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Team Suggests Fixes For Alafia Elementary

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

dlwhite@tampatrib.com

Published: November 19, 2008

VALRICO - Alafia Elementary School Principal Ellyn Smith will keep her job as the school district implements changes to improve morale, rally parent input and recognize staff for accomplishments.

The situation might be stressful at the school, but the problems aren't irreparable, according to a 16-member school district assessment team sent to Alafia Elementary on Oct. 21. The team was investigating complaints that Smith is responsible for poor staff morale and high teacher turnover.

The team was dispatched after about a dozen parents attended a Hillsborough County School Board meeting Oct. 7 to complain about Smith's leadership skills. The parents said they spoke at the meeting because they were unable to resolve their concerns with Smith or school administration.

The assessment team, made up administrators from other schools, school counselors and district officials, met Nov. 10 with Alafia staff to go over the results of its assessment.

Among its recommendations, the team said the administration should "eliminate practices that foster fear of intimidation and retaliation."

School district spokesman Steve Hegarty, a member of the assessment team, said specifics weren't offered on how this would be accomplished, saying it would occur in the process of implementing the other recommendations.

The team also suggested organizing a committee of administrators, developing a parent involvement plan, increasing the administration's visibility and accessibility, scheduling faculty recognition and award initiatives, forming committees for staff input into decision making, increasing volunteer recognition and providing team building for faculty and interpersonal skills training for the administration.

"I thought it was a good meeting," Hegarty said after meeting with the Alafia faculty. "People spoke from the heart."

Alafia parents, however, have yet to receive a meeting date to go over the report with school district officials as promised at the Nov. 6 school board meeting.

"At the last school board meeting, MaryEllen Elia announced that Ken Otero, assistant superintendent, would be meeting with the parents to discuss the results of the assessment but we've yet to hear from him," said Michelle Salerno, one of four parents who have been meeting with school district officials to discuss their concerns about Smith.

"It's very disturbing," Salerno said. "Tension is running high. At this point, we know that the principal is staying but we haven't seen an action plan or a schedule for putting it into place. Once again, we're left in the dark," Salerno said.

PTA member Beverly Harbord also found it disturbing that the report was released to the press before the parents. Even more distressing, she said, was the general nature of the report compiled by the assessment team.

"I'm curious. Where are the statistics? How do you measure improvement? I'm surprised that's not part of this report," she said.

In response to the assessment team's suggestion that parents "work cooperatively with the administration" and "work professionally with the faculty," Salerno said parents have never done anything else, and she doesn't understand if the assessment team is implying that the parents have been uncooperative with administrators or too familiar with the teachers.

"I don't understand the implication," she said. "Whatever differences parents have with administration, we still work with the administration, we still do our jobs as PTA board members and volunteers. None of that has changed."

School board chairwoman Jennifer Faliero said the fact that schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia sent an assessment team to the school shows she took the parents' concerns seriously.

"It's usually not a good thing to have an assessment team come into a school," Faliero said. "It indicates there is enough evidence to suggest there were things that were not working for this school, that there is just cause to go forward and look into it."

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524.

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