AURORA | After years of academic difficulties, Aurora Central High School embarked on a re-organization in 2015 that school district say could turn the long-struggling school around.
The Aurora Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously in June to back an “innovation” model for the school as it restructures under a state-mandated timeline for poor-performing schools.
Superintendent Rico Munn — who has pushed for the innovation model — has said it will give the district and school staff more flexibility when it comes to making changes that could improve the school
Munn said he hopes to be back in front of the APS board in January with a more-detailed model of what innovation status at Aurora Central will look like.
“We are still at the beginning of a process, not at the end,” he said at the packed board meeting where the plan was approved.
Under state law, schools like Aurora Central — once placed on a five-year “Priority Improvement Plan” — have to launch dramatic changes after the fifth year if they haven’t turned things around by the end of the fourth year. As of now, 30 other schools around the state are facing the same situation.
The restructure options for Central include turning it into a charter school, letting an outside agency manage it instead of APS, installing the innovation plan, or even closing the school — though district officials stress closure is not an option they have ever supported and one they deem unlikely.
Munn said district leaders considered the charter school model and determined it would require shifting many of the elementary schools and middle schools that feed Central to charter schools as well.
Munn has said the innovation model will allow Central staff some autonomy and give them the flexibility to improve student performance as they see fit. Plus, Munn said, the model requires cooperation between staff, community members, district leaders, state officials and others.
While Munn and other district officials have worked for months on how to change Central in the coming years — and specifically on the innovation plan — the idea remains short on specifics.
The plan calls for more community involvement but what shape that will take hasn’t been decided. Munn said there will need to be involvement from the business community, as well as groups of parents, students and teachers at specific schools crafting ideas, but specific individuals who would participate haven’t been determined.
Board President JulieMarie Shepherd said the plan’s flexibility and insistence on collaboration are important.
Still, the lack of specifics was somewhat of a concern, said board member Dan Jorgensen.
Jorgensen voted for the proposal, but said it wasn’t an easy call.
“For me it’s pretty difficult to be able to support something that is yet to be defined, but of course that is the catch with innovation status,” he said.
Jorgensen said if he finds out groups such as teachers or alumni, or outside groups like The Arc of Aurora aren’t involved in the process, he won’t support it anymore.
“Then to me it’s not a legitimate proposal,” he said.
Central’s student body includes a significant refugee population as well as a significant population of students who aren’t native English speakers. The neighborhoods surrounding the school are some of the city’s poorest, and see some of the city’s highest crime totals.
Test scores for Central have been a mixed bag, with reading and writing scores up since 2010, but math and science down. And across the board, Central students are far behind the rest of the state, despite some gains in graduation rates and in other areas.