Timeline of CF High School troubles

(WPRI) - Timeline of state intervention at Central Falls High School

2009: U.S. Department of Education (ED) notifies states that all states receiving Title I aid (for high-poverty schools) and American Recovery and Reinvestment funds (stimulus aid) must use a portion of their Title I 1003(g) grants for school improvement for intervention in their persistently lowest-achieving schools.

December 18, 2009: ED issues guidance on the use of Title I school-improvement grants, including procedures for identifying the persistently lowest-achieving schools and definitions of the four approved models for reform of these schools: turnaround, restart, school closure, and transformation. See: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/sif/guidance-20091218.doc

January 7, 2010: The R.I. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (RIDE) issues its Protocol for Interventions: Persistently Lowest-Achieving Schools, explaining how RIDE will implement the federal guidance.

January 11, 2010: Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist identifies five Providence schools and Central Falls High School as the persistently lowest-achieving schools in Rhode Island. These schools are subject to state intervention, and the superintendents have 45 (business) days to convene a stakeholder group and select one of the models for school reform.

February 12, 2010: Central Falls School Superintendent Frances Gallo informs Commissioner Gist that she has selected the turnaround model, which requires the district to screen and evaluate all current staff and rehire no more than 50 percent.

February 16, 2010: Superintendent Gallo submits to the commissioner documentation explaining why she selected the turnaround model for reform of Central Falls High School.

February 23, 2010: Commissioner Gist accepts the proposed turnaround model for Central Falls High School and notifies Superintendent Gallo that she has 120 (business) days to develop a three-year plan to implement the turnaround model. As the RIDE protocol on interventions requires, the superintendent must engage affected families and community members in the development of the turnaround plan.

March 17, 2010: Deadline for Providence to select models for school reform in its five persistently lowest-achieving schools