Hinojosa Addresses Achievement Gap, Elementary School Merger at Town Hall Meeting

Issues regarding and were the themes at Thursday’s town hall meeting with

Hinojosa, who has more than 30 years of experience in education, is entering

About 60 community members attended the meeting, which was held at and was hosted by Cobb Board of Education member David Morgan, whose Post 3 represents South Cobb.

Parents asked their questions of Hinojosa to Morgan via email before the meeting and others wrote theirs on index cards during the meeting.

Achievement Gap

“What is the district doing to level the playing field in South Cobb?”

The answer to this question, and several variations of it, was a top concern for many South Cobb parents who submitted questions.

“We cannot accept excuses,” Hinojosa responded. “We’re not going to blame these kids. We’re not going to blame these parents. We have to have a common belief system so we can achieve. We don’t blame teachers. We don’t blame anybody.

“These remedies don’t happen overnight. You’ve got to accept it first, then you’ve got to go deal with it.”

He answered by explaining that closing the achievement gap throughout the county is one of his top three priorities, and that the district is dealing with the gap by allocating resources to schools in need of help most and by establishing Intervention Teams, or iTeams.

“Some schools need more help, and we have some restrictions on (how Title I funds can be used),” he explained, adding that because those schools that teeter on the line of being Title 1 schools cannot receive Title 1 resources, district resources have to be reallocated appropriately. In order to assess which schools are in most need of these resources, Hinojosa said the district evaluates suspension rates, teacher turnover rates, absolute performance, value-added performance and several other areas.

“When you start reallocating resources, that’s when everybody starts getting upset,” Hinojosa said, to which the crowd of parents gave nods and chuckles of agreement.

Hinojosa stressed that the schools, nor the faculty and staff, were inadequate. He noted that some of them even made AYP recently.

“We just saw some indicators that gave us pause that they needed extra support… Status quo is unacceptable, and I don’t apologize for bringing in some extra help.”

Mableton Elementary and Sky View Elementary Merger

Mableton Elementary, with a current student population of 450, will double in size when its replacement school is complete and it absorbs nearby

One parent asked if Mableton Elementary would have a name change or what major staff changes would occur once the school doubles its size.

Hinojosa explained that the BOE decides name changes, and because more students will be added to the school, so will more staff.

The main goal is “to create a new culture with a bigger school,” Hinojosa said.

He also explained, as an answer to a similar question, that the amount of additional resources MES will receive is derived from various formulas.

Charter Schools

Hinojosa admitted that he is not a big fan of charter schools, but that in the Dallas Independent School District where he spent the last five years, the district’s specialty schools were first successful charter schools that were later absorbed by the district.

“The decision of Imagine Mableton is final…Charter schools bring us great ideas, but the bottom line is you’ve gotta deliver,” he said, when answering a question about whether the decision to reject Imagine International Academy of Mableton’s charter renewal was final.

He also mentioned that he is aware of and excited about three STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) charter school proposals for the South Cobb area, including one in nearby Smyrna.

Vocational Training

Instead of vocational training, Hinojosa said the district is looking at career and technical training. He would like to see the county establish a career academy or perhaps a school-within-a-school concept.

“What we don’t want to do is set them up for jobs of the past…We’ve got to think differently and we’ve got to analyze our data.”

Appropriate Use of Title I Funds

The district officials, not the school board, monitor the use of Title I funds, which Hinojosa said are to “supplement, not supplant” the district’s schools.

Teach For America

After having many Teach For America teachers in Dallas, Hinojosa said he “is a huge fan of Teach For America. They went to our toughest schools and they did a great job. It’s harder to get in TFA than it is to get into Harvard… They changed the culture.”

Hinojosa emphasized that not all county schools would have Teach for America teachers if the district decides to hire them, but they would likely come to South Cobb schools.