LYNWOOD — The Lynwood Unified School District is making progress toward meeting goals established by a drastic needs assessment report back issued in March by the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s District Assistance and Intervention Team.

Rebecca Wetzel made her second report to the Lynwood school board at the May 12 board meeting.

In the initial report, which was based on the district’s state Academic Performance Index score of 666, its high school graduation rate of 64.3 percent and the fact that seven of the eight district elementary schools were at risk of falling into program improvement this year, Wetzel pointed out that the district had developed a mission, vision and goals, but through evidence gathered through interviews, few staff had a common understanding of the vision, mission and goals.

“Because schools had been encouraged to work independently to meet their targets … as a result, school level staff do not understand the overall priorities and focus of the district,” Wetzel said in her report. “In some cases, schools work competitively rather than cooperatively to achieve common goals and to realize the district’s vision.”

The report also noted that budgets, at both the district and school levels did not reflect a district vision. “Schools and district departments are not consistently clear regarding what funding is available and what funding sources are appropriate to use to target specific goals,” the report said.

The assessment team outlined several inequities within the school district, that immediately had to be rectified, according to former school board member Martina Rodriguez, who added, that she was thankful the team was now overseeing the school district. “This is stuff that [the community] has been telling the school board for years, things that have been wrong in this school district. If the school board didn’t listen to us, maybe now they will listen to the county.”

The initial report said the district did not support high-risk learners in a consistent manner, that categorical funds were not used effectively to assist the district in closing the achievement gap, that the district had not established specific criteria to determine which students should receive intervention, that it was not evident that all students throughout the district had the same opportunity to receive the recommended instructional time in the core academic areas, that the district had an outdated student information system, that there is no common understanding for teacher collaboration, that the pacing guides had not been developed using essential standards, among other inadequacies.

The March report also gave the school district a list of high-leverage actions the school district had to take in order to comply with the county.

First in line in the report was the district’s lack of accountability. The district does not have consistent structures and systems in place to ensure that there is accountability throughout the district, the report stated. The team recommended that the district develop and implement procedures, processes and systems that will foster accountability throughout the district that will support schools, create interdependence among district divisions and support student achievement. 

Next in line, was the district’s record of communication skills.

“There is a lack of communication structures that promote a culture of transparency throughout the district which has led to a climate that does not foster trust among all stakeholders,” the report stated. There is a lack of respect for and among all employee groups, and lack of trust with those groups and parents, the report stated.

The report also placed an emphasis on the district’s focus on priorities, curriculum and instruction and finally on its fiscal process.

Thus far, the assessment team has met with district officials and staff to review all of its findings, said Wetzel, who added that the team has also met regularly with the superintendent, who has made himself available to work with the team whenever necessary.

The team has also met with school board members, and starting in September, the team will meet with school board members on a monthly basis.

The team’s biggest concern, Wetzel told the board, was to make sure that schools in their fourth year of program improvement, did not fall further behind. For that, she said, the district will need to implement a restructuring plan.

Wetzel said the reorganization of district personnel was also highly recommended, since the current organization structure did not provide the support individual schools needed.

Wetzel told the board members that she will be back in June to give board members a third report on the district’s progress.

Val Zolfaghari, president of the Lynwood Teachers Association, thanked Wetzel and her team for their bravery.

He said the team’s concerns have been the community’s concerns for years, including the lack of transparency in the district, but have never been addressed properly.

School board member Rachel Chavez said she wants to assure the community that the superintendent does not have a veto authority over the assessment team’s findings and requirements. 

Wetzel said that while the superintendent does not have veto authority, he is welcome to participate in the meetings and provide input.

Wetzel said no one in the district has been an obstacle in making improvements.

“Everyone has said OK, we don’t fully understand it, but we are willing to work,” she said. “And we’re willing to change and we’re willing to work with you … we can’t ask for more than that. … We are very pleased to develop this partnership, because when we first came, we were here to deliver a bad report. But after that, we were here to help you, to form a partnership … and we really feel that staff has begun to see it that way, and we look forward to continuing in that direction.”

The team will continue to oversee the district for two more years, Wetzel said.
 
It’s unclear, if the team will stay longer than two years, she said, because the assessment program is a new process for the state and federal government.

Wetzel said the state is working on new criteria from the program, and if the district does not meet that criteria, then there may be additional kinds of intervention that the federal government will require.

“Some of the targets here may seem unrealistic, but overall the accountability, the equity for subgroups of children, that were not always given that kind of equity, I think has been raised by the No Child Left Behind Act,” Wetzel said. 

In addition, Wetzel said, the community can rest assured that the team’s analysis and recommendations include every subgroup within the school district, and does not exclude anyone.

The report back in March, was the team’s way of sharing with the board what its findings were, Wetzel said. “Today’s report was more like ‘here is some of the work we’ve done, the assistance part, the intervention part, where some of the areas of need are, to tell them these are some of the areas where we will need to do the work,’” she said.

The team was assigned to Lynwood due to its ranking among school districts in the state, Wetzel said. “It’s a complicated formula,” she added.

Most of the recommendations to the school district will be challenging, Wetzel said, because “we’re talking about changing systems the way people have done business for years and years.”

“So now we’re asking people to think differently, and change the way of operating,” she said. “No one here is doing things purposely bad, but we’re telling them there’s a better way of doing things. … And you know, changing behavior is not easy to do.”

The District’s Business Director Bill Agopian, in an interview back in March, said the school district is ready and willing to work with the team. “Whatever they need, we’ll do everything possible to make it happen,” he said.