Allen named to helm at Pearce

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Incoming Pearce Middle School students are gearing up for the new school year with a new principal while school staff members scramble to prepare for the start of school.

On Monday night, Austin Independent School District trustees named Trana Allen to the helm at Pearce Middle School. Last year, Allen managed to boost ratings at Berkman Elementary School from academically acceptable to exemplary in the course of a single school  year, an accomplishment that would earn Allen a $40,000 bonus if she's able to produce the same sort of results at the new Pearce Middle School.

Education Commissioner Robert Scott announced the closure of Pearce Middle School in early July. By the first week of August, the Texas Education Agency had approved a repurposing plan for Pearce, which has suffered under lackluster test scores almost every year since the state's accountability system was implemented.

That's given new Superintendent Meria Carstarphen just under three weeks to provide the leadership and staffing to meet an ambitious plan to ramp up performance at the East Side school. At a chamber luncheon last week, Carstarphen promised to meet the challenge to boost academic achievement not only at Pearce Middle School but also at all the schools in East Austin. Seven of Austin's nine failing schools are located in East of Interstate 35.

The TEA and Austin Independent School District are choosing which teachers will be able to remain at the school. While a typical repurposing plan requires replacing 75 percent of the staff on a campus, Scott wrote in a letter to the district that the agency would allow some exceptions, on a case-by-case basis.

Some parents had lobbied to keep Principal James Troutman on the campus. Troutman, a 19-year principal who had led Pearce to academic gains over the last year, was recruited from Deady Middle School in the Houston Independent School District. He had expressed an interest in staying on the campus. Instead, Troutman was named director of special projects at Austin High School.

It's still too early to know how many students will come back to Pearce. Students at Pearce are entitled to attend other schools int the Austin Independent School District. But the district is attempting an active recruitment campaign to keep the students on the campus. So far, the parents of only 35 students have contacted the school. However, the school district does expect to see a large number of students back at Pearce on the first day of school.

Now school staff members are gearing up to open on the first day of class on August 24 but some of the teachers still do not know whether or not they will be returning to Pearce. Sixth-grade social studies teacher, Filemon Aldama hopes to get a call soon.

"There are still some other positions that need to be filled and so it's going to have to happen quickly, said Aldama.

Still, Filemon Aldama is running a transition camp where 6th grade students pair up with 8th graders.

"We're learning about the school and the locker rooms, so we can know where our next class is and so we won't get lost and get late," said sixth-grader Keyomi Johnson.

A requirement of Pearce's repurposing plan is that 50 percent of the students have to be new to the campus, a point not necessary at Eastside Memorial because the district created an open enrollment campus. A good portion of those new students at Pearce appear to be incoming sixth graders like Keyomi Johnson.

Keyomi said, at first, his mom did not want him to enroll at Pearce.

"Because it's a low recognized school," said Johnson.

Now, with 75 percent of the teachers being new to the school and a new principal, the students attending the camp said they are ready to score high on their TAKS tests.

"I feel a little pressure because I think we have to work harder to pass all the tests but we can make this school successful," said eighth-grader Leticia Diaz.

The school district is working with TEA to choose top teachers. More than 25 percent of returning teachers will be allowed, based on their job performance.

"They've looked at evaluations they've looked at how teachers have performed on the campus, years experience, qualifications to see if they can return to campus." said Aldama.

Meanwhile, returning students who want to attend Pearce will be able to do so. Pearce has scheduled an open house to recruit new students from throughout the school district Aug. 14 from 8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.