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Inside one of Florida鈥檚 lowest-rated public schools, classes once were too large, teenagers ruled the hallways, and some teachers didn鈥檛 give a lick.
That was the view of some students of Miami Edison Senior High School, a school that has performed so poorly on state tests in recent years that students can use Florida鈥檚 Opportunity Scholarships to leave and enroll in private schools if they prefer.
But the new leaders of this urban campus say just about everything at the school has changed.
They even hope that Edison鈥檚 report card grade鈥攖hree consecutive F鈥檚, making its students eligible for the state tuition vouchers鈥攁lso will improve when the state releases new grades in June.
First-year Principal Barbara Mallard says students had a right to be disgusted with the way things were. She estimates upwards of 200 students have been opting out of Miami Edison for private schools each year since students at the school became eligible for vouchers in 2002. Others may be transferring to other public schools, and some may be leaving school altogether.
鈥淚 can relate, and understand what those kids were saying,鈥� Ms. Mallard said during a recent interview at the school. 鈥淲hat we saw [two years ago], we were appalled, to be perfectly honest with you.鈥�
Ms. Mallard, a native New Yorker who doesn鈥檛 mince words, has tried to clean up the campus and sought to replace much of the faculty. She was brought in from elsewhere in the Miami-Dade district as the school鈥檚 vice principal two years ago as part of a new leadership team.
One-fifth of the school鈥檚 109 teachers were new this year.
Roughly 90 percent of Edison鈥檚 students are Haitian or have parents who are. Almost every student comes from an economically modest background.
On the Rise
The school, built of stucco and painted white with bright red stripes, feels cold inside, with few windows in the corridors. Many of the inside walls could use fresh paint. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 a hundred percent better than when I walked in,鈥� Ms. Mallard said.
She said that students in the past complained of large classes for good reason. Edison now enrolls 1,300 students in grades 9-12, down from 2,400 in recent years.
Students say the improvements are clear.
鈥淚 came here to skip,鈥� confessed 11th grader Orville Aiken of his early days at the school. 鈥淭he atmosphere was different.鈥� But he praised Ms. Mallard. 鈥淪he鈥檚 a good principal,鈥� he said. 鈥淪he listens. She doesn鈥檛 take sides.鈥�
鈥淲e have better teachers now,鈥� said 10th grader Talisha Marcellus.
Eleventh grader Trillion Ingram added that when he first came to Edison, 鈥渢here were a lot of kids [in the hallways], a lot of drugs going around the school a lot. There used to be graffiti all over, everywhere.鈥�
To help Edison rise, the school receives extra staff training as part of a Miami-Dade County school improvement zone, a program begun by Superintendent Rudolph F. Crew, who became the leader of the 355,000-student district in 2004.
The school has added more social workers to work with immigrant families. Students attend class for an extra period each day, and some take intensive reading classes.
Even if the school鈥檚 grade improves when the results come out next month, students here will remain eligible for Opportunity Scholarships for another year鈥攗nless the state supreme court rules the program unconstitutional.
Ms. Mallard does not believe the threat of vouchers forced Edison to improve. She doesn鈥檛 like the state鈥檚 letter grades for schools, either. 鈥淭here鈥檚 got to be a better way to say it,鈥� she said.
Still, she added, 鈥淚 won鈥檛 feel OK until we鈥檙e minimally a C.鈥�
