Alternative governance plan approved for Clovis High School

Four years of failing Adequate Yearly Progress exams has caught up with Clovis High School.

The Clovis Municipal Schools board of education Tuesday unanimously approved, with Vice President Mark Lansford absent, an alternative governance plan for Clovis High School, which has failed the math portion of AYP since 2005, according to state documents.

The AYP results for the 2008-09 school year will be released in August.

Deputy Superintendent of Operations LaDonna Clayton presented the governance plan to the board.

The New Mexico Public Education Department provides the struggling school with five options for improvement.

Clovis schools chose two; replacing all or most of the school administration and major restructuring.

The other options were appointing an outside expert to advise the school, turning over management of the public schools to the Public Education Department, if mutually agreed upon, and a recommendation to re-open the public school as a state chartered school.

Superintendent Rhonda Seidenwurm said the district chose to replace most of the high school’s administration as an option, simply because the change was already happening.

The high school will have a new principal and at least three new assistant principals for the coming school year due to retirements or transfers.

The restructuring option breaks down what is and isn’t working in the school that is causing the students to fail AYP. It looks at effective leadership, quality teaching and learning, student support and support for system-wide improvement.

Seidenwurm said the school will be working with High Schools That Work, a site improvement initiative with the goal of preparing students for careers and further education by improving curriculum and instruction in high schools.

The HSTA goals, key practices and key conditions are a framework for whole-school improvement.

Seidenwurm said large high schools across the country are going through the same process.

In other business at Tuesday’s Clovis school board meeting, the board:

• Approved a revision to a waiver request for the New Mexico High School Competency Exam. Superintendent Rhonda Seidenwurm said that the district will accept comparable, out-of-state competency exams for an incoming student.

• Approved the 2009-2010 Open Meetings Act Resolution, which included the schedule for next year’s meetings.

• Approved the New Mexico School Boards Association Policy Services Subscription Agreement.

• Approved seventh-grade English, ninth-12th grade language arts, ninth-grade journalism, Purple Press and Plainsman curricula.

• Approved a bid for $23,000 of music equipment and supplies and a purchase request for an Internet content filtering system.