An email obtained by Mainstreet Daily News shows a state official disputing school district claims that it had to remove teachers from struggling schools mid-semester due to a state delay in teacher ratings.
The email from Dustin Sims, lead state executive director for the Florida Department of Education’s (FLDOE) Bureau of School Improvement (BSI) to a local citizen says the state has not updated teachers’ value-added model (VAM) scores since the release date on July 29.
This statement contradicts Alachua County Public Schools’ (ACPS) explanation for the mid-semester removal of seven low-scoring teachers from Rawlings and Alachua Elementary Schools in October. District spokeswoman Jackie Johnson told Mainstreet in October that after FLDOE updated VAM scores past the July 30 deadline, causing ACPS to upset classrooms mid-semester.
Alachua and Rawlings are both School Improvement (SI) schools, having earned D grades in the state’s latest school accountability report. The state limits the percent of teachers who can continue working at an SI school with “Needs Improvement” or “Unsatisfactory” VAM scores.
To comply with those limits, three teachers from Rawlings and four from Alachua needed to move to other schools. They were replaced by teachers on specialized assignments at the district level and certified teachers hired from outside the district, plus one media specialist to replace a low-scoring media specialist at Alachua.
In a recent response to a citizen’s inquiry, shared with Mainstreet, Sims wrote that FLDOE had not changed the scores since they were released.
“I am replying on behalf of the Bureau of School Improvement… Please note that the district VAM data has not been updated or modified since that [July 29] release date,” the email reads.
Sims also wrote that Katie Farsi, systems project analyst for FLDOE’s Bureau of Accountability Reporting, had noted the same release date in a previous email.
Farsi, Sims and Margaret Aune, Vice-Chancellor for Strategic Improvement, have not responded to Mainstreet’s requests for comment or clarification. Department communication staff also did not respond.
Public record emails contain arrangements for an Oct. 1 meeting between FLDOE Regional Executive Director Sandy Brusca, ACPS Deputy Superintendent Cathy Atria, School Improvement principals Jim Kuhn and Karla Hutchinson and Chief of Teaching and Learning Jacquatte Rolle.
“We need to work this VAM out with Alachua and Rawlings ES,” Brusca wrote to several of the ACPS administrators in a Sept. 30 request to meet. “I have more questions than answers at this point.”
Two weeks later on Oct. 13, Alachua Elementary’s principal, Holly Burton, emailed FLDOE School Improvement Specialist Tiffany Towns to push back an already-scheduled school visit, citing updated VAM scores and teacher reassignments.
“As you are likely aware, the recently updated VAM scores had a significant impact on our percentages,” Burton wrote. “This week, we will be managing several staffing reassignments. I am hopeful we can postpone this week’s visit as we focus on settling teacher nerves and supporting newly assigned teachers.”