Unruly students and low enrollment marred Thurgood Marshall's first year, but now teachers and parents have pulled together.
By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published October 24, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - Thurgood Marshall Fundamental, the county's newest middle school, had a tough first year. Too few students volunteered to go there. And of those who went, too many were unruly.
"We needed a police officer here every single minute," said Cindy Bennett, the assistant principal.
But slowly, things straightened out. And after a tumultuous first year, Marshall may be on the threshold of fulfilling its promise as the vanguard of Pinellas' new choice plan.
That was the message delivered by Joan Minnis, principal of Thurgood Marshall, at the school's dedication ceremony this month.
In an impassioned address before hundreds of parents and community members, Minnis told the tale of two sisters who lived in the Washington, D.C., area in the early 1950s. The girls had to pass another school every day on their way to their own "rundown rickety old school" 5 miles from home.
"Other children walked up the hill to the beautiful school, but the two sisters were the wrong color so they weren't allowed to go," Minnis said. "At that time, that's just the way it was."
Everything changed in 1954, Minnis continued, thanks to Thurgood Marshall, the future Supreme Court justice and the lead attorney on the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education case that ended school segregation. The two girls - who turned out to be Minnis and her sister - were allowed to go to the beautiful school on the hill.
"I was embarrassed to admit to anyone that I went to the other school," said Minnis, who is 56. "Now here I am at this beautiful school."
The $19.5-million school at 3901 22nd Ave. S is one of three built south of Central Avenue as part of an agreement to end court-ordered busing for desegregation in Pinellas County. Like the journey of desegregation itself, the school has faced its own challenges since the School Board created it in 2001.
Minnis, who came to Marshall after eight years as principal of Garrison-Jones Elementary in Palm Harbor, first had to attract students to a school that was still under construction. She was forced to hold parent "meet and greets" at other schools during the critical months of the district's first choice application period two years ago.
Her next challenge was helping parents understand the nature of fundamental schools. While the south Pinellas community had expressed a need for another fundamental middle school - applications at Southside Fundamental have historically outnumbered available seats two to one - Minnis expected that most of her students would be new to the more structured program because fifth-graders leaving fundamental elementary schools are automatically eligible for seats at Southside.
She was right.
District officials had hoped that because Marshall had something special to offer parents - a back-to-basics approach that stressed no-nonsense academics, student self-responsibility, strict discipline and parental involvement - it would attract black and nonblack students from throughout the attendance area. But the choices parents made in the first application period before the 2003-04 school year revealed that most families wanted their children to attend schools in their neighborhood.
At Marshall, which is in a predominantly African-American neighborhood, nearly four times more black students applied than nonblack students. A 42 percent cap on black student enrollment districtwide, which is in effect until 2007, meant there weren't enough white kids to allow all the black students to attend who wanted to.
In the end, more than 200 black students who wanted to attend Marshall were "rematched" to schools farther down on their list of choices. The rematch caused Marshall's population to plummet to 310, less than one-third of the school's 1,078 capacity.
At the 10-day count in August 2003, the school had 211 black students and 365 nonblack students. Even though only 54 percent of the students had made Marshall one of their original choices, Minnis was determined to enforce all aspects of fundamental school policy.
In less than four months, 39 children had been referred to the school's intervention and appeals committee. More than 200 had been issued demerits, 12 had been placed on probation and 54 had been dismissed. By the end of the school year, scores more had either been placed on probation or dismissed.
Many parents, including Lisa McLean, requested conferences with Minnis. McLean's seventh-grade daughter, Sharyn, who transferred from St. Petersburg Christian School, was coming home with tales of unruly students and classroom disturbances.
"I would ask her how her day went, and she would say, "There are some kids who I don't think want to be at a fundamental school.' " McLean said. "The classes were overcrowded. There weren't enough teachers."
Another parent, Carmen Colon-Mukayed, had second thoughts after transferring her seventh-grade son, Assaad, from the Canterbury School of Florida. His first semester was "an adjustment," Colon-Mukayed said. She worried that disruptive students would divert Assaad's attention from his schoolwork.
Teachers were concerned as well. There were frequent in-class flareups and confrontations during class changes. Several teachers left.
Parents and teachers alike say things are different this year. McLean reported that discipline problems are at a minimum. The faculty seems to have gelled, and a strong parent group has sprung up. Curriculum has been beefed up, and more advanced classes have been added, said Colon-Mukayed.
Sheila Stewart, who taught at Southside Fundamental for eight years, was hired this year to teach archaeology and anthropology to Marshall's 13 gifted students. Her goal is to connect the students to the history of the community and the legacy forged by the school's namesake.
"I think the growing pains of the first year are behind us," Stewart said. "The kids are really positive."
The community connection is key for Zanetta Robinson, who drives nearly an hour each morning from her North Pinellas home to teach eighth-grade language arts at Marshall. Her commitment to the school is so strong that she used her professional courtesy preference to transfer her 12-year-old daughter, Morgan, from Safety Harbor Middle School in January.
"The community tie is stronger this year," she said. "We're not just that big new school on 22nd Avenue, we're Thurgood Marshall Fundamental Middle School. Everyone understands what's going on."
Which Minnis said has been her vision for the school from the start.
"We're young, but we're getting better and better," she said. "I'm sure Justice Marshall is smiling down on us."
