12 Sonoma County schools land on low-performing list, including two impacted by the wildfires

Twelve Sonoma County schools made the state Department of Education’s list of lowest-performing schools, released quietly this month.

Among the 12, half are continuation high schools - an alternative for students who may have poor attendance, drug problems or behavioral issues. Two county public schools and three public charters also made the list – Dunbar Elementary School in Glen Ellen was the sole school in the Sonoma Valley Unified School District included on the list.

The list of 781 lowest-performing schools was made public two weeks ago without mass notification or a news release. State officials said they released the list without much ado to avoid emphasizing negative labels.

“All schools and districts have strengths and challenges. Every school and district can improve,” said Scott Roark, a spokesman for the California Department of Education. The state is required to identify the poor-performing schools under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.

Schools make the list based on English and math standardized test scores, suspension rates, chronic absenteeism and other indicators from the California School Dashboard. High schools with a graduation rate of less than 67 percent averaged over two years also are considered low performing.

Dunbar Elementary, a Glen Ellen school impacted by the fires, landed on the lowest-performing schools list. The 200-student campus closed for three weeks after the 2017 wildfires erupted.

Socorro Shiels, Sonoma Valley superintendent, said the district is working to get additional mental health services, but it can be a challenge to bring providers in from other towns. “I think all the families were affected by the fires,” Shiels said.

Before the low-performing designation, the school was already looking for ways to improve, implementing college-readiness strategies adopted by thousands of schools and developed by Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID, a San Diego-based nonprofit.

About 28 percent of Dunbar students met English standards last year, compared to 30 percent the previous year. Meanwhile, the number of students who met math standards remained about the same over the two years.

Dunbar Principal Jillian Beall said she’s working with staff to boost morale in spite of the low-performing label, and teachers have been energized by AVID.

“We’re just excited to move forward,” Beall said.

Eighty-one percent of Dunbar students qualify for free and reduced meals, and 59 percent are English language learners, who require more academic support. As a low-performing school, Dunbar can apply for about $166,000 in comprehensive support and improvement funds, according to the state. Shiels said the district plans to do so.

Santa Rosa City Schools applied for a waiver for fire-affected school districts from administering the state English and math standardized tests. The waiver was denied by the U.S. Department of Education in the fall. The Santa Rosa district decided to forgo the tests.

The district’s math and English scores on the California School Dashboard are its 2017 scores, and so far there has been no financial penalty. The district expects to hear an update from the state soon, which will be presented at the Feb. 27 board meeting, according to a district spokesperson.

“We will move forward, as we know this was the right thing to do for our recovering community and students,” the district wrote in a December newsletter.

Pivot Online Charter-North Bay, a virtual school of about 400 students with a tutoring and resource center in Santa Rosa, also was identified by the state as low performing. Executive Director Jayna Gaskell said the school is an option for students who may not fit in a traditional school model. Some students come because they’ve been bullied or have chronic health issues and need a flexible online school schedule.

Next month the school will apply for the Dashboard Alternative School Status. The school’s mission is to “re-pivot students to improve,” Gaskell said.

“I’m not surprised by the low scores,” Gaskell said. “It is important to us to make sure our kids are making progress.”