Ten minutes away from the University of Florida, M.K. Rawlings Elementary School has earned a “D” rating from the Department of Education since 2022.
Schools that earn a D or F grade must implement a “turnaround plan”. Rawlings’ plan states that if Rawlings’ grade is not raised to a C in May, their principal, Stella Arduser, will be removed unless the state determines otherwise. Several Rawlings teachers interviewed by WUFT said they are not satisfied with the results of the plan so far.
Many believe the district and state have not done their part to productively communicate and work in the best interest of the school; some teachers fear that Rawlings’ grade will not be raised.
Donald DeVito, veteran music teacher and Alachua County Education Association representative for the school, said his colleagues feel they’ve done the best they can to improve the struggling school, but it hasn’t been enough.
“We have a turnaround plan that we’re trying to make effective, but we’re just not given the supports that we need to make it happen,” DeVito said.
Rawling has a history of low test scores and attendance. As a Title I school, or a school with a high concentration of low-income students, Rawlings receives extra funding for academics. However, students continue to score below-average on state tests.
As part of the new turnaround plan, Rawlings received various forms of external support to combat these issues; from extra staff to specialized curriculum programs, with the most notable being the adoption of a year-round school schedule, according to the school district and turnaround plan outline.
The plan mandated weekly staff meetings with district representatives to make sure all grade levels are on the same page, and bi-weekly meetings for administrative staff and state representatives. During those bi-weekly visits, members from the state observe classes and give their feedback to the principal.
But DeVito said teachers he spoke with feel the observation from the district and state has not been helpful. First-grade teacher Audrey Needham feels the same way.
“There wasn't much feedback from the district letting us know what they're doing on their part to support us, they were just more there to kind of just tell us what we're doing wrong,” Needham said.
Jim Kuhn is the district-assigned School Improvement Principal for Rawlings. He acts as a liaison between the district and the school. Kuhn said during his weekly district visits he meets with a team of teachers, sits in on faculty meetings, helps with training, debriefs with Arduser and more. He also outlined how the state conducts their bi-weekly visits.
“We typically will spend about an hour visiting different classes and then we come back together as a team and debrief what each of the people saw and then come up with an action plan based on that,” Kuhn said.
DeVito feels that is not enough.
“There is not a lot of feeling of support at all from the district, even when they come in to observe I’m not getting the response from the teachers that they’re communicating,” Devito said. “They pretty much just write stuff down and leave after 15 minutes.”
This year, Rawlings was also one of the few schools in Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) to get two school counselors and an additional exceptional student education (ESE) teacher.
Other additional staff included a district literacy specialist that is on campus five days a week along with math, science and reading coaches that are there once a week.
The new staff members have proved to be very valuable to many teachers.
“ I do appreciate the district providing that support for us because it has helped our teaching and honestly, I want to say it has given some improvement to our kids,” Needham said.
Needham thinks that for first grade the ELA coach, Jessica Sanchez, has made a large difference.
“Having her come in and help us plan for the curriculum this year and teach it in a way that our students are going to get it and improve from it has been a huge help,” she said
Even with the implementation of the turnaround plan, teachers at Rawlings claim they were not provided support in some of the most crucial areas contributing to the problems.
Staff pointed to high teacher turnaround, which keeps many students from having stable classroom instruction.
“We’ve always had teacher turnaround here, they leave, we get some teachers, they become veterans, they go somewhere else,” DeVito said. “But we have so much teacher turnaround, the teachers who are here want to be here.”
DeVito stated that six out of eight teachers at Rawlings are new to education.
The state also removed three teachers from Rawlings once this school year began because of their low value-added model, or VAM, scores from the previous year.
VAM scores measure how effective a teacher was in their student’s learning. Since the state did not get the VAM data to the district before the start of the 2024-25 school year, the teachers had to be removed after the year already started.
Kuhn explained that the district was required to move those teachers even though the VAM data came later than they hoped.
“It wasn’t that the district maliciously decided that we’re going to move teachers, it was mandated by the state,” Kuhn said. “You have to get Rawlings below the district average in terms of VAM percentage.
Needham thinks removing those teachers caused a noticeable disruption that did more harm than good.
“Those teachers worked so hard building a personal relationship with their students and the state removing them, it did affect the students very greatly and their behaviors were worse because of it,” she said.
Needham believes instability has contributed to one of the biggest reasons, she believes, Rawlings is struggling: behavioral issues.
“I feel like with Rawlings, if you don't talk about the behaviors, then you're not really talking about anything,” she said. “We have a lot of students who struggle with regulating their emotions and knowing how to behave well so that they succeed.”
Rawlings has implemented a positive behavior incentive system, or PBIS, to help raise their grade. Through PBIS, students learn about behavior just as they would any other subject and are focused on prevention instead of punishment. Students who demonstrate traits like respect, responsibility and safety can earn prizes and participate in school-wide events and grade-level rewards.
Every grade level is responsible for their own PBIS monthly reward, as the first-grade team leader, Needham tries to prioritize PBIS. However, she feels the district has not provided enough support for the program.
“The district has not checked in on our positive behavior system as much as they should have,” she said. “They don't seem to offer solutions and as a school we're trying our best to just get day by day with the students we have.”
The Future of Rawlings
When the school year ends in May, the department of education will determine Rawlings’ grade. If they do not reach a C, they will not exit turnaround status.
Needham said she doesn't think removing Arduser is the fair outcome given the short time period allotted to improve the school. But she said she is unsure whether Rawlings’ administration can turn the school around.
“I feel like myself and my team have been let down a lot this year by admin, not necessarily by Dr. Arduser herself, but just admin in general,” Needham said. “I feel like if we had a change of principal for next year, it could be a good thing.”
Principal Arduser declined to speak with WUFT in regards to the turnaround plan.
Even in stressful times, staff continue to support each other as a community and for the well-being of their students.
“If this school is raised to a C by May, it was raised by the grit and dynamic work of the teachers who are here on this Campus,” Devito said.
Needham is still unsure if a change in principal will largely affect administration. She fears she will have to go through the same struggles next year even with a change. Regardless of the outcome, she wants the school’s staff to continue working to help their students.
“Working at Rawlings, we're the black sheep of the district and it's unfortunate,” Needham said. “However, I do know that there's so many teachers here that are putting their hearts into their teaching every day.”