Rewriting History: The Bruce Randolph Story
In his State of the Union speech, President Obama singled out Denver’s Bruce Randolph School for praise as what can happen when “reform isn’t just a top-down mandate.” The school had a dramatic turnaround after becoming an “autonomous school.”
Bruce Randolph is being held up as an example of what can be achieved through collaboration. The Colorado Education Association produced a report titled “The Bruce Randolph Story” that lauded the school and its progress. And the union wasn’t shy about taking credit for it, either.
With 100% teacher membership in the (Denver Classroom Teachers Association), everyone involved considered the Association part of the solution at Bruce Randolph. Lahue and Ahrnsbrak credit their long-time Association involvement with giving them the system-wide perspective to think about – and implement – meaningful instructional development.
“Walking into Randolph was a completely different approach in dealing with the Association,” DCTA building representative Ahrnsbrak explains. “I had many conversations with everyone in leadership, and we are all on the same page. They truly believe that the most important component in the whole system is the teacher, and we were treated as professionals. We represent what can happen or what should be happening in our schools.”
…DCTA, the Colorado Education Association (CEA) and the National Education Association (NEA) enthusiastically support academic reform embodied in Bruce Randolph’s plan. “There’s no reason for battling and animosity… if we’re on the same side – all about student achievement and supporting the teachers and making sure they have everything they need to do the job that they do,” Ahrnsback says. The Association is part of the solution.
They must have a pretty big memory hole over at CEA headquarters. There was a great deal of collaboration – at Bruce Randolph. Above the school level, it was a highly contentious battle between school officials and the teachers’ union.
When the school asked DCTA for a waiver to the contract, the union refused, and offered a half-hearted compromise that was rejected by the school officials and teachers at Randolph. The same Greg Ahrnsbrak from the CEA report was frequently quoted in the Denver Post at the time:
“We’re pretty outraged that they can’t give us a straight answer and accept the fact that we want to move forward with our proposal,” said Greg Ahrnsbrak, physical education teacher and union representative from the school. “They want us to move back to square one, and that is unacceptable.”
“They are doing everything they can to block a real reform effort,” Ahrnsbrak said. “Reform is happening. You’re either going to be on the bus or beneath it. I want to be driving it.”
I’m not sure how this all fits into the collaboration model, but everyone seems willing to bring out the really big shoehorn.
What ultimately got the union on board was not collaboration, professional development or even money. It was a threat, noted in the CEA report: “Under Colorado law, Bruce Randolph was in danger of being shut down and converted to a charter school by the state.”
January 27th, 2011 at 17:17
Does anyone have standard testing scores for before/after at this school? Thanks for your work.