Principal Dee Etta Wright, left, talks about bus schedules with Jessie Adams, parent of a Block 7th grader.

Block Middle School principal is ready for the challenge

Contributed By:The 411 News

Dee Etta Wright has been the principal at Joseph Block Middle School for 1 year. It was her responsibility to take the lead when Indiana’s State Board of Education held a public hearing at the East Chicago middle school on August 11.

State Supt. of Schools Glenda Ritz and SBOE District 1 member Eddie Melton chaired the hearing. The previous day, Ritz and Melton chaired a public hearing for Beveridge Elementary School in Gary.

This was a meeting Wright and the Block school staff began preparing for soon after she became principal in August 2015. In November, IStep test scores for the 2014-15 school year were released; Block scores were low. And they were lower than the year before.

It signaled year five of poor test scores without improvements and that meant the state board wanted answers.

Indiana’s school accountability law has a five-year rule. After the fifth year of failing grades, the state is required to hold a public hearing to notify the school district, parents, and other stakeholders about the options available if the school receives a failing grade the next year.

Seven options were presented at Block’s public hearing. The most severe was to close the school.

Indiana Dept. of Education records show how the middle school student population has gone up and down in the last 5 years. Block served grades 7-8 in years 2010-14. Sixth grade students were added in the 2014-15 school year. They were gone in the 2015-16 year.

This school year, the East Chicago school district moved West Side Middle School into Block. Now, Wright will manage 650 students. Last year, she had 361.

Wright said she took on the challenging role because “I felt that my 25 years of experience provided me the fortitude and knowledge to make an impact on improving the academic achievement of Block Middle School.”

Students in East Chicago’s elementary schools perform near the state average on IStep and IRead tests.

Nationally, academic achievement drops in middle school years. “It’s a disconnect all school districts share between elementary and middle school years,” Wright said. To lessen that affect, the school has combined some elementary and middle school concepts. Instead of having a separate math, English, science and social studies teacher in 7th and 8th grades, now, students stay with the same course instructor for both grades.

Wright explained other advantages of what she called the POD concept. “These teachers have the same planning period to discuss students' strengths and weaknesses, develop integrated lesson plans, improve classroom management, collaborate, conduct group parent conferences, and time to discuss children.”

English and math classes have been extended to ninety minutes.

Following Wright, the SBOE panel heard from community members and staff from the East Chicago school district who described positive changes they’ve seen at Block in the last year.

Pastor T. Brian Hill of New Ebenezer MB Church in East Chicago said, “I’ve been around a long time and I’m excited about what’s going on here now. I can remember the days when I walked into this school and it was a mad house. To walk in this school today and see this kind of structure and discipline encourages me.”

A school counselor and a school psychologist said conferences and referrals were reduced between one-third and one-half. Behavioral problems of skipping class and abusive language also fell. Fights dropped from 225 to 65 in the last year.

The majority of speakers supported the Dept. of Education’s recommendation to keep control of Block at the local level so that it could continue on its path of improvements.

Supt. Ritz told the speakers their input will be considered. “If a sixth failing grade is earned in the 2015-16 school data, the SBOE will consider an intervention.”

Wright said she has seen preliminary 2015-16 Istep scores and the increases were small. Complete scores for all schools are expected to be released in November.

Story Posted:08/25/2016