By Imbert Matthee
The Times 

Prescott’s Jordan: Grace Under Pressure

 

Superintendent Dr. Bill Jordan chats with elementary school students in Prescott. Known as caring but action-driven manager as well as a compassionate listener who knows the educational system, Jordan is popular with students, teachers and parents alike. He will stay with the district for at least one more year.

PRESCOTT - No one in the Prescott School District is in denial.

Times are tough.

Earlier this year, the Junior Senior High School was listed as one of 50 schools in the state with academic performance problems. The district has a year to fix it.

Meanwhile, Prescott has lost 11 students, or 5 percent of its student body, so far in 2010 - 2011. And late last month, district officials announced they'll need to cut two teaching staff positions and eight hours of non-teaching staff time due to lower enrollment numbers and state funding cuts.

So why is everyone on campus walking around with smiles and an unmistakable sense of optimism?

The answer consists of three simple words: Dr. Bill Jordan.

"The change in atmosphere at the district is immeasurable," school board president Karen Tonne said. "He's not just a part of the solution. He's the majority of the solution."

From teachers and bus drivers to students and parents, it seems everyone agrees. What may have seemed insurmountable obstacles in the past now feel more like bumps in the road as Jordan has infused a sense of mission, teamwork and esprit de corps among them.

" He's very unifying," said Tina Hector, a 12-year Prescott teacher who represents the district's teachers union, the Prescott Education Association. "He's made people feel comfortable talking about things. All ideas are out on the table. He's looking for solutions."

Another Year

Jordan, former deputy superintendent for Walla Walla Public Schools, came on board as part-time superintendent in Prescott during the summer of 2010, when the district needed a temporary solution following Dr. Carolyn Marsh's resignation earlier in the year.

Rather than rush to replace Marsh, the district decided to engage Jordan temporarily to head the district and help address some of its organizational challenges.

But his work there lifted such an emotional cloud from the horizon and Jordan himself enjoyed being in Prescott so much, the parties extended the arrangement for another year.

"The board asked me to stay and I've agreed," Jordan said about an extension of his contract negotiated earlier this year. "The teachers are upbeat and focused on taking care of our kids. I like that. It's energizing to me even during hard times. This is a great place here. I feel pretty fortunate."

Shifting Grounds

Demographic changes in the district, whose student body is largely made up of children of orchard workers in the northwest part of Walla Walla County, are part of the immediate challenge for the district.

In previous years, some area parents may have switched schools by choice, in part because a poor work environment drained teachers' focus on students, according to several sources in the district.

Several families took their kids from the town's schools and sent them to other districts in the Touchet Valley - Waitsburg and Dayton.

But this year, it seems enrollment is hit affected by the shifting job market as orchard workers migrate to other parts of the area and the state where the jobs are: Pasco, Kennewick and even as far as Yakima, Jordan said.

The district opened its year with 222 students in the fall and, knowing it might lose pupils to these economic dynamics, it budgeted for a target of 211. But its actual enrollment is now at 209 and may drop to 200 during the next academic year.

Together with a $40,000 cut in state funding (proportionate to hits all districts in the state are taking next year), the roughly $60,000 cut in enrollment- based state funding adds up to a $100,000 loss in revenue for 2011-2012 on a total district budget of $3.5 million.

"We're going to have to be very conservative in our budget preparations," said Jordan, who recently met with board members to conduct a budgeting work shop.

Cutting two full-time jobs may not sound like a lot until you consider the district has only 16 educators whose positions can be eliminated (another five are covered by special program funding not affected by the drop of revenues). That means the cuts amount to a 12.5 percent, or one-eighth, reduction in teaching ranks.

"They clearly have no choice," Hector said.

Jordan said it's possible one teaching job may disappear through attrition, but an adjustment in the workforce remains painful to the district.

"It isn't easy," Jordan said. "This is not a Richland or Pasco with a thousand teachers. It's a big deal for us because we all know and care about each other. It brings a bit of a somber mood when there's the realization we're going to be fewer next year."

Yet, teachers and staff in the district have high hopes for the long-term health of their academic community as Jordan is leading them in an effort to turn around students' grades.

Grade Report

In January, Prescott landed on a list of 50 schools in the state that have performance problems, a designation that came with a carrot and a stick.

The stick is the scepter of drastic change at the district, which would have a choice of replacing the principal and half the staff; close and reopen as a charter school; all-out closure; or replacing the principal and instituting far-reaching instructional reforms.

The carrot is the availability of $50,000 to $2 million over three years under federal Department of Education funding to the state to make these changes.

It was the second year in a row Prescott received this "Tier 2" designation, but nothing was done the first year to address the low performance in math and reading.

Not so under Jordan.

Right away, he recruited the Center for Educational Effectiveness based in Redmond to perform a survey to identify the underlying reasons for the low math and reading scores. The outcome gave the district a roadmap for solutions. The center recommended better assessment of testing data, better use of the existing School Improvement Plan, more consistent class discipline, strengthen parental involvement through more outreach to the Vista Hermosa community, and more dedicated staff meetings and training.

Adding new high school sports programs, such as last year's first WP Tigers soccer team and this year's planned winter wrestling activities, will help shore up student grades since minimal GPA performance is a condition for participating in the sports.

The good news is that Jordan was part of the early discussions about turning around the performance of another school, Blue Ridge Elementary in Walla Walla, which is now working on a plan to do just that.

"We're taking the opportunity to examine ourselves," Jordan said about Prescott. "We want to get better. We are serious about doing good work."

It's that kind of intention and his savvy of the education system in the state, that has made Jordan such an asset to the district, to say nothing of his encouraging open-door policy and listening skills, Tonne said.

Jordan was director for the Center for Educational Partnerships at Washington State University, deputy superintendent of public instruction at the state's Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, superintendent of the Kelso School District and assistant superintendent for instructional services at the Richland School District.

He also served as principal at Garrison High School in Walla Walla and assistant principal at Pioneer Junior High School, where he was a teacher of English and Social Studies as well.

At his most recent job as deputy superintendent in Walla Walla, Blueridge was a part of his schools community.

Like Blueridge, Prescott has a high percentage (87 percent) of minority students, whose families get by on low incomes.

Historically, there has been a high correlation between higher poverty rates and low achievement, but there are schools in Washington that have high poverty rates and high performance.

Jordan wants Prescott to become one of those.

"I see it as an opportunity," he said, recognizing the year that now remains for the turnaround isn't a lot of time. "The staff is up for it. I'm not getting the 'pity poor us.' They (staff) want to make sure they're doing the right thing. They're passionate about their work and there's a lot of pride."

 

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