Jan 20 12 - 01:28 PM
Perry Central Principal Estill Neace used a loudspeaker to address students protesting his dismissal outside the high school on January 20. He said he was honored with the outpouring of support but urged the students to go back to class.
Student protesters outside Perry County Central High School on January 20.
Perry Central in October was one of 19 high schools rated as a “persistently low-achieving” school by the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE). The school’s rating was based on student achievement and performance under state and federal guidelines, and was followed by a thorough review administered by an assessment team appointed by the KDE.
One of the team’s binding recommendations in a report received by district officials on Thursday is the dismissal of the school’s principal and site-based decision making council. Their eventual replacements will be picked by Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday.
Several students at the school didn’t take the news well.
“We’re not going to accept any other principal but Neace,” said Junior Samantha Barnes, one of several protesting the audit team’s recommendation. “He is the best principal you could ever ask for. He cares about every single one of his students.”
“You can’t get someone to replace him,” added junior Kylie Fugate.
Neace met with the students Friday morning in an attempt to restore order and have them return to class. He later told the Herald that he is still the principal of Perry Central, but the assessment team’s recommendation is binding and will go into effect on July 1. He added that he is also still reviewing the assessment team’s report, and with the school’s leadership team determining what their next steps will be to implement an improvement plan for the school.
“That’s the bottom line. I want the school to do better; I want the kids to do better,” he said. “For that to happen we’ve got to do a better job with instruction and make sure we focus on every child, not just a group of kids.”
Neace said as of Friday morning he is not sure what his future status within the district will be.
“I may finish the year out, may not, that part is going to be left up to the superintendent," he remarked. "He and I will need to talk about what my role needs to be for the remainder of the year, whether it’s here or wherever in the district, and then what my role will be starting July 1.”
Superintendent John Paul Amis noted that Neace’s recommended dismissal was not a decision made locally by himself or the county board of education, but was actually made at the state level due to a regulation regarding persistently low achieving schools.
“By regulation, if a principal has been at that school for three years or more, they are automatically removed if their school is classified as a PLA school,” Amis explained, adding that while Neace’s departure as principal won’t take effect until July, other aspects of the assessment team’s report will begin more quickly.
“Since they have already conducted their assessment audit, they have issued the written report, and in that report are some next steps that the school has to do,” Amis said. "That begins immediately, about developing a plan of action on how to address those concerns, and then implementing that plan and getting that process started.”
Neace added that the assessment report includes 52 recommendations and there will be a lot of work involved in implementing a plan of action for the school. And while he can remain as the school’s principal to develop that plan, he will not be allowed to implement it during the next school year.
In the end, Neace said it feels good knowing that his students care enough about to him to voice their frustration with the audit team’s recommendation, but at the same time he’s faced with uncertainty in regard to his career.
“It’s been a tough day so far,” he said.
If you are talking about firing one person, then theoretically every teacher and board member should be replaced.
What then?
How about a little thing called chaos.
I think that they need to be doing more to get the kids interested, and become a more integral part of the kids' lives.
I think that every rule is MADE for breaking, there is a loophole...something...somewhere...that can make an exception for Mr. Neace to get back in there and do his best to change things around. Everyone that knows him knows that he will do his best to fix this and make the scores better. I think that he should be given a fighting chance. I know that there are regulations stating that a principal that has been in a school for over 3 years with PLA scores is required to be dismissed immediately. I also know, that Mr. Neace has the potential to be an exception to the expectations. I know that he would have people backing him to make the changes and get PCC to the top!
They need to start auditing the teachers too, making sure their lesson plans are on par, that they are doing their best to ensure that no child is left behind.
They need to take every child seriously, if the child has an issue that could have an effect on their school work, that child may just need someone to talk to and encourage them.
I know that when I was there (2002-2006) that there was a lot of skipping, some of the tests were too easy, and some of the assignments were ridiculous. It seemed at times like some of the teaching staff just did not care. Some days in certain classes, all we would do was watch a movie, and everyone knows that movies very rarely accurately translate from their book counterparts. Not only that, but no discussions followed, no quizzes or comparisons to other accounts of the same material.
No matter what happens, I wish Mr. Neace the best of luck!!
John Paul Amis has done absolutely nothing to develop the educational system of Perry County schools. On the contrary, he has made us a laughing stock by his arrogant behavior, including running off a fine basketball coach because he wouldn't start John's family members on the team,, condoning violent teacher behavior that led to the ending of the Perry Co./Hazard rivalry, having pornography on his personal laptop computer, naming every athletic facility for all his croonies on the school board, being uncooperative with the state after the ACT test score fiasco, and now has pushed the move of the new Dennis Wooten school onto a strip mine site full of spoil that will settle and crack the foundation, not to mention that kids will now be pulling out into freeway traffic with coal trucks.
And he approved the $172,000 per ACRE of that site.
And we pay this clown upwards of $125,000 per year to do this kind of "job" for our children?
Firing John Paul Amis, not Estill Niece, would be the best thing this county could do for it's children.