I'm at a meeting of the Booker T. Washington task force: j.mp/2Wn6ifY. I'm not sure what the task force is, or who is on it, or what the agenda is. Beyond the vice chairman floating the idea, the board hasn't had any discussions about this committee or its purpose.
So I guess we'll all see!
Booker T. Washington High School, that is. Alumni, mostly, address the School Board regularly and have said that this school is being neglected (programmatically + facilities-wise).
Yvonne Wagner, a former School Board member, has started the meeting and just said that she's the chairwoman of this advisory committee.
Wagner thanks "this current school board" for scheduling this meeting. Says alumni have asked for this meeting for years but it hasn't happened. Wagner, who was on the School Board until 2018: “We do applaud you all."
School Board Vice Chairman Carlos Clanton is discussing the committee's goals. I can't really hear it all because the microphone isn't working. But the gist: create one document with recommendations for the School Board for what Booker T. Washington HS should look like.
Committee members have just introduced themselves. Mostly alumni and teachers.
Margie Stallings, the school's principal, is talking about the school's academy for the arts. It was more robust in the past, she says. When she got here in 2016, there were just 34 students. Now, there are more than 80 students.
Used to have a TV production class, don't anymore. They're looking at the cost of restarting it up, Stallings said. They've added piano class sections this year and have plans to expand in other areas.
Dance teacher was part-time, now is full-time. Students got to participate in an Alvin Ailey master class this morning.
When the arts academy started in 2005, enrollment was at 110, Wagner said. She asks what the goal is. Stallings said this year, the goal was 100. But there's no limit.
Stallings says they've tried to work on their pipeline, starting with the elementary schools that feed into BTW. Says if she's being honest, the music program at Ruffner Academy (a middle school that feeds into BTW) isn't where it needs to be.
The group's talking a lot about the need to market the school more to prospective students and their families.
Stallings is saying there wasn't a focus on arts. Someone asks who is the "they" that wasn't focusing on arts. Stallings says a former principal pushed the AVID program instead.
School Board chairwoman Noelle Gabriel's suggesting the committee come up with a 1-, 3- and 5-year plan and see what they need budget wise. She also suggests forming a 501(c)3 to fund programs here and partnerships with folks like WHRO and Chrysler Museum.
"This is not just a pathway for singing and dancing," says Wagner. The arts are a pathway for many careers, she says.
Clanton echoes a lot of what Gabriel said, adding he sees a lot of potential for "synergy" here.
A theater teacher says the school "finds a way" to make things happen but they shouldn't have to try so hard. Says other programs in other school districts don't have as many roadblocks.
She points out that other high school specialty programs in Norfolk have waitlists, are turning away students. In contrast, BTW is begging students to attend.
Someone asks whether BTW is going to continue being an arts school or become the CTE high school. Clanton: Right now it is an arts school.
Clanton: “The board has not taken a vote on changing the direction.”
So, there hasn't been a vote. But a previous board did come to consensus that they wanted to place the CTE school here. The new board hasn't had a conversation about it in over a year.
So, there hasn't been a vote. But a previous board did come to consensus that they wanted to place the CTE school here. The new board hasn't had a conversation about it in over a year.
Clanton: "There has been confusion. … The reason for bringing folks around the table is transparency."
Says he does not support BTW HS becoming a CTE high school.
Says he does not support BTW HS becoming a CTE high school.
Clanton says there's not "one iota" of a plan to put CTE at BTW high school.
Gabriel: "And there's no money. We can't think of these things without having money."
Gabriel says it was not good for the former board to entertain the notion of putting the CTE high school at BTW without knowing where the money came from. Says district needs to focus on the reality right now. "We need to focus on the gem that we have. We need to polish it up."
Next meeting is Nov. 18, Wagner says.
The focus of the next meeting is talking about facilities, Wagner says. They're going to come up with a plan: Do they need a new building?
With that: The first task force meeting is over. Curious to see where this conversation goes over the next few months.
Wagner told me she’d only talk to me if I wrote a “good” story about this meeting. But then told me a little bit more about their goal. They want to have a proposal by early 2020 (before budget season) with what’s needed for BTW.
She said she pushed for a community conversation and the board asked her to chair the task force. I asked who, and she said individual board members.
She says committee’s no. 1 priority is a feasibility study like was done at Maury High (this was the education planning exercise - students/parents/staff met over a period of months to talk about what educational programs the building needs to support).
