Staff Is Reeling After Bold Move

All Employees Must Reapply for Jobs

Anne Arundel County Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell announced the plan, aimed at meeting federal No Child Left Behind standards after four years of failing, last week. (By Mark Gail -- The Washington Post)

First came disbelief. Then came anger. Now come the questions as teachers at Annapolis High School begin grappling with their superintendent's order last week that all employees must apply to keep their jobs.

How many teachers will be rehired? Will administrators change the curriculum or class hours?

But the biggest question is this: Will it work?

After failing to meet federal No Child Left Behind standards for four years in a row, the 1,600-student campus faced state-mandated reforms if it failed a fifth year. So, in a surprising move Wednesday, Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell said he planned to jump-start the restructuring of Annapolis High on his terms. Every staff member -- from custodians to the principal -- must reapply to stay in his or her job, an action called "zero-basing."

"But having the staff reapply or dismissing the staff alone isn't enough," said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, an independent nonprofit advocacy group. "You look at struggling schools like this, and the ones who end up succeeding are doing many things at the same time instead of just one thing. They're changing the curriculum, bringing in an outside experts, providing after-school programs."

Jennings and others experts say Maxwell's decision is a bold and unusual one. Faced with similar situations, other systems such as Prince George's County have been criticized for choosing the least drastic option available -- appointing "turnaround specialists" to try to improve schools.

"Zero-basing is dramatic, but it's also a gamble that you can find people to replace them and that those people will be better," said Jennings, whose think tank issued a 20-page report last year on attempted restructuring in Maryland schools.

Annapolis High has at least one advantage, experts say, because it is the only school in a relatively affluent county on the state's list for "corrective action." Other school systems, with many failing schools, must ration their resources and try to save them all.

Maxwell has not elaborated on the plan since announcing it. A spokesman said more changes might be planned for Annapolis High but would not be announced until Maxwell has met with teachers about them.

Only one other school in Anne Arundel County has faced similar circumstances. In 1996, Van Bokkelen Elementary was the first suburban school in Maryland to be placed on a list of schools whose scores were so low that the state was considering taking it over.

Then, as is happening at Annapolis High, school officials decided to have the entire staff reapply for jobs. Most of Van Bokkelen's students lived in bleak public housing complexes nearby. Teaching was difficult, and discipline a constant problem. Of 40 classroom teachers, only three chose to stay.

The school's new principal, Rose Tasker, said she visited other county schools, making a personal plea for others to join her at Van Bokkelen. Her staff the first year was young and included some teachers fresh out of college and others recruited from Prince George's schools.