Thursday, August 26, 2010
Education More With MCS Consultant Jeffrey Hernandez
Posted by Mary Cashiola on Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 8:45 AM
As part of this week's print extravaganza, I interviewed controversial Memphis City Schools (MCS) consultant Jeffrey Hernandez. His $1,500-a-day consulting fee, coupled with an intense animosity for him from some parents in Palm Beach County and his ties to superintendent Kriner Cash and deputy superintendent Irving Hamer, have caused questions about his employment at MCS.
During the last few months of his contract there, however, Hernandez was concurrently working for MCS as a consultant.
And In June, when his contract was officially up in Palm Beach, one of the blogs for the Palm Beach Post reported that the schools that used Hernandez's methods showed gains on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test while those that didn't, didn't.
You can read the print Q&A here. Other portions of the interview are excerpted below:
Flyer: How did you begin your career in education?
Hernandez: I started as an office secretary in an elementary school. I started from the perspective of the bottom up. I worked with a phenomenal principal and he mentored me.
How old were you at the time?
I was 16. I had just graduated from high school ... I was one of several students across the district selected to do high school in two years. I then became a teacher in the inner city.
After spending 7 years as an assistant principal, former Miami-Dade County superintendent Rudy Crew then appointed you as principal. How was that?
Crew came and opened the School Improvement Zone. I was one of the principals he appointed the day before school started. It was an inner-city high school populated mostly by Haitian Creole students. We had 100 percent free/reduced lunch. The day before school started, we had 16 teacher openings, no books, a negative budget by about $50,000, and graffiti all over the school.
Crew is like superintendent Cash. By Monday, the school had to look like I'd been there all summer. I took that school from a D to an A and we maintained an A for three years.
You have a history of turning around failing schools. How do you do it?
In the School Improvement Zone, the first year we implemented it, there was a huge effort across the district to recruit quality teachers. It was nice to see so many teachers who wanted to come do this work.
We went to an extended day. We went to 6 p.m. every night.
We had a lot of support from the Haitian Creole community. The parents were involved in school.
We did Saturday tutoring for four hours each Saturday. It was a comprehensive reform effort supported by the district, the school, the parents, and the teachers union.
After working your way up in the Miami-Dade system, you were hired by the state to intervene in schools in Miami and Broward and Palm Beach counties. Where did you go next?
The superintendent of Palm Beach County approached me to come work for them. I declined a couple of times. I was really committed to the work I was doing in the state, but I saw the impact that could be made for Palm Beach County and their minority community.
The superintendent gave me a charge: You concentrate on the work and I'll take care of the politics.
As I was coming into Palm Beach County, the state was changing its expectations. [The more affluent schools] weren't used to have differentiate for subgroup populations. Many had not experienced the work you had to do in the Title 1 schools.
I created a comprehensive curriculum that insured equality and equity across the district. We had the same standards for Algebra 1 in a rich area and in a poor, minority area.
Because of the timeline, we did not have quality time to community meetings to inform people of the changes. What occurred was the community started to hear the changes through the voice of the classroom teachers.
When I got notice we didn't have any communication, by that time, people were already angry. I became the face of change. Prior to Palm Beach County, I never had any issues. I was a mentor. I was a leader. I had always made the right changes for students.
Knowing what you know now, is there anything you would have done differently?
I would go to Palm Beach County again. I would have done the same reform initiatives, but I would have come to Palm Beach earlier in the year. Because of the timing of when I came in, we did not have time to get what we were doing out there before the community found out about the changes.
I would want to have more time to develop a relationship with the district. I was an outsider. I had never had that perspective. Before, I was in Miami-Dade and I knew everybody.
Even with the turmoil, we closed the achievement gap for African-American and minority students. We got our schools off the list; we kept an A as a district. So even with all the turmoil, we must have been doing something right.
Comments (15)
Showing 1-15 of 15
From the NEAP web site....
"Our Chief Executive Officer
With a successful track record of turning around low performing schools at every stage of his 22-year career as an educator, Mr. Jeffrey Hernandez brings his diverse experience and unique methods into every facet of school improvement."
Palm Beach district records show Hernandez birth date as Feb 1974. He was 14, not 16, when he began his "career" of resume padding, number crunching and data manipulation!!!
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Did Mr. Hernandez write these questions?
QotD - "We did not have time to get what we were doing out there before the community found out about the changes."
Pretty much says it.
This is our punishment, Memphis. We sent Florida our Mongo. They sent us theirs.
Jeffery. How do you spell BOGUS? Only with tax dollars could this kind of "I walk on water" self worship continue to exist. Place this guy in a private employment setting, where he will be objectively evaluated, and you'll find him out of a job in 3 mts. Perhaps then, he could consider opening a church in Memphis and further fleece his flock.
Was he receiving sick pay from Florida while being paid and working for MCS? Major integrity issue.
What is this amazing secret to turning around schools?
Recruit quality teachers. How are they rated? What data is reviewed?
Extended school hours. What happened in these extended hours? What about teacher pay? You have to get the kids to school in the first place. What about bus drivers?
We got the parents involved. How? Parental involvement alone would solve about half of the problems with MCS now. No one has figured out a way to make it happen.
Saturday tutoring. That's cool, but you already have the kids until 6 p.m. and again how do you make them come?
"I created a comprehensive curriculum that insured equality and equity across the district." So a student that excels in algebra has to sit around and wait for some one like me, that just never caught on to it.
Look all I hear is a bunch of rhetoric. I still want to see what this guy charges other districts. I mean he's milking us for half a million ($1,500/day for a year or $270K for a 180 day school year). Memphians should be great at spotting a snake oil salesman by now, and this guy seems to fit the bill. If you're still not convinced...
"The superintendent, the staff, and the board are about school reform. I've also been impressed by the union partnership. Everyone is working together."
I don't believe I've ever heard anyone tell as bold of an outright lie as that. At least not with a straight face.
Memphis, I have asked Mary to research what his hours were there against what we were paying him here. Our Super here Art Johnson is trying to hide behind a HIPPA law that prevents county employers from divulging an employee’s medical condition. When asked we want to see his work chart the conversation was turned to another topic. We here in Palm Beach know there is something fishy, but we also want you to know watch out for Hernandez and his friends. We sent a year fighting this guy and although he is gone we are still trying to figure out what he did here.
Here are 2 sites with every story I can find about this guy here. I know there are more, but this is a start.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/yahoo-search?…
http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oG76…
This is one of the schools Hernandez took care of
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/schools/…
BWS, that is indeed enlightening. Why did a school go from A to F in one year? The school is scratching its head for answers because the most obvious answer is as plain as day - previous test scores were altered to make the school look great.
Of course, that is the one answer that no one dare entertain.
To Jeff................
Do you really think they can pad the test scores for 3 yrs in a row? They were an A for 3 yrs before. The Super says she is an excellent principal and knows how to turn around a school. There were other schools under Hernandez's plan that dropped too!
The Principal attributes it to Hernandez's curriculum and says it was not a good fit for the school.
They are going back to teaching like they were and I guess we will find out after this years scores.
Just saying.................. Good Luck Memphis!
Stacy, sadly I think schools and school systems pad their scores whenever they can get away with it. The stakes are too high not to.
You may be right........... JH was accused of that in Miami. :-)
We are now asking questions about his leave.........paid by us and working for Cash!!
They just keep raking it in!!
One more thing he appears to have in common with Kriner Cash; he has not taught in a class room it appears. Please correct me if i am wronng.
It appears this Mr. Hernandez has something else in common with Kriner Cash; neither has taught in the classroom. Please correct me if I am wrong.
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