School gets B from city but F from state
By Dan Allen
Dantallen@gmail.com
Photos by Dan Allen
Students make themselves comfortable at the entrance to Banana Kelly High School.
Sub par English test scores earned Longwood Avenue’s Banana Kelly High School a failing grade from the New York State Department of Education this April.
But try convincing Jessly Guzman, 18, or any of her classmates that their alma mater deserves the score. Of the 63 members of the class of 2007, 52 graduated and 39 went on to some form of higher education.
“It’s like one big happy family,” said Guzman, who keeps all her teacher’s cell phone numbers. They talk regularly.
During spring break, but Guzman, now a psychology and social work double major at Bethany College in West Virginia, returned to Hunts Point to complete field work with the social workers at Banana Kelly for college credit.
She plans to join the Peace Corps after graduation and then to earn a masters degree.
Failing grades can doom a school. The New School for Arts and Sciences, which shares the building with Banana Kelly, is being shut down.
The Federal No child left behind law requires schools added to the state’s School in Need of Improvement list, as Banana Kelly was in March, to develop a plan to improve; to survive, it must demonstrate that it is meeting the state’s requirements for improvement.
But the stigma of being on the state list can mask new developments and old strengths.
Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion plans to spend city funds that he controls to build a school-based health clinic at Banana Kelly.
And critics of the grading system point out that the dedication of a principal like Joshua Laub, who has been known to cry during his farewell speech to graduating seniors, and of teachers who drive graduates to their college campuses on move-in day cannot be measured by standardized tests.
In fact, by city standards, Banana Kelly is doing pretty well. Last year, it got a “B”
on its city Department of Education report card.
Not bad, considering that Banana Kelly lacks a health center, a gym, a library, and an auditorium. The cafeteria space cannot accommodate every student and there are no music programs.
Still, the halls hum with activity. College banners adorn walls and doors. Students and teachers chat cordially as they move between classes.
Progress is the key word for city school report cards, which rewards academic improvement with a letter grade of A, B, C, D, or F.
Grades from the state, based on federal regulations, are pass/fail.
“Even if you’re really, really close to passing, you’re still failing,”
said Andrew Jacob, a spokesman for the City Department of Education.
“It’s basically two different ways to look at the same data,” said Jacob. He explained that state standards don’t give credit to schools that improve student achievement and don’t punish schools that allow student achievement to stagnate.
“Our reaction to the rating is greatly influenced by our knowledge of the severe limitations of the No Child Left Behind Act and by other assessments of the school,” said Janet McDonald, a school administrator who serves as Banana Kelly’s empowerment officer.
The disregard of incremental improvements creates what McDonald describes as a Catch-22.
“The irony is that schools like Banana Kelly that have a mission to support students who have struggled in the past are at increased risk every time they enroll more struggling students,” said McDonald.
According to students, alumni and researchers, Banana Kelly’s greatest asset is its principal, who has a reputation for going out of his way to make sure his students succeed.
A study published in 2007 by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University identified Banana Kelly as a school that “beats the odds.”
The study shows that from 2001, when Laub took over as principal, to 2005, Banana Kelly’s graduation rate rose 30 percent.
Fewer students were suspended during that time, and the number of teachers who remained at the school after two years increased significantly.
“Joshua was possibly the kindest, most caring principal I’ve ever had,” said Jessica Gonzalez, now a student at Lehman College. “Sometimes you can find him greeting students in front of the school in the morning.”
Gonzalez recalled the time that Laub helped her sister battle depression. “She was really stressed out with school and wouldn’t eat any more at all. Everyone noticed that she lost a tremendous amount of weight,” said Gonzalez.
“He took her aside and helped her get connected with a professional who really made a difference in her life. Any other principal would not have gone that extra mile. They probably would have never noticed,”
said Gonzalez, who is the first person in her family to go to college.
Laub could not be reached for comment as he prepares his school for the upcoming Quality Review and his students for the June Regents exams.
Jessly Guzman can rattle off a laundry list of Laub’s good deeds. She can tell you how he personally called her house when she didn’t attend school. She can tell you about how Laub found a job at UPS for a male student who had recently fathered a child.
But her favorite story to tell involves a friend from Texas visiting for Thanksgiving.
Her friend had never been to the Bronx. “She fell in love with Banana Kelly,”
said Guzman.