Last Year's Troubles Seem To Be Over At Meany School

IT'S TRY, try again for Meany Middle School, which Seattle schools Superintendent John Stanford still visualizes as a flagship magnet for the district.

Maybe the second time's the charm.

After almost eight months under a new principal - and more than two years after Superintendent John Stanford said he wanted to turn Meany Middle School into a flagship magnet program for the district - the school has by most accounts left last year's troubles behind.

The impact of those problems still lingers. Enrollment continues to slide. Stanford's original goal was to turn the heavily minority inner-city school into a model math, science and arts magnet that would draw children from throughout the city and promote integration. Meany is still a long way from meeting it. But, parents and teachers say, there finally are lots of hopeful signs.

"The whole atmosphere is way more positive," said Pamela Green, Meany's PTSA president. "The students are more disciplined. There's a focus to the school," said Green, whose son is an eighth-grader. "There's more teamwork."

Echoes Lisa Edgett, Meany's drug and alcohol counselor who has been at the Capitol Hill school eight years: "It's a hundred times better."

Things didn't look promising last spring, however, when an ad hoc committee of dissatisfied parents was demanding that Stanford remove the principal, Marella Griffin. Formerly at Madison Middle School in West Seattle, Griffin was Stanford's hand-picked choice to manage the Meany project.

As a result of parental pressure over continuing lack of discipline at the school, and a still unfocused curriculum, Griffin resigned at the end of the year, taking a job the superintendent offered in the district's central administration.

Stanford turned to Robert Radford, then principal at Alternative Elementary No. 2 in the Wedgwood neighborhood. And, for the most part, Radford has silenced the critics.

Parents were relieved, for example when Meany opened in September with regular teachers in every classroom. (The 1996-97 school year began with a number of vacancies, and when several teachers left at mid-year, substitutes were used heavily throughout the year.)

Parents also were pleased that Meany opened last fall with an agreed-upon discipline plan in place. And to make sure parents understood what he was doing, Radford began the year holding biweekly morning coffees for anyone who chose to drop in.

"I don't hear any more about the disciplinary problems, so they got that under control," said Roberta Bland, the mother of a Meany seventh-grader who "doesn't come home saying she doesn't want to go to school anymore."

Student opinion is split. "Last year was better," said Damon Richardson, a seventh-grader. "Cause we had a better principal and we had more fun activities," added Martavius Taylor, another seventh-grader. "And plus we had more free dress days," said Richardson.

Meany kids wear uniforms, and "tuck in your shirt" is almost as common a greeting from teachers and security staff as "hello."

"This year is stricter," said Monica Nelson, a seventh-grader. But, said Darnellia Russell, also a seventh-grader, "It's better than last year because we don't have as many fights."

"This year is not as fun as last year," said Jaimie Straight, because there's more bookwork and less drawing in classes. That's a complaint that pleases Eve Green, the assistant principal. To her it means the teachers are pushing students harder academically, as they should.

Radford knows he's starting over. "We're building the airplane as we fly it," he said. He's invigorated by the challenge and a little awed by the magnitude of the task, which he says will take five years.

The school hasn't yet fulfilled its goal of acting as a strong magnet for enrollment. In 1996, Stanford offered an incentive, promising that any sixth-graders who chose Meany would get their first choice of any high school in the city when they finished eighth grade. That promise and Stanford's vision of a technology-oriented rigorous curriculum swelled enrollment to 700 in the fall of 1996 - a number that fell steadily last year as students transferred out.

Today, at about 560 students, Meany is the smallest of the city's middle schools, with only about 20 students more than before the magnet program started. Enrollment has fallen about 60 students since October, compared with average enrollment falloff at other middle schools of about 25 students.

And Meany's future is still uncertain. At this point, there's no guarantee that any of the state-funded $197,000 magnet grant, which has helped pay for specialized curriculum, such as an elective class in aviation history and airplane design, will come through next year. The Legislature has decided to spread magnet money more evenly around the state, reducing Seattle's share.

Radford argues that the district should guarantee funding for the school for the next five years as though Meany had 630 students. That would be at least $175,000 more per year than the district's funding formula would provide based on Meany's current enrollment. The extra money is needed if district officials really want "a flagship school," Radford says.

He also wants to extend the promise of first choice of high schools for those who enroll as sixth-graders next year. "If you want to attract some parents, you've got to have a carrot," Radford says.

District officials have yet to approve Radford's proposals. At the top, the definition of Meany is still vague, though Stanford clearly has a strong commitment to the school.

Also yet to be fulfilled is Stanford's promise in the fall of 1996 of laptop computers for every student. A state grant came through smaller and later than anticipated, and Meany parents still are resentful that the superintendent promised more than he could deliver.

There are about 140 laptops at the school now, but the new principal has only this semester begun to integrate them fully into the curriculum. Two classes this semester - 46 sixth-graders in a larger room with two teachers - will experiment with having laptops on each student's desk all day. "I'm just a little bit disappointed that it's not truly a technology school," said Green, the PTSA president.

Some think Stanford simply tried to do too much too fast at Meany. The proposed changes in curriculum and school structure were so sweeping the school should have been closed for a year, they say, as is commonly done around the country when failing schools are reorganized.

"Marella (Griffin) didn't have a chance," said Leahe "Mom" Wilson, who has headed Meany's family support center for two years.

Finding the backing for Meany's future has turned the principal into a fund-raiser - something Stanford expects from the people he considers chief executive officers (CEO's) of school buildings. Radford says he has found money from Boeing for teacher training, and has kept at least part of a grant from the Nesholm Family Foundation that was nearly lost because it went substantially unused under Griffin.

And thanks to AT&T Wireless, Meany's teachers and staff now have 40 cellular phones to use at school. Communication between teachers and parents is no longer limited to the three phone lines the school has, Radford points out, and the teachers have voice mail for parent messages.

There are other benefits, too. Tonight, AT&T is picking up the tab for a 500-person spaghetti dinner in connection with an open house at Meany for parents and community members. Bringing people in and showing off what's been done is part of the sales job Radford has undertaken to increase enrollment.

Will it all work? Said Maria Tilford, a teacher who stayed through the turmoil, commenting on Meany's improvement: "It can't be instant, but the good thing is it's progressing."

Dick Lilly's phone message number is 206-464-2479. ------------------------------------------- Visits to Meany

Meany Magnet Middle School has scheduled times when parents of fifth-graders and others who might want to enroll their children at the school next year can visit.

They are Feb. 24 and 25 and March 9 and 10, all from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. On March 11, there will be an evening session from 7:30 to 9 p.m.

Both parents and children are welcome. The school asks that visitors call ahead to sign up: 206-726-6770.