Charles Brown unveils reorganization plan
By Alvin A. Reid of the American
Charles Brown, Wellston School District’s state-appointed superintendent, said Wednesday that the first step in cleaning up the beleaguered district’s academic performance is cleaning up its schools.
“A clean, healthy environment is conducive to learning,” Brown said following a press conference at the Wellston Early Childhood Education Center.
“I can do this and save the district money, as well.”
Calling the condition of many schools “horrible,” Brown announced the district would no longer outsource daytime maintenance of facilitates. He will hire a full-time staff to handle those responsibilities.
The evening cleaning of schools and administrative buildings will continue to be outsourced.
According to Brown’s reorganization plan that he unveiled on Wednesday, the district will consider the consolidation of the middle school with high school programs at Eskridge High School. He said community input would be required and that community forums would be held before a decision is made.
The move could save the district $200,000, according to the plan.
Brown estimates that reorganization of the central office staff could save more than $40,000.
The plan also concludes that a “building-level reorganization to create a fiscally responsible and efficient process to ensure focus of resources dedicated to improving academic performance” could save an additional $16,000.
“Improving student achievement is not an overnight thing. But we can be more efficient right away. I can look at staff, maintenance and facilities immediately and create anticipated savings that can be used solely on academics,” Brown said.
He said the district needs “intense professional development” and the federal and state government will not cover all the cost.
Once the reorganization is complete, Brown said, “we can begin to implement the matrix for improving the (classroom) instruction plan.”
He said in coming weeks the district will reveal its comprehensive instruction plan for increasing student achievement.
The State Board of Education rejected pleas to grant provisionally accredited status to the Wellston School District on June 23. It has been unaccredited by the state since June 2003.
Brown, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
assistant commissioner for the Division of Teacher Quality and Urban Education, was appointed to run the district on July 1. He has held his position with the state Department of Education since 2002.
The state can run the Wellston School District for up to three years. Along with Brown, Garry Beals, head of the Alternative School in the Ferguson-Florissant School District, and Cassandra Hollins-Wallace, an educator in the Ritenour School District, are also on the three-person school administrative board.
Brown said he will still have responsibilities at the state level, for which he must travel to Jefferson City, “but I’m here in Wellston to stay. This is my assignment.”
Brown said in July, “If everybody works together, we can pull this off.”
The first steps are financial, but he is confident that the end result will be academic improvement.
“Allow me to find the most efficient manner to run this school district,” Brown said, “and those moves will create resources to use on instruction.”
