One criticism of Superintendent Malcolm Thomas has been that he and his leadership at the district level haven’t been able to maintain success at the district’s most challenging schools. Oakcrest Elementary is another example of the problem.
Here are Oakcrest’s grades since Thomas took over the school district:
2009-10 C
2010-11 A
2011-12 B Â
2012-13 C Â
2013-14 D Â
2014-15 D Â
2015-16 F Â
In July 2011, Oakcrest was one of the most improved schools in the district.
In October 2013, John Herber, a fifth grade teacher at Oakcrest Elementary School was named one of the People Magazine’s teachers of the year.
Principal Denny Wilson was named the Escambia County School District’s Principal of the Year in 2013. He was recognized in the community as someone who was doing education right.
In January 2015, Wilson, who had moved on to a district position, was honored as the Professional Leader of the Year by the Greater Pensacola Chamber for his efforts.
The time has come to really examined what happened at Oakcrest. Did the teachers burn out? Did district not do enough to prepare them for the new standards? Is it too hard to keep the grades and learning gains up? Were the A and B grades simply anomalies?
As Gulf Power, Navy Federal and others begin to push their Achieve Escambia initiative and the Studer Community Institute works on making Pensacola “America’s First Learning City,” an independent review of the decline of Oakcrest Elementary needs to be done. Take all politics out of it, and let professionals from UWF and other experts examine what happened.
Sadly, I don’t think anyone will. Such an effort would get in the way of political campaigns, new slogans and cool t-shirts.