Jackson departing WR schools with little controversy

 

Thomas Jackson's office walls are bare, the bookshelves clean and his desk smooth, almost spit-shined.

After almost four years leading the Window Rock School District - among the longest stints of a Navajo Nation public school superintendent in recent memory - Jackson is all but packed up.

The district school board voted against renewing his contract in April, giving no specific reason.

Earlier this month the board re-hired Deborah Jackson-Dennison (no relation), who was ousted from the Window Rock superintendent's position in 2005. Jackson's last day with the district is June 30 and Jackson-Dennison is expected to start work July 1.

Jackson is expected to take the interim superintendent position with the Zuni public schools as the New Mexico Public Education Department has leveled a slew of professional misconduct charges against the current superintendent, Kaye L. Peery.

Jackson's contract with the Zuni district is month-by-month, meaning the board will review the outcome of Peery's hearing, underway this week in Gallup, and update Jackson's agreement accordingly.

Following the hearing, the hearing officer will provide a recommendation to the Secretary of Education, who will make a final decision on whether to sanction her. The secretary's decision can be appealed in state court.

"It could last a year, it could last a month," Jackson said of his new post. "I'm going into the position knowing that."

Nonetheless, it is an extension of sorts for the lifelong educator who leaves Window Rock with little controversy and with several completed projects behind him.

"I've enjoyed it here," Jackson said in an interview Tuesday. "There was always challenges, it was never just one thing."

Among the most noticeable projects is the Scouts Academy, the district's alternative high school, which opened this year and has graduated 47 students so far.

The school, which serves students who have not performed as solidly in the mainstream high school, marks a change in attitude for educators who previously had dismissed underperforming students.

In fact, Jackson said the academy graduates were students who would have otherwise been forgotten, dropouts.

"Those are 50 students that we had literally lost," Jackson said.

"If it wasn't (for the academy) the seven dropouts that we recovered wouldn't have come back," said Donna Manuelito, Scout Academy principal. "We have 37 students who would be second-year seniors, if they decided to continue with school at all."

The alternative high school offers individualized teaching, placing students in curriculum tracks that focus on their specific needs.

For instance, if a student failed an English course at the high school, the alternative program will pick up where the mainstream class left off.

"That student had to have learned something in that English class," Jackson said.

Instead of taking the entire class over again over the span of a semester, the alternative curriculum fills in the missing blocks with online instruction and one-on-one tutoring.

"We can give them two semesters worth of curriculum during one semester," said Donna Manuelito, Scouts Academy principal. "It's not teacher-driven where they have to listen to lectures. The kids are in control of their own education."

The school also launched a work-study program in which students are assigned to worksites throughout the area and earn class credit. Students earn half a credit for 60 hours put in at work, in addition to their pay.

"We want to focus on them becoming productive citizens," Manuelito said.

The Scouts Academy opened in September with seven students, and finished with school year with 52. Although alternative schools tend to get a bad rap in some communities as places for lazy or distractive students, Scouts Academy is the opposite.

Jackson, who previously oversaw the opening of an alternative high school in Grants, N.M., said some community members have questioned why the Window Rock district should use resources on students who had "given up" their chance to get an education.

"I tell them that if we don't spend money on the students now, we're going to be spending money on them for the rest of their lives," Jackson said. "One way or another, they have to get their diploma."

However, judging by state and federal standards, the district's progress has been mixed. AIMS scores have fluctuated noticeably in several grade levels, while rising steadily in others.

Three of the district's eight schools are currently making adequate yearly progress, as determined by a combination of test scores, attendance and graduation rates.

Jackson expects Window Rock High to meet the federal AYP benchmark this year for a second time in a row.

"The curriculum still needs work," he conceded, adding that the district has recruited a professional development coordinator. "We are not where we need to be with instruction, it still needs a lot of work."

During his time with the district, Jackson also helped weed through financial records that he says were in disarray when he arrived.

The district had not filed a performance audit with the Arizona Department of Education for several years, resulting in about $2.5 million in fines. By 2006, Jackson had ordered the records brought up to date and the penalty money was released to the district.

In total, administrators have identified $90 million available for construction projects during Jackson's tenure.

Jackson also ordered a review of the district's land assets, and realized early on that the state Education Department had constructed Sawmill Elementary School on tribal land but did not get the proper clearance. Technically, the district had no claim to the land.

"The district didn't even know what land they had," Jackson said. "It took six months to find exactly where the district boundaries were."

Jackson also discovered that the district owned about 60 acres of land adjacent to Window Rock High, but located across the state line in New Mexico. The district cannot use this land, which would be tantamount to spending Arizona state money in New Mexico.

The district is working out an arrangement with the Navajo Nation's Division of Public Safety, which wants to construct a new building on the land. The school district would be able to use the planned new parking lot on game nights, he said. Other details are still being finalized.

"I feel like I am leaving the district in excellent financial shape," Jackson said.

For now, he has few plans beyond the Zuni post, but he'll be around. He is solidly rooted on a 20-plus acre ranch in McKinley County that he owns with his wife Socorro.

"I'm just playing it by ear," Jackson said. "There are things we need to do."

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