Holliday Warns JCPS that Staffing Overhauls may Fall Short

This from Toni Konz at the Courier-Journal, Photo by Sam Upshaw:

Kentucky's education chief has warned Jefferson County Public Schools it could lose millions of dollars in federal funding — or lose control entirely of the overhaul process — if the district doesn't make a more determined effort to turn around its lowest performing schools.

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday said the district's staffing changes may not be meeting state and federal requirements at several of the 12 Jefferson County schools targeted for overhauls because their reading and math scores are some of the worst in Kentucky.

Less than one-third of the 70 teachers being replaced at three of those schools — Doss, Fairdale and Seneca high schools — teach reading and math, the two subjects that led the state to demand major overhauls at the schools because of their poor test scores, according to data obtained by The Courier-Journal in an open-records request.

“The reason why these schools are persistently low achieving is due to their graduation rate and reading and math scores,” Holliday said in an interview. “If we are not looking to replace reading and math teachers, how can we expect to improve reading and math scores?”

Holliday has put the school board on notice that he could take over decisions about how the district overhauls its most-troubled schools if the Kentucky Education Department determines the district isn't taking the reform effort seriously...