ALBANY, N.Y. — The Capital City's most prominent leaders banded together Wednesday, trying to save a local school from being taken over by the state.
Albany's Hackett Middle School, classified as "persistently struggling" by the New York State Education Department, has been underperforming by state standards for at least 10 years. Under new education law included in the passage of the most recent state budget, Hackett Middle School has entered into "superintendent receivership" — which places the Albany City Schools' leader, Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard, in charge of the school's operations.
Under the law governing "persistent struggling" schools, if Vanden Wyngaard fails to improve Hackett Middle School during this school year, the school will be handed over to an external receiver, unaffiliated with the school district.
Local leaders say that must not happen.
"You need a smaller environment for the kids," said Albany County Executive Dan McCoy (D) on Wednesday. "I'm for local control, because don't the teachers here know what the students need? This goes beyond just their schooling."
McCoy was accompanied at a news conference in support of Hackett Middle School Wednesday, by Albany mayor Kathy Sheehan (D), district attorney David Soares (D), Albany County sheriff Craig Apple (D) and several local assembly members, along with the director of Citizen Action NY, Karen Scharf. Each echoed the message that students at Hackett Middle School are best served by the educators who currently work with them, who live in and understand the students' communities.
"One of the ways in which folks want to work is through mentorship and tutoring," explained Vanden Wyngaard said. "Well, everybody wants to be a mentor, but not everybody is trained. So how do we train mentors? That's the kind of things this group can do right now."
Vanden Wyngaard repeatedly referred to the gathered group of leaders as her "partners," a role they fully embraced in their comments. Each pledged full support of their offices in support of Vanden Wyngaard's efforts to keep Hackett Middle School under district supervision long-term.
"This really demonstrates that Albany is a community that will do whatever it takes," Sheehan said.
As "receiver," Vanden Wyngaard has complete hiring and firing power over the staff at Hackett Middle School, as well as an increased funding stream from the state to aid specific programs. Among those are Hackett's "full service room," which offers counseling and social workers to students in need. The school also has several classrooms devoted to at-risk youth.
The education department is currently working with the state legislature to determine what sort of performance improvements it will track in "persistently struggling" schools. Vanden Wyngaard said once those are completed, she will have a better idea of what direction Hackett Middle School should move to demonstrate real growth and improvement next year.
If she cannot demonstrate improvement, the school could be handed over to an external receiver as soon as next fall.