S.F. to reform 9 schools, shut 1 to get grants

San Francisco will shut down one school and overhaul nine others in a bid for millions of dollars in federal funding to help turn around the city's lowest performing schools, district officials announced Friday.

The 10 sites are among 188 schools ranked academically in the bottom 5 percent statewide. If drastic changes are made immediately, San Francisco's schools could receive up to $50 million in grants from the state over three years.

Willie Brown Jr. Academy will close at the end of the next school year. At the nine other schools on the list, students will return to school on Aug. 16 to a reformed instructional program and changes in staff or administration, and sometimes all three. Four of the schools will have new principals and at four schools, including two of them with new principals, half the teachers will be replaced.

School officials included their plans for the schools in an application submitted to the state Friday for the federal Title I School Improvement grant money, which will be distributed by the state Department of Education.

Districts with persistently low performing schools are required to initiate major reform strategies by the time the 2010-11 school year starts to qualify for the funds. Under federal guidelines, districts can tailor a remedy for each school on the list by choosing from the following strategies: closure; conversion to a charter school; an overhaul of leadership and staff; or replacement of the principal combined with other major reforms, including instructional overhaul.

Millions available

Principals who have been on the job two years or less do not have to be replaced under the guidelines.

California has $416 million in federal money to divvy up among the schools. Schools that implement reforms by the start of the new school year will be eligible for up to $2 million annually in each of the next three years. The amount they receive will depend on the size of enrollment and the complexity of the reform plan.

Dozens of Bay Area schools this year were designated as persistently low performing, a ranking based primarily on low standardized test scores. In all cases, the schools serve predominantly low-income students and, therefore, are eligible for Title I funds.

'Blessing in disguise'

At John O'Connell High School, the principal, students and staff were stunned when their Mission District school landed on the list this spring. With English learners making up about 50 percent of the student population and with a student turnover rate of 30 percent every year, it didn't seem fair, said Principal Richard Duber.

But the staff, students and parents started to talk about what was working at the school and what wasn't - and how they could use the millions in extra cash over the next three years to improve the situation.

"I have huge issues with how we got on that list, but it's actually a blessing in disguise," Duber said. "You can look at the glass half full or half empty."

At the school this summer, it's half full.

If O'Connell High gets the money, the school will hire two coaches to boost math and English learner instruction along with a full-time staff member to battle absenteeism and truancy.

Teachers will be clustered to work with the same group of students throughout the school year. Each teacher will also advise 25 students to offer individualized attention.

"We're weaving a tighter, more effective safety net," said Duber, a second-year principal who will remain at his post.

The other eight schools will also adopt major reforms by the first day of school. The measures for improvement will include adding elementary literacy experts, summer school programs, new technology and additional health services, counselors and other support staff, district officials said.

Carver, Revere, John Muir and Cesar Chavez elementary schools will all have new principals.

At Willie Brown, officials will start the process of closing, including coming up with a plan to transfer the students to other schools starting in the 2011-12 school year.

District officials say they hope to rebuild a state-of-the-art magnet school at the site and reopen at some point. It will keep its name.

Awaiting federal funds

It's unclear whether such construction would begin immediately or would have to wait until voters pass a new facilities bond to pay for it.

In the meantime, it could be weeks before schools receive the federal funds to pay for the reforms, state officials said Friday.

The state Department of Education will review district applications and forward the recommendations to the Board of Education for approval. Then the Legislature must authorize the distribution of funds, said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.

E-mail Jill Tucker at jtucker@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle