Staff Is Reeling After Bold Move

During her first five years, the school's scores rose steadily. Then they were uneven for several years, faltering and rising again. In 2005, when the scores appeared to have failed federal standards, the school prepared to have its staff members reapply for their jobs all over again. But by appealing on the mislabeling of special education students, the school passed and is now off the state's list.

Administrators at Van Bokkelen and in the county system consider the school an example of restructuring's success. Even leaders of the teachers union, who still call the 1996 restructuring a failure because of its effect on the school's prior teachers, say the school's improvement is a success.

"It took hard work and a lot of time and commitment," said Tasker, who was principal from 1996 to 2005. Finding and hiring the right teachers, she believes, was one of the reasons the restructuring worked.

But hiring new teachers for Annapolis might be difficult, union officials and policy experts say.

"The fundamental question is how to get talented teachers to come to Annapolis High," said Michael J. Petrilli, vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a school reform think tank. With the school's publicized plight and its troubles reaching low-income and minority students, the school might not be able to attract experienced teachers, Petrilli said, and more inexperienced teachers might not have the skill to turn it around.

Although Van Bokkelen had few teachers reapply, some schools see a majority return -- such as Woodlawn Middle, a Baltimore County school that rehired 70 percent of its teachers. The question then becomes whether such a large return can bring about the dramatic change needed, experts say.

Last week at Annapolis High, most teachers said it will be a while before they're ready to decide whether to reapply.

"Some of us are still in the grief stage; others are in anger or denial," said Diana Peckham, an English teacher and chairman of Faculty Advisory Council.

Teachers are waiting for more information from administrators about changes to the curriculum, school hours and allotted planning time, and Maxwell said he hopes a principal will be appointed by next month.

For English teacher Sue Hersman, however, some of the pain has already passed. She had heard rumors all month that something terrible was coming. "At least now the cards are laid on the table, and we just have to start figuring out how to play the deck," she said.