AFT to turn around troubled school system

Students in West Virginia’s McDowell County public schools score low on state exams and drop out at a rate more than three times the national average. The poverty-stricken central Appalachian county is serving as a testing ground for the American Federation of Teachers to show that ending bad social conditions, rather than blaming teachers, will enable children to succeed. It means to turn around the county’s floundering school system by tackling local social and economic problems head on through a communitywide wraparound services initiative.  

Such factors as poverty, divorce and lack of health care are real obstacles to learning, not excuses, said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “People can pretend to ignore them elsewhere, but no one can ignore those factors in McDowell,” she said.

In addition to joblessness — the outcome of a collapsed local coal industry — the area struggles with housing shortages, limited medical services, inadequate transportation and substance abuse.  Eight of every 10 children in one local school qualify for free lunch, and many attend antiquated, badly maintained school buildings.

The union committed $100,000 and gathered some 40 corporate and nonprofit partners, along with state and federal agencies, to jump-start a five-year “McDowell Initiative”  that will provide services, money, products and expertise to county schools and students. A well-rounded curriculum, drug prevention and treatment, better transportation, more recreation opportunities and additional support, services and enrichment for students will be in place by fall 2012.  

The Washington Post, Dec. 15
AFT LeaderNet, Dec. 16