and any other information that HCS thinks will help the Court and the public better understand the work that it is doing to implement the Consent Order. Before clicking on the invidual report category links below, it is recommended that you read the cover document. To access that document, please click the following link:
Second Consent Order Report Filing Notice
Despite the aforementioned challenges, the Board remains steadfast in its commitment to a faithful and successful implementation of the Consent Order. This commitment to the Consent Order is evident in the Director of Strategy and Innovation’s work. First, although not required by the Consent Order, the Board developed and revealed a new website prior to the start of the 2016-17 school year. This new website is more user-friendly, and the Board believes the new website will be more effective in conveying information to students and their families.
Additionally, under the guidance of the Director of Strategy and Innovation, central office administrators worked to operationalize all parts of the Consent Order. To do so, every central office administrator worked with the Director of Strategy and Innovation to develop procedures, forms, and other guidance documents for implementing every section of the Consent Order. The procedures and supporting documents were designed so that all the steps necessary to successfully implement the Consent Order would be contained in formal, streamlined procedures. In other words, the procedures were designed so that even if all new employees took over the implementation of the Consent Order, the transition would have only a minimal effect, if any, on implementation. The development of these procedures was an enormous task. As a frame of reference, the development of procedures began shortly after the Court’s entry of the Consent Order and continues even today.
Importantly, the Consent Order Report shows some areas of success and promise. Like last year, the creation of this report required extensive work to collect the necessary information and to compile the information into a reportable format – the latter being a central focus of this year’s report. Board employees performed this daunting task while simultaneously working to implement the Consent Order. It is the Board’s hope that this filing will provide the Court and the Huntsville community a meaningful update of the Board’s implementation progress.More Information About Each Consent Order Report
- Student Assignment
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M-TO-M Transfers
II.D.8.a: A report containing the following information for each application requesting a transfer effective for that school year: student identification number; applicant name; address; race; grade level; home/zoned school; school(s) to which transfer sought; each type of transfer requested; the outcome (including, for each transfer granted, identification of the school to which the transfer was approved); and the basis for the denial, if any. II.D.8.b.1: Transfer wait list information maintained pursuant to Section II.D.2.b.12., as of the expiration date of the wait list. The District may report this information separately or as part of the Excel spreadsheet described in Section II.D.8.a.
II.D.8.b.2: Results of M-to-M surveys conducted pursuant to Section II.D.6.b.
II.D.8.b.3: District marketing efforts regarding the M-to-M program, including examples of marketing materials.
Magnet Schools/Programs
II. F. 1: For each magnet program, student applicant data for the previous school year that includes: the number of applicants, disaggregated by race; the number of students accepted, disaggregated by race; the number of students who are not accepted, disaggregated by race (including reason(s) for a student not being accepted); the number of students enrolled, disaggregated by race; and the number of students who withdrew or transferred out of the magnet program, disaggregated by race, (including the reason(s), to the extent available, for the withdrawal or transfer).
II.F.2: A report of magnet marketing and recruitment efforts taken for the previous school year, including samples of brochures and advertisements, and where appropriate, the date and location of the marketing and recruitment.
II.F.3: A report of the magnet courses offered at each magnet school/program for the current school year.
II.F.4: The District’s efforts to review and respond to duplication of magnet courses in the District since the District’s previous annual report.
II.F.5: A report that includes for each student enrolled in a dual enrollment course: the student's name or identification number; school attended; the magnet program attended, if any; grade; the name of each dual enrollment course; and the institution of higher education affiliated with each dual enrollment course.
- Equitable Access To Course Offerings & Programs
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III.M.1.a: A list of all AP and IB diploma courses taught in each high school for the current school year and the enrollment in each AP or IB Diploma course in each high school for the current school year, disaggregated by race.
III.M.1.b: Academic proficiency of students in English and Math in the District and by school, as measured by the State assessments for the previous school year, disaggregated by race.
III.M.1.c: A list of teachers hired or assigned by each high school to teach an AP or IB Diploma course in the current school year, the course(s) taught by each teacher, the number of sections taught by each teacher, and the credentials of each teacher.
III.M.1.d: A report for each school that includes the employee number of each teacher, his or her race, professional degrees, certifications, years of experience (less than 3 years and more than 3 years) and course or courses taught.
III.M.1.e: A list of professional development activities required by Section III conducted in the previous year, including the date, duration, subject matter, presenter, and number of individuals in attendance by group (e.g., principals, teachers, etc.).
III.M.1.f: A list of parent/guardian outreach activities conducted in the previous school year, including the date, duration, and approximate number of individuals in attendance, and estimate of participation levels by race.
III.M.1.g: A list of student support services offered in the previous school year pursuant to Section III.H.
III.M.1.h: A report for the previous school year of the results of the survey required by Section III.I.7. and action steps taken based on the survey results.
III.M.2: The District will provide the data reviewed and the plans developed pursuant to Section III.M. to the United States. The District will provide a summary of the data reviewed and the plans developed pursuant to Section III.M. to the Court.
- Exhibit III.M.1.d.
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III.M.1.d: A report for each school that includes the employee number of each teacher, his or her race, professional degrees, certifications, years of experience (less than 3 years and more than 3 years) and course or courses taught.
- Extracurricular Activites
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IV.H.1: A list of extracurricular activities offered in the District, by school and core activity category where applicable.
IV.H.2: School participation rates and targets in the Elementary School Core Activity and the Middle/Junior High School Core Activities and any actions taken by the District to support schools in meeting participation targets.
IV.H.3: A description of measures taken by the District to make students aware of academic clubs and related extracurricular opportunities.
- Faculty
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V.D.1: A list of the members of each committee involved in the recruitment, hiring, assignment, retention, or promotion of administrators, faculty, and certified staff. The list will include: name of committee; each committee member's name; his or her race; position (title and location) and date(s) on which he or she served on the committee.
V.D.2: Documentation of any exigent circumstances pursuant to Section V.A.1.
V.D.3: The total number of certified administrators, by race and position, in the District’s central office.
V.D.4: The total number and percentage of teachers and administrators, by race and by position, in each school facility operated in the District. For reporting purposes, principals will be identified separately from assistant principals.
V.D.5: A list of each certified staff member, such as administrators and faculty, transferred, including: his or her name; race; position; self-reported years of experience; school to which he or she was previously assigned; school to which he or she was transferred; effective date of the transfer; indication of whether the transfer was requested by the certified staff member or initiated by the District or both; and the reason(s) for the transfer.
V.D.6: A description of the measures the District is taking to ensure the equitable selection of Black principals pursuant to Section V.A.2.
V.D.7: A list of all recruiting/job fairs in which the District participated, including the date and location of each such fair.
V.D.8: A list of each central office certified administrator hired, including the administrator’s name, race, position, date of hire, and starting salary (including step and grade).
V.D.9: A list of each central office certified administrator promoted, including the administrator’s name, race, prior position and salary, and new position and salary.
V.D.10: A list of each certified staff member, such as administrators and faculty, who received incentive pay, including his or her name, race, position (title and location), salary grade and step, and incentive amount.
V.D.11: A list of certified staff members, such as administrators and faculty, who were demoted, suspended, or dismissed/terminated, including each person’s name, race, position/title, and date of demotion, suspension, or dismissal/termination.
V.D.12: A list containing information about each candidate submitted to a school for consideration to fill a vacant position, including: candidate’s name; his or her race; an indication of whether he or she was screened at the District level; his or her certification(s), if any; his or her self-reported total years of experience; school and vacant certified position for which his or her name was submitted; date on which that submission occurred; candidate(s) selected by the principal to fill the vacant certified position; and candidate(s) placed in the position.
V.D.13: A list of all candidates nominated for the TOSA program, or any similar program, and for each eligible candidate: candidate’s name; his or her race; school to which he or she was assigned; grade level(s) and/or course(s) he or she taught; individual who nominated him or her; an indication whether he or she accepted any invitation to interview; members of his or her interview committee; and an indication whether he or she was selected to participate in the TOSA program or any similar program.
- Facilities
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VI.C:
The District’s progress on the construction of Morris Pre-K-8 School, Jemison High School, McNair Junior High School, Grissom High School, Whitesburg Pre-K-8 School, Hereford Elementary School, and on the renovation of AAA.
The District’s progress on the renovation of Martin Luther King Elementary School.
The District’s progress towards removing remaining portable classrooms.
Implementation of the District’s Playground plan.
Implementation of the District's SMALLab Plans.
- Student Discipline, Positive School Climate, & Effective Classroom Management
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VII.I.1: The District’s Student Code of Conduct implemented after the effective date of this Consent Order or after the previous annual report.
VII.I.2: A list of professional development activities required by Section VII, including the date, duration, subject matter, presenter and number of individuals in attendance by group (e.g., principals, teachers).
VII.I.3: The information provided to parents/guardians pursuant to Section VII.
VII.I.4: For each school, the total number and percentage of students receiving a disciplinary referral, disaggregated by race, in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, expulsion, school referrals to law enforcement and alternative school placement and plans/strategies developed and implemented as a result of the District’s review in Section VII.G.
- Monitoring, Reporting, & Oversite
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X.A: The District will provide the United States a copy of its student enrollment database electronically in Microsoft Excel or similar format and will file with the Court a report of its student enrollment, disaggregated by school and race.
X.G: The District will provide the United States and the Court with its annual budget and a list of District expenditures related to the implementation of the Consent Order for the previous school year.
Third Consent Order Reports
Filed November 15, 2017
- Introduction
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Defendant, Huntsville Board of Education (the “Board” or the “District”), files this day its third, annual Consent Order Report with the Court. As it has done in the past, the District files this Notice to help the Court, and the citizens of Huntsville, better understand the many Consent Order Reports. This Notice provides context and explains notable features of nearly every document in the Consent Order Report.
As the Court is well aware, the Consent Order (Doc. 450) requires many reports. Nearly all reports require data from the preceding school year. As such, the date range for the data in this year’s reports is July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017, and the data in most of these reports is from year 2 of the District’s implementation of the Consent Order.
With this Notice, the District wants to discuss some of its present challenges. The District believes that this Notice can serve as a communication to the community and the Court. While it is appropriate to use the Notice to shed light on the information contained in the Court reports, the District also wants to use this Notice to clarify possible misconceptions about the District’s implementation of the Consent Order.
Second Year Struggles
The second year of implementation was affected by a significant number of changes that occurred during the 2016-17 school year. The major changes are included below:
Dr. Casey Wardynski, who oversaw the negotiation of the Consent Order and early implementation of the Consent Order, announced his resignation early in the 2016-17 school year; The Board selected a former District administrator, Mr. Tom Drake, to serve as the Interim Superintendent; Two new Board Members joined the Board following their election in the fall of 2016; Edith Pickens, who served as the administrator responsible for Consent Order oversight, announced her retirement shortly after Dr. Wardynski announced his resignation; Dr. Barbara Cooper, under whose leadership the District began implementing most of the academic initiatives contained in the Consent Order, was selected to serve as a Deputy State Superintendent in the fall of 2016; The District ended its relationship with Pinnacle Schools – the contractor responsible for managing the District’s alternative school program – and the ending of this relationship resulted in litigation during the winter of 2016; Jason Taylor, who served as the Chief School Financial Officer under Dr. Wardynski during the negotiation and early implementation of the Consent Order, announced his resignation in the spring of 2017; The Board of Education interviewed five different candidates to fill the Superintendent position, and selected Dr. Matt Akin. He began serving as Superintendent in March of 2017; and Since Dr. Akin’s selection, the District has had many changes to its District-level administration based in large part on Dr. Akin’s realignment of central office positions.Board members, District-level administrators, and other District leaders have been asked questions about the above misconceptions over the last two years. Moreover, the local television news stations have even begun to champion these misconceptions: raising them and making them “news” stories. District-leaders, in an attempt to track these issues, regularly review student discipline data throughout the school year. That review has shown that, by and large, the District’s student discipline statistics are staying stable or increasing. In other words, the data does not support the above-listed allegations. This is apparent in Report VII.I.4.
It is important to acknowledge and emphasize the errors in these misconceptions. The Superintendent and the Board are committed to safe school environments for teachers, students, and everyone who finds themselves in a District school. There are serious consequences for threatening violence or committing violent acts at school. These consequences are a critical component of the District’s approach to Behavioral Learning and must be paired with the District’s efforts to change student behavior. The District wants its administrators, teachers, students, families, and the greater Huntsville community to understand that the District can and will work toward closing the discipline gap between Black and White students while maintaining safe schools.
The District remains committed to implementing all aspects of the Consent Order, including student discipline. However, in light of the recent media attention concerning student discipline, the District’s focus for the remainder of the 2017-18 school year is the good faith implementation of its Behavioral Learning initiatives via support of its school-based staff. As the District’s schools grow more comfortable with the realities of the Behavioral Learning initiatives, so too will the greater community.
More Information About Each Consent Order Report
As part of its Consent Order Report Filing, Huntsville City Schools also files a cover document that provides more details about the reports. This document is called a "Filing Notice," and it includes clarifications, pertinent background information, and any other information that HCS thinks will help the Court and the public better understand the work that it is doing to implement the Consent Order. Before clicking on the individual report category links below, it is recommended that you read the cover document. To access that document, please click the following link:
Third Consent Order Report Filing Notice.pdf
Over the last two school years, especially since the development of the Behavioral Learning Guides, when a school discipline issue – especially a social media video of a fight or a threat – is made public, a common community response has been to blame the Behavioral Learning Guide. This misplaced blame is one of the misconceptions many have about the District’s implementation of the student discipline provisions of the Consent Order. Those misconceptions include:
Students cannot be disciplined. Teachers and principals have their hands tied by the Department of Justice. Teachers can be attacked without consequences. Students may disrespect all adults without consequences.- An incredible amount of professional development and repeated practice is required to implement the policies that will help students change their behavior.
- While trying to learn this system, the District’s teachers have also been working to implement the interventions necessary to close the achievement gap.
- This process requires the hard work of school personnel and the patience of the community.
- Many teachers have expressed a feeling of being overwhelmed by all of the new initiatives.
Although there were many positives things accomplished by Dr. Wardynski as Superintendent, one issue that became apparent after his departure was the need to rebuild relationships with some groups in the community, including teachers. Dr. Akin has spent a considerable part of his first eight months as Superintendent rebuilding and repairing relationships that may have deteriorated during Dr. Wardynski’s final last years as Superintendent. The District believes that Dr. Akin’s efforts were apparent in the comments that many community members made during the court’s September 2017 public status conference. His efforts will be necessary both to unite the community and to address many of the misconceptions discussed below.
Clarifying Misconceptions
Since beginning implementation of the Consent Order, the District has taken the position that the student discipline provisions of the Consent Order will be the most challenging to implement. This is due to many different reasons, including:
The District’s Behavioral Learning initiatives are considerably different from the District’s pre-Consent Order discipline policies in some critical ways. Namely, the new policies focus more on helping students change their behaviors rather than on removal from the school environment, which is a change not only for the schools but also the community. - Student Assignment Reports
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All PDF documents on this page are those certified as filed by the U.S. District Court in Huntsville, AL, and may not be fully accessible per Section 508 standards.
M-TO-M Transfers
II.D.8.a: A report containing the following information for each application requesting a transfer effective for that school year: race; grade level; home/zoned school; school(s) to which transfer sought; each type of transfer requested; the outcome (including, for each transfer granted, identification of the school to which the transfer was approved); and the basis for the denial, if any. II.D.8.b.1: Transfer wait list information maintained pursuant to Section II.D.2.b.12., as of the expiration date of the wait list. The District may report this information separately or as part of the Excel spreadsheet described in Section II.D.8.a.
#543-1 II.D.8.a & II.D.8.b.1.pdf
II.D.8.b.2: Results of M-to-M surveys conducted pursuant to Section II.D.6.b.
II.D.8.b.3: District marketing efforts regarding the M-to-M program, including examples of marketing materials.
Magnet Schools/Programs
II. F. 1: For each magnet program, student applicant data for the previous school year that includes: the number of applicants, disaggregated by race; the number of students accepted, disaggregated by race; the number of students who are not accepted, disaggregated by race (including reason(s) for a student not being accepted); the number of students enrolled, disaggregated by race; and the number of students who withdrew or transferred out of the magnet program, disaggregated by race, (including the reason(s), to the extent available, for the withdrawal or transfer).
II.F.2: A report of magnet marketing and recruitment efforts taken for the previous school year, including samples of brochures and advertisements, and where appropriate, the date and location of the marketing and recruitment.
II.F.3: A report of the magnet courses offered at each magnet school/program for the current school year.
II.F.4: The District’s efforts to review and respond to duplication of magnet courses in the District since the District’s previous annual report.
II.F.5: A report that includes for each student enrolled in a dual enrollment course: school attended; the magnet program attended, if any; grade; the name of each dual enrollment course; and the institution of higher education affiliated with each dual enrollment course.
- Equitable Access to Course Offerings & Programs
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All PDF documents on this page are those certified as filed by the U.S. District Court in Huntsville, AL, and may not be fully accessible per Section 508 standards.
III.M.1.a: A list of all AP and IB diploma courses taught in each high school for the current school year and the enrollment in each AP or IB Diploma course in each high school for the current school year, disaggregated by race.
III.M.1.b: Academic proficiency of students in English and Math in the District and by school, as measured by the State assessments for the previous school year, disaggregated by race.
III.M.1.c: A list of teachers hired or assigned by each high school to teach an AP or IB Diploma course in the current school year, the course(s) taught by each teacher, the number of sections taught by each teacher, and the credentials of each teacher.
III.M.1.d: A report for each school that includes the employee number of each teacher, his or her race, professional degrees, certifications, years of experience (less than 3 years and more than 3 years) and course or courses taught.
III.M.1.e: A list of professional development activities required by Section III conducted in the previous year, including the date, duration, subject matter, presenter, and number of individuals in attendance by group (e.g., principals, teachers, etc.).
III.M.1.f: A list of parent/guardian outreach activities conducted in the previous school year, including the date, duration, and approximate number of individuals in attendance, and estimate of participation levels by race.
III.M.1.g: A list of student support services offered in the previous school year pursuant to Section III.H.
III.M.1.h: A report for the previous school year of the results of the survey required by Section III.I.7. and action steps taken based on the survey results.
III.M.2: The District will provide the data reviewed and the plans developed pursuant to Section III.M. to the United States. The District will provide a summary of the data reviewed and the plans developed pursuant to Section III.M. to the Court.
- Extracurricular Activities
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All PDF documents on this page are those certified as filed by the U.S. District Court in Huntsville, AL, and may not be fully accessible per Section 508 standards.
IV.H.1: A list of extracurricular activities offered in the District, by school and core activity category where applicable.
IV.H.2: School participation rates and targets in the Elementary School Core Activity and the Middle/Junior High School Core Activities and any actions taken by the District to support schools in meeting participation targets.
IV.H.3: A description of measures taken by the District to make students aware of academic clubs and related extracurricular opportunities.
- Faculty
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All PDF documents on this page are those certified as filed by the U.S. District Court in Huntsville, AL, and may not be fully accessible per Section 508 standards.
V.D.1: A list of the members of each committee involved in the recruitment, hiring, assignment, retention, or promotion of administrators, faculty, and certified staff. The list will include: name of committee; each committee member's name; his or her race; position (title and location) and date(s) on which he or she served on the committee.
V.D.2: Documentation of any exigent circumstances pursuant to Section V.A.1.
V.D.3: The total number of certified administrators, by race and position, in the District’s central office.
V.D.4: The total number and percentage of teachers and administrators, by race and by position, in each school facility operated in the District. For reporting purposes, principals will be identified separately from assistant principals.
V.D.5: A list of each certified staff member, such as administrators and faculty, transferred, including: his or her name; race; position; self-reported years of experience; school to which he or she was previously assigned; school to which he or she was transferred; effective date of the transfer; indication of whether the transfer was requested by the certified staff member or initiated by the District or both; and the reason(s) for the transfer.
V.D.6: A description of the measures the District is taking to ensure the equitable selection of Black principals pursuant to Section V.A.2.
V.D.7: A list of all recruiting/job fairs in which the District participated, including the date and location of each such fair.
V.D.8: A list of each central office certified administrator hired, including the administrator’s name, race, position, date of hire, and starting salary (including step and grade).
V.D.9: A list of each central office certified administrator promoted, including the administrator’s name, race, prior position and salary, and new position and salary.
V.D.10: A list of each certified staff member, such as administrators and faculty, who received incentive pay, including his or her name, race, position (title and location), salary grade and step, and incentive amount.
V.D.11: A list of certified staff members, such as administrators and faculty, who were demoted, suspended, or dismissed/terminated, including each person’s name, race, position/title, and date of demotion, suspension, or dismissal/termination.
V.D.12: A list containing information about each candidate submitted to a school for consideration to fill a vacant position, including: candidate’s name; his or her race; an indication of whether he or she was screened at the District level; his or her certification(s), if any; his or her self-reported total years of experience; school and vacant certified position for which his or her name was submitted; date on which that submission occurred; candidate(s) selected by the principal to fill the vacant certified position; and candidate(s) placed in the position.
V.D.13: A list of all candidates nominated for the TOSA program, or any similar program, and for each eligible candidate: candidate’s name; his or her race; school to which he or she was assigned; grade level(s) and/or course(s) he or she taught; individual who nominated him or her; an indication whether he or she accepted any invitation to interview; members of his or her interview committee; and an indication whether he or she was selected to participate in the TOSA program or any similar program.
- Facilities
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All PDF documents on this page are those certified as filed by the U.S. District Court in Huntsville, AL, and may not be fully accessible per Section 508 standards.
VI.C: The District’s progress on the construction of Morris Pre-K-8 School, Jemison High School, McNair Junior High School, Grissom High School, Whitesburg Pre-K-8 School, Hereford Elementary School, and on the renovation of AAA and Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School.
The District’s progress towards removing remaining portable classrooms. Implementation of the District’s Playground plan. Implementation of the District's SMALLab Plans.
- Student Discipline, Positive School Climate, & Effective Classroom Management
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All PDF documents on this page are those certified as filed by the U.S. District Court in Huntsville, AL, and may not be fully accessible per Section 508 standards.
VII.I.1: The District’s Student Code of Conduct implemented after the effective date of this Consent Order or after the previous annual report.
VII.I.2: A list of professional development activities required by Section VII, including the date, duration, subject matter, presenter and number of individuals in attendance by group (e.g., principals, teachers).
VII.I.3: The information provided to parents/guardians pursuant to Section VII.
VII.I.4: For each school, the total number and percentage of students receiving a disciplinary referral, disaggregated by race, in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, expulsion, school referrals to law enforcement and alternative school placement and plans/strategies developed and implemented as a result of the District’s review in Section VII.G.
- Monitoring, Reporting, & Oversight
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All PDF documents on this page are those certified as filed by the U.S. District Court in Huntsville, AL, and may not be fully accessible per Section 508 standards.
X.A: The District will provide the United States a copy of its student enrollment database electronically in Microsoft Excel or similar format and will file with the Court a report of its student enrollment, disaggregated by school and race.
X.G: The District will provide the United States and the Court with its annual budget and a list of District expenditures related to the implementation of the Consent Order for the previous school year.
Fourth Consent Order Reports
Filed November 15th, 2018
Introduction
- Introduction
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Defendant, Huntsville City Board of Education (the “Board” or the “District”), files this day its fourth, annual Consent Order Report with the Court (hereinafter, collectively the “Court Report”). As it has done in the past, the District files this Notice to help the Court, and the citizens of Huntsville, better understand the Consent Order Reports. This Notice provides context and explains notable features of the Consent Order Report.
As the Court is well aware, the Consent Order (Doc. 450) requires many reports. Nearly all reports require data from the preceding school year. As such, the date range for the data in this year’s reports is July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018, and the data in most of these reports are from year three of the District’s implementation of the Consent Order.
- Changes From Year Three
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The third year of implementation was considerably more stable than the previous two years, but there were many noteworthy changes that occurred during the 2017-18 school year and the start of the 2018-19 school year. The major changes are included below:
- Dr. Akin realigned his central office instructional staff under two Deputy Superintendents: Dr. Tammy Summerville as the Deputy Superintendent of Instruction and Christie Finley as the Deputy Superintendent of Strategy and Innovation. Both Summerville and Finley previously served as Director-level administrators prior to their promotion;
- Dr. Akin ensured that building up teacher morale was a focus of his tenure;
- Building on that, Dr. Akin proposed a teacher pay raise to the Board, which was approved in the spring of 2018;
- Shortly after approval of the teacher pay raise, Dr. Akin accepted a position as the Superintendent of the Gulf Shores City Schools;
- Following his departure, the Board selected Christie Finley to serve as the Interim Superintendent during the summer of 2018;
- After a successful interim period, the Board named Mrs. Finley as the permanent Superintendent during the fall of 2018;
- Approximately the start of school, the Board of Education learned from its auditor that District personnel had made some accounting and bookkeeping errors. After investigating and accounting for these errors, the Superintendent and Board learned that the District’s general fund balance was significantly lower than expected;
- To correct the general fund balance shortfall and to successfully implement the teacher pay raise, the District is working to cut costs where possible. The Superintendent has shared with the community a desire to cut costs in ways that minimally impact the classroom. Similarly, the Superintendent has no plans to make cuts that would impair the successful implementation of the Consent Order; and
- The members of the Board of Education for Districts 2, 3, and 4 were successfully reelected during the fall of 2018.
- Year Three Challenges
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Every year of implementation has presented its own unique challenges, and last year was no different for the District. There are three challenges that merit further discussion: improving teacher morale; addressing student discipline; and working on stability following Dr. Akin’s departure.
In last year’s report, the District described the state of teacher morale in the District. Although there were likely many reasons for the decline in teacher morale, the District, led by Dr. Akin, began to take steps to empower teachers and to improve culture in all schools. Dr. Akin’s District-level team was focused on supporting schools and giving principals the leeway to lead their schools. Dr. Akinalso began more frequent and candid communications with principals, faculty, and staff.
The culmination of his efforts to build teacher morale and to encourage teacher retention was a proposed teacher pay raise, which the Board approved in the spring of 2018. Although Dr. Akin accepted a job as the Superintendent of Gulf Shores City Schools, his successor, Christie Finley, has continued his efforts to improve teacher morale, as described below.
Since the implementation of the Consent Order, the District has consistently taken the position that the student discipline provisions of the Consent Order present the biggest challenge. The Cover Notice to last year’s report detailed many of those challenges, but the issue that continues to be one of the most difficult for the District is correcting the misconceptions about student discipline. The misconception is often stated as “the Consent Order does not allow schools to discipline students for misbehavior” or “teachers’ hands are tied when it comes to disciplining students.”
As was stated in last year’s Court Report, this view is not supported by the District’s discipline data. To help the Court and community understand, the District has included a lengthy discussion of its student discipline data in the section for the report response to VII.I.4, below. Nevertheless, the District is committed to correcting this misconception through the use of improved communications with family, clear training for teachers, and consistent implementation by school principals.
Dr. Akin’s tenure as Huntsville City Schools’ Superintendent was productive but short. As stated above, following the end of the Spring 2018 semester, Dr. Akin took a different job. While the Board and community wished him well on his new endeavor, the District was mindful of the recent issues of instability facing the District. The Board moved quickly to select an Interim Superintendent and, ultimately, a permanent Superintendent in Christie Finley. The District is hopeful that Ms. Finley – who served as one of Dr. Akin’s Deputies – will pick up where he left off, especially as it pertains to improving climate and retaining teachers.
- Recent Successes
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Despite her brief time on the job, Ms. Finley has already taken steps to directly address the climate issues identified above. First, she has improved communications with both faculty and families. The Superintendent sends letters to teachers approximately once per week to inform teachers of major news items, upcoming activities, and opportunities for engagement. Additionally, the Superintendent has begun sending periodic update letters to families as well. Given the major news items pertaining to the District (e.g., new strategic plan,school safety, and budget concerns), the Superintendent has actively sought opportunities for communications with the community, families, and faculty.
One such opportunity has been the creation of a School Safety Task Force. Following the accidental discharge of a firearm by an elementary student on school campus this fall, the Superintendent set up five different “School Safety Forums” to hear feedback on how to keep schools safe. Using that feedback, the District has started working on a plan to improve safety in schools. One aspect of that plan is the creation of a School Safety Task Force. For more information about the Task Force, please visit the School Safety Task Force page.
In addition to the five School Safety Forums, the Superintendent also recently held five different community conversations regarding the development of a new Huntsville City Schools strategic plan. One community conversation was held for each feeder pattern, and the Superintendent and her team are going to use that feedback to revise the proposed strategic plan. For more information about the strategic plan, please visit the Strategic Plan page. The Superintendent believes that the strategic plan – which will be tied to the Consent Order – will ensure that everyone in the District will be working towards a consistent goal.
- More Information About Each Consent Order Report
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As part of its Consent Order Report Filing, Huntsville City Schools also files a cover document that provides more details about the reports. This document is called a "Filing Notice," and it includes clarifications, pertinent background information, and any other information that HCS thinks will help the Court and the public better understand the work that it is doing to implement the Consent Order. Before viewing the individual reports, it is recommended that you read the cover document. That document is therefore provided below:
Fifth Consent Order Reports
Filed November 15th, 2019
- Introduction
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Annually, the District is required to file a report containing information regarding the District’s implementation of the Consent Order and the Green factors applicable to the District’s desegregation lawsuit. The District’s Fifth Consent Order Report was timely filed with the Court on November 15, 2019. Nearly all of the reports filed with the Court contain data from the preceding school year. As such, the date range for the data in most of this year’s reports is July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019.
As it has done in the past, the District filed a Notice of Filing which is designed to help the Court, and the citizens of Huntsville, better understand the Fifth Consent Order Report. The Notice of Filing operates as a helpful guide for understanding each individual report. A PDF version of the Notice of Filing can be found below. Before reviewing the individual reports, it is recommended that members of the community review the Notice of Filing.
Overview
- Changes in Year Four
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The District’s fourth year of implementation went well. After four years of implementation, the District has developed effective and efficient processes for ensuring full and faithful implementation of the Consent Order. However, as with prior years, there were noteworthy changes that occurred during the 2018-19 school year. The major changes are discussed below:
- As noted in last year’s report, Christie Finley was appointed as the District’s Superintendent in August of 2018 after serving in an interim capacity during the summer of 2018. The 2018-19 school year was Christie Finley’s first full year serving as the Superintendent of the Huntsville City Board of Education.
- On April 19, 2018, the Board approved Apple Bus Company’s (“Apple”) bid to serve as the District’s transportation provider. Apple replaced Durham School Services which had served as the District’s transportation provider since the District began implementing the Consent Order. The 2018-19 school year was Apple’s first year serving as the District’s transportation provider.
- On April 30, 2019, the Court approved the District’s Unopposed Motion to Modify Student Assignment. This Motion sought permission to alter the grades served by the Board’s six Pre-Kindergarten through Eighth Grade schools (“P-8 Schools”). (Doc. 644). The Order approved the District’s proposal to split the six P-8 Schools into separate elementary and middle schools, beginning in the 2019-20 academic year. (Doc. 644, pp. 5-6). As per the District’s Motion, starting with next year’s report, the Board will report data for the six new elementary schools, six new middle schools, and campus-wide for grades Pre-Kindergarten through Eighth Grade.
- On May 24, 2019, Pam Hill, the elected Board of Education member representing District 5, resigned from her position. On July 9, 2019, after an appointment by the Huntsville City Council, Carlos Mathews was sworn in as Mrs. Hill’s replacement. Mr. Mathews will serve out the remainder of Mrs. Hill’s term, which ends in October of 2020.
- As a reminder to the Court, Governor Kay Ivey announced on January 9, 2018, that the new state magnet school, the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering (“ASCTE”), would be located in Huntsville, Alabama. In June of 2019, Matt Massey, former Superintendent of the Madison County Board of Education, was appointed as the first President of ASCTE. ASCTE is scheduled to begin classes in August of 2020. According to its website, ASCTE will be located on Oakwood University’s campus until a permanent facility is constructed. In its first year of operation, ASCTE will only serve 9th Grade students. ASCTE plans to add one grade level each year until it becomes a full 9th through 12th grade high school. The ASCTE website also notes that ASCTE plans to begin accepting student applications in January of 2020, and it is currently recruiting employees and accepting job applications.
- At the August 28, 2019, status conference, counsel for the District explained to the Court that he had been made aware that the Huntsville Housing Authority (“HHA”) planned to close certain public housing communities in Huntsville. Since that time, the District has learned the following:
- The HHA plans to have all relocations associated with the Sparkman Homes demolition completed by January of 2020. This demolition will primarily affect students attending Morris Elementary and Morris Middle schools.
- The HHA has no plans to demolish any of the public housing units located within the Searcy Homes public housing community. Most of the students residing in Searcy Homes attend Blossomwood Elementary School.
- The City of Huntsville (“City”) and the HHA received a three-year Choice Neighborhoods planning grant for the public housing community known as Butler Terrace. For the next three years, the City and HHA will be working to develop a plan for Butler Terrace as part of the Choice Neighborhood’s grant. The plan will be submitted to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”). No changes contemplated by the plan will begin for at least three years.
- At this time, it is the District’s understanding that HHA plans to demolish a part of Butler Terrace known as the Butler Terrace Addition due to the poor condition of the building. Because of the length of time it takes to obtain HUD’s approval of a public housing demolition, the District does not expect any students to be relocated by this demolition until the 2021-2022 school year. The District is still investigating the impact that this potential demolition may have on its current student assignment plan.
- Year Four Challenges
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A. Financial Challenges
The biggest challenge facing the District during year four of implementation was recovering from accounting errors that led to the erroneous posting of approximately $5.5 million in revenue. In other words, the accounting error made it appear that the Board had more money than it actually had. Because of the accounting error and other related issues, the District fell below the state mandated one-month’s operating reserve at the start of the 2018-19 school year.
In December of 2018, the Board’s then Chief School Financial Officer (“CSFO”), Bob Hagood, resigned. On February 14, 2019, the Board selected Tina Hancock as its new CSFO. Superintendent Finley directed Ms. Hancock to focus on cutting “stuff” that did not impact the classroom, instead of staff.
Effective October 11, 2019, Tina Hancock resigned as the District’s CSFO to take a position in city government outside Huntsville. The Board appointed James Brumley, the former CSFO for the Colbert County Board of Education in Alabama and current Director of Finance for the District, as the Interim CSFO. The District is currently taking applications for a permanent CSFO.
At the November 7, 2019 Board work session, Mr. Brumley announced that the Board had $23,525,601 in reserve. A one-month reserve for the District is $17,994,101. In other words, the District had 1.31 months operating budget in reserve. In less than a year, the Superintendent, working with her leadership team, has righted the District’s financial issues and has achieved the state mandated one-month’s operating fund in reserve. Going forward, the Board expects its financials to continue to trend in a positive direction.
B. Jemison High School Principal
On June 7, 2018, the Board selected Dr. Rachael McDaniel to be the Principal of Jemison High School because of her experience at underperforming schools and her commitment to building positive relationships with students and families at Jemison. Dr. McDaniel served as Principal at Jemison High School for the 2018-19 school year. Unfortunately, Dr. McDaniel’s circumstances changed, and she chose to pursue another opportunity closer to her family. On May 14, 2019, the Board accepted Dr. McDaniel’s resignation. Importantly, the District’s leadership team remained committed to Dr. McDaniel until her decision to leave Jemison High School.
On June 6, 2019, the Board selected Dr. Demetris Harris-Leverette to serve as the new Principal of Jemison High School. The Board believes Dr. Harris-Leverette is the right person for Jemison High School. While Jemison High School has had repeated turnover at the Principal position, the Board views Dr. Harris-Leverette as the long-term solution for Jemison. Dr. Harris-Leverette was selected because of her commitment to the community, passion for education, and previous experience as an Assistant Principal at Jemison.
- Recent Successes
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Overall, the fourth year of implementation was a success story for the District. This was due in large part to the District’s creation and implementation of a data-driven Strategic Plan. The Superintendent provided an overview of the Strategic Plan in her statement to the Court during the August 28, 2019, status conference.
The District is already seeing the benefits of its data-driven plan. For example, the District saw major improvements on its most recent state report card grades. As a reminder to the Court, each year the Alabama State Department of Education releases A through F grades for each school in the state. The grade is determined using indicators such as student achievement, student academic growth, graduation rates, college and career readiness, and chronic absenteeism. The most recent report card scores are based on data from the 2018-19 school year.
The District improved its overall grade from a C (77) to a B (82). The District had 15 schools improve by at least one letter grade. Overall, 33 of the District’s 37 schools saw an increase in its raw score. Most importantly, the District only had one school receive an F (Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School). For comparison, the District had four schools receive an F last year and 12 schools just two years ago.
Individual Reports
- Student Assignment
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M-TO-M Transfers
II.D.8.a: A report containing the following information for each application requesting a transfer effective for that school year: race; grade level; home/zoned school; school(s) to which transfer sought; each type of transfer requested; the outcome (including, for each transfer granted, identification of the school to which the transfer was approved); and the basis for the denial, if any. II.D.8.b.1: Transfer wait list information maintained pursuant to Section II.D.2.b.12., as of the expiration date of the wait list. The District may report this information separately or as part of the Excel spreadsheet described in Section II.D.8.a.
II.D.8.b.2: Results of M-to-M surveys conducted pursuant to Section II.D.6.b.
II.D.8.b.3: District marketing efforts regarding the M-to-M program, including examples of marketing materials.
Magnet Schools/Programs
II. F. 1: For each magnet program, student applicant data for the previous school year that includes: the number of applicants, disaggregated by race; the number of students accepted, disaggregated by race; the number of students who are not accepted, disaggregated by race (including reason(s) for a student not being accepted); the number of students enrolled, disaggregated by race; and the number of students who withdrew or transferred out of the magnet program, disaggregated by race, (including the reason(s), to the extent available, for the withdrawal or transfer).
II.F.2: A report of magnet marketing and recruitment efforts taken for the previous school year, including samples of brochures and advertisements, and where appropriate, the date and location of the marketing and recruitment.
II.F.3: A report of the magnet courses offered at each magnet school/program for the current school year.
II.F.4: The District’s efforts to review and respond to duplication of magnet courses in the District since the District’s previous annual report.
II.F.5: A report that includes for each student enrolled in a dual enrollment course: school attended; the magnet program attended, if any; grade; the name of each dual enrollment course; and the institution of higher education affiliated with each dual enrollment course.
- Equitable Access to Course Offerings & Programs
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III.M.1.a: A list of all AP and IB diploma courses taught in each high school for the current school year and the enrollment in each AP or IB Diploma course in each high school for the current school year, disaggregated by race.
III.M.1.b: Academic proficiency of students in English and Math in the District and by school, as measured by the State assessments for the previous school year, disaggregated by race.
III.M.1.c: A list of teachers hired or assigned by each high school to teach an AP or IB Diploma course in the current school year, the course(s) taught by each teacher, the number of sections taught by each teacher, and the credentials of each teacher.
III.M.1.d: A report for each school that includes the employee number of each teacher, his or her race, professional degrees, certifications, years of experience (less than 3 years and more than 3 years) and course or courses taught.
III.M.1.e: A list of professional development activities required by Section III conducted in the previous year, including the date, duration, subject matter, presenter, and number of individuals in attendance by group (e.g., principals, teachers, etc.).
III.M.1.f: A list of parent/guardian outreach activities conducted in the previous school year, including the date, duration, and approximate number of individuals in attendance, and estimate of participation levels by race.
III.M.1.g: A list of student support services offered in the previous school year pursuant to Section III.H.
III.M.1.h: A report for the previous school year of the results of the survey required by Section III.I.7. and action steps taken based on the survey results.
III.M.2: The District will provide the data reviewed and the plans developed pursuant to Section III.M. to the United States. The District will provide a summary of the data reviewed and the plans developed pursuant to Section III.M. to the Court.
- Extracurricular Activities
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IV.H.1: A list of extracurricular activities offered in the District, by school and core activity category where applicable.
IV.H.2: School participation rates and targets in the Elementary School Core Activity and the Middle/Junior High School Core Activities and any actions taken by the District to support schools in meeting participation targets.
IV.H.3: A description of measures taken by the District to make students aware of academic clubs and related extracurricular opportunities.
- Faculty
-
V.D.1: A list of the members of each committee involved in the recruitment, hiring, assignment, retention, or promotion of administrators, faculty, and certified staff. The list will include: name of committee; each committee member's name; his or her race; position (title and location) and date(s) on which he or she served on the committee.
V.D.2: Documentation of any exigent circumstances pursuant to Section V.A.1.
V.D.3: The total number of certified administrators, by race and position, in the District’s central office.
V.D.4: The total number and percentage of teachers and administrators, by race and by position, in each school facility operated in the District. For reporting purposes, principals will be identified separately from assistant principals.
V.D.5: A list of each certified staff member, such as administrators and faculty, transferred, including: his or her name; race; position; self-reported years of experience; school to which he or she was previously assigned; school to which he or she was transferred; effective date of the transfer; indication of whether the transfer was requested by the certified staff member or initiated by the District or both; and the reason(s) for the transfer.
V.D.6: A description of the measures the District is taking to ensure the equitable selection of Black principals pursuant to Section V.A.2.
V.D.7: A list of all recruiting/job fairs in which the District participated, including the date and location of each such fair.
V.D.8: A list of each central office certified administrator hired, including the administrator’s name, race, position, date of hire, and starting salary (including step and grade).
V.D.9: A list of each central office certified administrator promoted, including the administrator’s name, race, prior position and salary, and new position and salary.
V.D.10: A list of each certified staff member, such as administrators and faculty, who received incentive pay, including his or her name, race, position (title and location), salary grade and step, and incentive amount.
V.D.11: A list of certified staff members, such as administrators and faculty, who were demoted, suspended, or dismissed/terminated, including each person’s name, race, position/title, and date of demotion, suspension, or dismissal/termination.
V.D.12: A list containing information about each candidate submitted to a school for consideration to fill a vacant position, including: candidate’s name; his or her race; an indication of whether he or she was screened at the District level; his or her certification(s), if any; his or her self-reported total years of experience; school and vacant certified position for which his or her name was submitted; date on which that submission occurred; candidate(s) selected by the principal to fill the vacant certified position; and candidate(s) placed in the position.
V.D.13: A list of all candidates nominated for the TOSA program, or any similar program, and for each eligible candidate: candidate’s name; his or her race; school to which he or she was assigned; grade level(s) and/or course(s) he or she taught; individual who nominated him or her; an indication whether he or she accepted any invitation to interview; members of his or her interview committee; and an indication whether he or she was selected to participate in the TOSA program or any similar program.
- Facilities
-
VI.C: The District’s progress on the construction of Morris Pre-K-8 School, Jemison High School, McNair Junior High School, Grissom High School, Whitesburg Pre-K-8 School, Hereford Elementary School, and the district's progress on the renovation of AAA and Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School.
- The District’s progress towards removing remaining portable classrooms.
- Implementation of the District’s Playground plan.
- Implementation of the District's SMALLab Plans.
- 667-55 - VI.C.pdf
- Student Discipline, Positive School Climate, & Effective Classroom Management
-
VII.I.1: The District’s Student Code of Conduct implemented after the effective date of this Consent Order or after the previous annual report.
VII.I.2: A list of professional development activities required by Section VII, including the date, duration, subject matter, presenter and number of individuals in attendance by group (e.g., principals, teachers).
VII.I.3: The information provided to parents/guardians pursuant to Section VII.
VII.I.4: For each school, the total number and percentage of students receiving a disciplinary referral, disaggregated by race, in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, expulsion, school referrals to law enforcement and alternative school placement and plans/strategies developed and implemented as a result of the District’s review in Section VII.G.
- Monitoring, Reporting, & Oversight
-
X.A: The District will provide the United States a copy of its student enrollment database electronically in Microsoft Excel or similar format and will file with the Court a report of its student enrollment, disaggregated by school and race.
X.G: The District will provide the United States and the Court with its annual budget and a list of District expenditures related to the implementation of the Consent Order for the previous school year.
Sixth Consent Order Reports
Filed November 16th, 2020
- Introduction
-
Annually, the District is required to file a report containing information regarding the District’s implementation of the Consent Order and the Green factors applicable to the District’s desegregation lawsuit. The District’s Sixth Consent Order Report was timely filed with the Court on November 16, 2020. Nearly all of the reports filed with the Court contain data from the preceding school year. As such, the date range for the data in most of this year’s reports is July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020.
As it has done in the past, the District filed a Notice of Filing which is designed to help the Court, and the citizens of Huntsville, better understand the Sixth Consent Order Report. The Notice of Filing operates as a helpful guide for understanding each individual report. A PDF version of the Notice of Filing can be found below. Before reviewing the individual reports, it is recommended that members of the community review the Notice of Filing.
Overview
- Challenges & Successes in Year Five
-
The District’s fifth year of implementation went well, but the District faced unique challenges. As mentioned last year, after so many years of implementation, the District has developed effective and efficient processes for ensuring full and faithful implementation of the Consent Order. However, as with prior years, there were noteworthy incidents during the 2019-20 school year. The major changes are discussed below:
- The District has made several new hires for the Central Office team in the last 12 months or so. The following individuals have joined the District:
- Dr. Clarence Sutton – Deputy Superintendent of Learning Supports – Dr. Sutton was originally hired to be the Chief Academic Officer; however, due to his great work for the District in a short time, the Superintendent promoted him to Deputy Superintendent. Dr. Sutton previously worked for Tuscaloosa City Schools.
- Dr. Monte Linebarger – Director of Elementary Education – Dr. Linebarger joined the District from Tuscaloosa City Schools.
- Dustin Daehn – Chief School Financial Officer – Mr. Daehn joined the District from Pike Road City Schools.
- Craig Williams – Chief Communications Officer – Mr. Williams joined the District from Birmingham City Schools.
- Scott Wiginton – Director of Career & Technical Education – Mr. Wiginton joined the District from the Alabama State Department of Education.
- Letricia Ogutu – Mental Health Services Coordinator – Ms. Ogutu joined the District from private practice.
- Dr. Elizabeth Long – Director of Special Education– Dr. Long joined the District from Eufala City Schools. Although she joined during the 2018-19 school year, the District wanted to remind the Court of her addition to the District’s team.
- On January 3, 2020, the Court granted the Parties’ joint motion for the release of supervision of the Board’s transportation system. That motion was filed after extensive work with counsel for the United States and counsel for the proposed private plaintiffs, Mr. Mark Debro. Additionally, as part of that filing, the District publicized its intention to file the motion and met with interested community members about the content and effect of the motion. Ultimately, the District believes it has found an effective and transparent blueprint for its future plans to seek release from federal supervision for the remaining Green factors.
- The District is currently making plans to seek release from federal supervision for the faculty and staff Green factor. As before, the District plans to work with counsel for the United States and Private Plaintiffs, and it will attempt to follow steps like those used in the preparation for the filing of the transportation motion. COVID-19 may limit the District’s ability to hold in person meetings, but the District will make use of alternative methods for meeting with interested community members.
- On March 13, 2020, the Governor and State Superintendent announced that schools would be closing to stop the spread of COVID-19. Since that time, the District has – like all school systems in the State – wrestled with how best to respond to the pandemic. Below are some notable items related to the District’s response to COVID-19:
- The District implemented a remote learning plan for the end of the 2019-20 school year that included considerations for meals, internet access, and flexibility in completing outstanding lessons and assignments for the 2019-20 school year. Students’ work during this period from April to May did not adversely impact their grades.
- However, the closure in March 2020 and the subsequent remote learning period resulted in the District being unable to complete the state’s accountability exam measures. This was true for all public schools in the state. This meant that the District has no information regarding the academic proficiency of students in grades 3 through 8. Additionally, due to the closure, the District was unable to perform some of its usual surveys (M-to-M and Honors, AP, and IB courses) as is described in more detail in the reports.
- The District worked with community partners to help students during this initial period of remote learning. For example, local faith-based partners helped feed students when the District had shortages of staff. Also, ADTRAN and Huntsville Utilities helped the District expand the wi-fi range on its school campus to cover up to 300 yards away from the building. This allowed families to be able to easily access the internet from on-campus parking lots.
- During the same time frame, the District conducted a survey of parents regarding their preference for in-person, blended, or remote learning. Using those results, the District spent the summer developing its two different learning models: “Traditional” and “Virtual.” Parents had several opportunities to select the option they preferred for the Fall 2020 semester.
- The Traditional model is a flexible model that changes depending on the number of COVID-19 cases in the community and other health and safety considerations.
- If factors warrant, Traditional students may be moved to “remote learning” where all students are virtual every day.
- If conditions improve, then Traditional students will move to a “staggered learning” framework. This framework has an alternating schedule where approximately half of the Traditional students are in person per day while the other half are remote.
- If conditions present a lower risk, Traditional students return to all in-person learning.
- The Virtual students participate in the Huntsville Virtual Academy. These students do all their work remotely every day. These students are taught by Huntsville City Schools teachers, and, at least for Fall 2020, most HVA students are taught by a teacher from their school (meaning transfer students and magnet students are typically taught by a teacher from the transfer or magnet school).
- Due to the conditions in August 2020, Traditional students started in the “remote learning” framework. This meant that all students, both Traditional and Virtual students, started the year in remote learning.
- The District switched from remote learning to staggered learning for Traditional students in Pre-K through 8th grade on September 14th and for Traditional students in grades 9 through 12 on September 21st.
- The District switched from staggered learning to in-person learning for Traditional students on October 26, 2020. This meant that Traditional students started receiving in-person instruction, five days per week on October 26.
- The registration period for the Huntsville Virtual Academy for the spring semester is now open and will run to November 18. The District will use the number of registrations to develop plans for the spring semester. Additionally, the District is continuing to work with local health officials and officials from the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Alabama State Department of Education on best practices for responding to the pandemic.
- Unlike the disruptions and instability caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Huntsville’s recent school board elections maintained stability in the Board’s membership. In 2020, Michelle Watkins, the Board Member from District 1, and Carlos Matthews, the Board Member from District 5, were both up for re-election. Ms. Watkins had a challenger, but she won the overwhelming majority of her district’s votes. Mr. Matthews did not have a challenger and won his election. As a reminder to the Court, Ms. Watkins has held office since 2016 when she won her first term. The City of Huntsville, pursuant to Alabama law, appointed Mr. Matthews as the replacement for Pam Hill. Ms. Hill held the office from 2016 to May 2019. Mr. Matthews held the office since Ms. Hill’s resignation.
- The District is in considerably better financial health today than it was when Superintendent Christie Finley first stepped into office. As of September 2020, the District has $52,833,912 in reserve. This represents 2.97 months of operating budget. While the District is in better financial health, a good portion of this money is from short term initiatives from the State of Alabama and the federal government (such as CARES Act funding). However, despite the pandemic, the District has not seen a downturn in its tax receipts as was previously expected. As such, while the current fund balance is artificially inflated, the District expects that its financial health will continue.
- The District has made several new hires for the Central Office team in the last 12 months or so. The following individuals have joined the District:
- Updates to Reporting Document Format
-
his year, the board has updated the structure of the PDF documents filed with the court in order to make the documents more user friendly for constituents and stakeholders of Huntsville City Schools. The documents below contain the same number of reporting sections as in previous years, however each section has been combined into larger files which pertain to a specific area or Green Factor of the consent order. These larger files make use of PDF bookmarks which allow readers to skip to the reporting area they are interested in. This allows the entirety of the sixth consent order report to be released in fewer files while maintaining the organizational structure of prior years.
Individual Reports
- Student Assignment
-
M-TO-M Transfers
M-TO-M transfer reporting documents can be found below in the Supplemental Reports section.
Magnet Schools/Programs
Document 698-2 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- II.F.1 Magnet Applicant Data
- II.F.2 Magnet Marketing
- II.F.3 Magnet Courses
- II.F.4 Magnet Course Duplication
- II.F.5 Dual Enrollment
- Equitable Access to Course Offerings & Programs
-
Document 698-3 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- III.M.1.a AP & IB Course Enrollment FINAL
- III.M.1.b 2019-20 ACAP FINAL2020
- III.M.1.c Teacher Credentials AP IB FINAL
- III.M.1.d Teacher Data
698-3 III.M.1.a-d Equitable Access.pdf
Document 698-4 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- III.M.1.e Professional Development
- III.M.1.f AP/IB
- III.M.1.g Supports
- III.M.1.h Spring Survey
- AP Spring Survey Results
- Insert from: "III.M.2 Insert.pdf"
- III.M.2 Self Reporting Data and Plans
- Extracurricular Activities
-
Document 698-5 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- IV.H.1 Extracurricular Activities
- Elementary Schools
- Middle Schools
- High Schools
- IV.H.2 Extracurricular Participation Goals and Rates
- IV.H.3 Extracurricular Outreach
- HS & MS Rack Cards
- IV.H.1 Extracurricular Activities
- Faculty
-
Document 698-6 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- V.D.1 Committees
- V.D.2 Exigent Circumstances
- V.D.3 Central Office Certified Administrators
- V.D.4 School Certified List
- V.D.5 Certified Transfer
- V.D.6 Recruiting of Black Principals
- V.D.7 Recruiting and Job Fairs
- V.D.8 Central Office Cert Admin Hired
- V.D.9 Central Office Cert Admin Promoted
- V.D.10 Incentives for Cert Personnel
- V.D.11 Demotions, Suspensions, Dismissals, and Terminations
- V.D.12 Candidate List
- V.D.13 TOSA Candidates
- Facilities
-
Document 698-7 below contains reporting for the single Facilities VI.C exhibit.
- Student Discipline, Positive School Climate, & Effective Classroom Management
-
Document 698-8 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- VII.I.1 BLG
- VII.I.2 Professional Development
- VII.I.3 BLG Parent Outreach
- VII.I.4 Discipline Data
- Strategic Plan HHS
- Strategic Plan McDonnell
- Strategic Plan McNair
- Monitoring, Reporting, & Oversight
-
Document 698-9 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- X.A Student Listings
Document 698-10 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- X.G Expenditures
- Expenditures
- Approved Budget
Supplemental Reports
- Supplements to the Sixth Consent Order Reports
-
Document 699 below contains the following bookmarked supplemental report sections:
- Supplemental Report - Cover Memorandum
- II.F Exhibits
- Corrected - 2017 II.F.1
- Corrected - 2019 II.F.1
Document 700 below contains the following bookmarked supplemental report sections:
- Supplemental Report - Cover Memorandum
- III.M.1 Exhibits
- III.M.1.b ACAP Final
- III.M.1b ACT Final
700 Supplemental Report III.M.1.b.pdf
Documents 701 and 701-1 below contain a supplemental report notice and exhibit pertaining to V.D.1 Faculty:
Document 704 below contains a Notice of Filing pertaining to the supplemental court report:
Document 704-1 below contains Exhibits II.D.8a and II.D.8.b1 regarding M2M Marketing:
Seventh Consent Order Reports
Filed November 15th, 2021
- Introduction
-
Annually, the District is required to file a report containing information regarding the District’s implementation of the Consent Order and the Green factors applicable to the District’s desegregation lawsuit. The District’s Seventh Consent Order Report was timely filed with the Court on November 15, 2021. Nearly all of the reports filed with the Court contain data from the preceding school year. As such, the date range for the data in most of this year’s reports is July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021.
As it has done in the past, the District filed a Notice of Filing which is designed to help the Court, and the citizens of Huntsville, better understand the Seventh Consent Order Report. The Notice of Filing operates as a helpful guide for understanding each individual report. A PDF version of the Notice of Filing can be found below. Before reviewing the individual reports, it is recommended that members of the community review the Notice of Filing.
Seventh Consent Order Report Filing Notice.pdf
Overview
- Challenges & Successes in Year Six
-
The District’s sixth year of implementation coincided with historic challenges including a year of instruction during a pandemic and a crippling cyberattack. These challenges disrupted several of the District’s longstanding processes for implementing the Consent Order. Given the aberrational nature of the 2020-21 school year, the District does not believe that the issues from 2020-21 will repeat. The District’s focus in 2021-22 is largely on recovering from the uniquely challenging aspects of 2020-21, but in an effort to provide some context about the sixth year of implementation, the District offers the brief list below:
- The District has made several new hires and promoted several employees into new, important positions during the last 12 months. A few examples are as follows:
- Emily Elam – Chief Information Officer – Ms. Elam joins the District after serving as the Chief Information Officer for Decatur City Schools.
- Elizabeth Dotts Fleming – Director of Public Development – Mrs. Dotts Fleming joins the District from The Schools Foundation. The Schools Foundation is a 501c-3 focused on supporting Huntsville City Schools, Madison City Schools, and Madison County Schools. Mrs. Dotts Fleming served as The Schools Foundation’s Executive Director before joining the District’s team.
- Zachary McWhorter – Career and Technical Education Director – Mr. McWhorter joined the District from Shelby County Schools.
- Dr. George Smith – Chief Student Equity Officer – Dr. Smith has served as a Data Analyst for the District’s Assessment and Accountability Department for several years prior to being selected to serve in his new role. Dr. Smith’s new role is particularly important for Consent Order implementation. He joins Dr. McNeal in helping oversee the Consent Order. His expertise has been in the use of data to help drive District decisions and to analyze the efficacy of District initiatives. Given the District’s need to develop plans to address the challenges of 2020-21, Dr. Smith’s expertise comes at a pivotal time in the District’s implementation of the Consent Order.
- Melissa Veasy-Lindsey – Executive Director of Prevention & Support Services – Ms. Veasy-Lindsey joins the District’s team after serving as a long-time principal for Huntsville City Schools, most recently at Williams Middle School. The Superintendent created this position to oversee the departments primarily responsible for the health, safety, and emotional wellbeing of the District’s students including counseling, nurses, and behavioral learning. Her experience as a principal will be invaluable in supporting the District across these different areas.
- The two largest challenges that the District faced during the 2020-21 school year were responding to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and rebuilding after a crippling cybersecurity attack. The following items were impacted by one or both of those challenges:
- One of the unexpected results of the 2020-21 school year has been a significant reduction in AP course participation across all student populations. This is especially challenging for the District because of the efforts the District has taken to increase AP participation during the implementation of the Consent Order. Most recently, the District sent over 700 customized letters to Black students who were not already participating in honors and AP courses to encourage them to participate in those courses. Nevertheless, the District has seen a decrease in participation. The District has revised its advance course surveys in an effort to learn why there is a disconnect between the District’s efforts and the outcomes
- The 2020-21 school year also marked the first time that the District administered Alabama’s new proficiency examination, the ACAP. While the District’s students’ performance on the ACAP for the reading subtest showed some improvement, the performance on the math subtest and both reported ACT sub-tests showed a downturn in performance. The District believes that the disruptions caused by the response to COVID-19 impacted student performance on these exams. The District worked over the summer to develop plans to get schools back on track after the disruptions from 2020-21.
- As has been the case around the country and across industries, the District is facing significant challenges focused on employee hiring and retention. Prior to the pandemic, school systems were already beginning to feel the pinch of the teacher shortage in Alabama. The pandemic has exacerbated that situation. The District is now facing shortages across nearly every job classification. To fight this trend, the District has taken innovative steps in the creation of a Professional Learning Academy (“PLA”). The District’s PLA provides financial incentives to District employees who participate in extra professional development designed by the District to support the District’s strategic plan. The District will continue to keep the Court and the United States informed of ongoing staffing challenges.
- While most of the items on this list are the result of COVID-19, this last item is the result of the November/December 2020 cyberattack. Shortly after Thanksgiving 2020, the District was the victim of a cyberattack that shut down or limited the District’s network operations for several weeks. Ultimately, with the help of strong community partners, the District was able to return to normal operations with one notable exception. The server responsible for the automated operation of the District’s M-to-M and Magnet transfer websites was irreparably damaged by the attack. As such, the District had to quickly develop a replacement process. This process was more manual than the District’s typical automated process, and, as a result, it lacked some of the safeguards of the automated system. These safeguards were in place for several reasons including to prevent parents from applying to schools with no availability and to prevent parents from applying for a transfer if their student was ineligible. Without these safeguards, there was an uptick in the number of students whose applications for transfers were denied. For the 2021-22 school year, the District is taking steps to create an automated process – with safeguards – like the one the District used previously.
- Although 2020-21 was certainly challenging, the District continues to have a healthy fund balance. As of the writing of this Cover Memorandum, the Board’s general fund (bolstered by significant federal money as a response to COVID-19) balance is $90,927,035. While the new federal dollars tied to COVID-19 certainly help, even without that new funding, the District believes it is in a positive financial position.
- Another notable change for the District was the retirement of long-time Board member Walker McGinnis. In May of 2021, Mr. McGinnis announced that he would be stepping down from the Board of Education. Mr. McGinnis was a long-time educator before joining the Board, and he will be missed. In his place, the Huntsville City Council selected Ryan Renaud to serve as the Board member for District 4.
- Despite the hope for a more typical school year, the 2021-22 school year has not been without significant challenges.
- As was discussed in the Superintendent’s Response to the DAC’s 2019-20 and 2020-21 Reports, the District has been working to replace the roof and HVAC units at Highlands Elementary School. During the process of the roof replacement, a communication failure by the District led to community unrest and concerns of an unsafe environment for students, and this further led to the District deciding to move the students from Highlands Elementary School’s campus. The District recognizes the significance of this failure and the importance of correcting this for the families of Highlands Elementary. As such, the District has been taking steps to ensure that the return to the Highlands Elementary School campus for the 2022-23 school year will be a smooth and happy experience for the Highlands faculty, staff, students, and families.
- Last, the Board’s composition could look significantly different by the time the District files its reports in November of 2022. The citizens of Huntsville will vote on Districts 2, 3, and 4 (currently held by Beth Wilder, Elisa Ferrell, and Ryan Renaud, respectively). The District will update the Court of result of these elections in its next Cover Memorandum (if not sooner).
- The District has made several new hires and promoted several employees into new, important positions during the last 12 months. A few examples are as follows:
Individual Reports
- Student Assignment
-
M-TO-M Transfers
Document 723-1 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- II.D.8.a & II.D.8.b.1 M2M Applicants
- II.D.8.b.2 M2M Spring 2021 Survey Results
- II.D.8.b.3 M2M Marketing
723-1 II.D.8 M2M Transfers.pdf
Magnet Schools/Programs
Document 723-2 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- II.F.1 Magnet Applicant Data
- II.F.2 Magnet Marketing
- II.F.3 Magnet Courses
- II.F.4 Magnet Course Duplication
- II.F.5 Dual Enrollment
- Equitable Access to Course Offerings & Programs
-
Document 723-3 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- III.M.1.a AP & IB Course Enrollment
- III.M.1.b ACAP & ACT
- III.M.1.c Teacher Credentials AP & IB
- III.M.1.d Teacher Data
723-3 III.M.1. a-d Equitable Access.pdf
Document 723-4 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- III.M.1.e Professional Development
- III.M.1.f Parent Conferences
- III.M.1.g ELA & Math Supports
- III.M.1.h AP Spring Survey Results 20-21
- III.M.2 Summary of Self Reporting Data and Plans
- Extracurricular Activities
-
Document 723-5 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- IV.H.1 Extracurricular Activities
- Elementary Schools
- Middle Schools
- High Schools
- IV.H.2 Extracurricular Participation
- IV.H.3 Extracurricular Outreach
- HS & MS Rack Cards
- IV.H.1 Extracurricular Activities
- Faculty
-
Document 723-6 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- V.D.1 Committees
- V.D.2 Exigent Circumstances
- V.D.3 Central Office Cert Admin List
- V.D.4 School Certified List
- V.D.5 Certified Transfer
- V.D.6 Recruiting of Black Principals
- V.D.7 Recruiting and Job Fairs
- V.D.8 Central Office Cert Admin Hired
- V.D.9 Central Office Cert Admin Promoted
- V.D.10 Incentives for Cert Personnel
- V.D.11 Demotions, Suspensions, Dismissals, and Terminations
- V.D.12 Candidate List
- V.D.13 TOSA Candidates
- Facilities
-
Document 723-7 below contains reporting for the single Facilities VI.C exhibit.
- Student Discipline, Positive School Climate, & Effective Classroom Management
-
Document 723-8 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- VII.I.1 BLG
- VII.I.2 Professional Development
- Code of Conduct PD Certified
- Code of Conduct PD Classified
- Positive School Climate PD Certified
- Positive School Climate PD Classified
- VII.I.3 BLG Parent Outreach
- VII.I.4 Discipline Data
- Plans
- Monitoring, Reporting, & Oversight
-
Document 723-9 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- X.A Student Listings
723-9 X.A. Student Listing.pdf
Document 723-10 below contains the following bookmarked report sections:
- X.G Expenditures
- Expenditures
- Approved Budget