DCS to pay teachers more if they transfer to school that got F on state report card
Apr. 3—In one of several efforts to improve performance of its only school that received an F on the most recent state report card, Decatur City Schools will pay an annual stipend for teachers who agree to transfer to Oak Park Elementary.
"What we are trying to do is recruit our strongest teachers in the district to be willing to transfer to Oak Park to make more money," Superintendent Michael Douglas said after a board meeting last week. "We are trying to get our strongest teachers in our most impoverished schools."
Oak Park received an F on the state-mandated school report card for the 2023-24 school year, which was down from the C it received the year before. It was the only school in DCS and was one of 30 schools statewide that received a failing grade and one of 156 "priority schools" that received either a D or an F. Oak Park is the only priority school, as defined by the State Department of Education, in DCS.
Oak Park's numerical score rose from a 70 in 2022 to a 76 in 2023, then dropped to a 59 in 2024.
Under state law, students zoned to priority schools are given the options of staying at the school, or transferring from that school to either a school earning a higher grade or to a private school using a tax credit scholarship available through the Alabama Accountability Act.
DCS is also replacing the former principal of Oak Park with Missy Olinger, currently principal of Benjamin Davis Elementary. Benjamin Davis received an A on the 2023-24 report card.
The stipends will be about $5,000 per teacher, Douglas said.
Oak Park has the highest population of special education and English learner students in the district. It also has the highest poverty rate of any DCS school, Douglas said.
When you add up the special education and English learner students at Oak Park, 67% of the school population either doesn't speak English or has a learning disability, Douglas said. So, the schools have created these incentives to try to lure them to Oak Park.
"The important thing I want to note is that existing teachers at Oak Park can apply to stay," Douglas said, "and that any teacher that might get bumped by any veteran teacher we would still place them somewhere in the district. I don't want people to think they are not going to have a job. We are not going to employ all new staff. We want some of the existing staff and we want to get some really strong (veteran) teachers in every grade level."
The district has already sent out transfer intent forms and they want teachers who are wishing to transfer to Oak Park to fill out the transfer form or indicate they want to go to Oak Park, Douglas said.
Board member Peggy Baggett asked how the school system would determine which teachers would be selected.
Douglas said he and Olinger, along with Yvette Evans, assistant superintendent over instruction, will look at the entire list. He said they are looking for veteran teachers who have a history of performance and the ability to "move" children. He said it will be easier to assess prospective transfers who have worked a long time in the district because they have a documented performance history.
"Our intent is to get a handful of teacher-leaders in every grade level," Douglas said. "And it is also our intent that we wouldn't adversely impact any one school."
So, for instance, if seven teachers from another elementary school wanted to transfer, the school system would say no because it does not want to create a problem for the other school, he said.
Douglas said they will also take grade level into account when selecting. If six kindergarten teachers in one school wanted to transfer, DCS wouldn't take all six because they want leaders in every grade level.
Baggett asked what happens if they have to move a teacher from Oak Park to make room for a teacher-leader that transfers in.
"Essentially, if they were tenured, we would place them," Douglas said. "We're going to have openings."
He said they want to put forth their very best at Oak Park and they want to "incentivize" veteran teachers who might want "a little bump" in salary before retirement.
He said he worked with Mandy Jones, chief financial officer, and Evans to come up with the idea.
"For years we've talked about how do you get your best teachers in your most impoverished school," Douglas said. "We feel like by providing them with an incentive we are hoping we can get our pick of the litter and truly get our most impactful teachers in our priority school."
Douglas said he knew of no other school system that has taken this approach to lifting up a school.
Just because a teacher puts in for a transfer to Oak Park doesn't mean they will be selected, he said.
"It's going to be a lot easier for us to select teachers who have been in Decatur who do have a track record, who do have longitudinal data, who do have a history of growing kids," Douglas said. "Those are obviously going to have a leg up on somebody who has only been in the district one or two years and we just don't have enough data (on them)."
Board President Michelle Gray King asked Douglas to explain the difference between what Decatur City Schools is planning and what a school district in Mobile with low test scores did to boost itself.
"They got all new teachers to come — paid them to go there," she said.
Douglas said they were able to select anyone they wanted in Mobile.
"I don't think they dove into existing staff members at different schools, they just hired all new," Douglas said. "They were able to do that, and they did offer the incentive. ... I'm sure they ended up with a very strong staff, but I don't think they looked at the data the way we are going to look at the data. We would do that, but we wanted to see what we had from within. Start from within."
He said this initiative could also be used in the future for other struggling schools.
"If another school needs help, you've got this in place," Douglas said.
Funding the incentives should not be an issue, he said. He thinks the district may be able to use Title I funds so the cost of the incentives would not be a hit to the general fund. If not, he thought perhaps donations could cover it.
"We have great partners in education, and we feel we can go get donors to assume the cost, if we show something will work. We're hoping this will be a good pilot (program)."
He said the district doesn't want the stipend program to harm other schools with high poverty rates or other challenges.
"When selecting, we would take a hard look before a top-notch teacher was pulled from West Decatur or Austinville (elementary schools)," Douglas said.
"... We've got to get some old hats in there, some gray beards in there to bring the young ones up. We want to give the school a jolt and hurry up and get this school back where we want it. I do think this sets a precedent that we are putting our resources where we need them most."
— jean.cole@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2361
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