A model for successful schools
Buffalo’s Westminster Community Charter School has received $12 million over the last 15 years from its partnership with M&T Bank, a driving force in the school’s dramatic turnaround.
But the change didn’t happen using money alone.
Parents Terenda Brown, Lena Swain and Mary Wilbon say “intangibles” also have been crucial to the school’s success.
They describe a school where 25 parents may volunteer on any given day, where respect and civility are expected, scuffles are rare, and when Principal Yvonne Minor-Ragan enters a classroom, pupils rise without prompting and say in unison: “Good morning, Dr. Ragan.”
Westminster, in the city’s Bailey-Kensington area, is not only a well-funded and high-performing school, but a caring and attentive community, Wilbon said.
The school enrolls 548 pupils in prekindergarten through eighth grade. Ninety-seven percent of those pupils are African- American, and 90 percent are poor, but poverty does not dim the school’s vision of a brighter future.
“We see future presidents, judges, football players,” Wilbon said. “These are our babies. They are our future. The teachers are wonderful with the children. It’s just like one family.”
Swain, who volunteers every day in her son’s first-grade class, said the resources of M&T Bank and the people power of teachers, parents and administrators feed off each other.
“It really takes a one-two punch,” she said. “Otherwise, it’s like a boxer with only a left jab. Without the people, it won’t prosper.”
Before M&T became the school’s partner 15 years ago, Westminster was a failing public school, with test scores among the lowest in the city. Disciplinary problems were rampant, and parents found ways to avoid enrolling their children there.
Since the partnership began in 1993, M&T has funded a spacious addition, a health clinic, playground facilities, computer equipment, summer school instruction and staff development.
When an adjacent public library closed, the bank built a corridor between the library and Westminster, and made it part of the school.
M&T was deeply involved in efforts to convert Westminster into a charter school in 2004. And it supplments the salary of Ragan, who was brought here from Chicago to be principal.
“In many ways, the money allowed the community to know we were serious — that we were going to make a statement and turn this school around,” said Mark Czarnecki, M&T president.
That’s exactly what happened.
In a recent Buffalo News compilation of scores on state assessment tests, Westminster repeatedly ranked in the top 10 among all Buffalo schools. More than 100 children are on an admissions waiting list.
“The demand is that our students achieve,” Ragan said.
Families are also part of the equation.
Male teachers and fathers of the pupils have a weekly pickup basketball game in the school gym. Marcus Herring, who has a child at Westminster, works there as a substitute teacher because “having a male figure around is a real positive.”
Carlos Gordon, the father of two Westminster pupils, volunteers regularly to support what he considers an outstanding teaching staff and administrative team.
“They bring out the best in the students,” Gordon said. “Teachers are demanding — not to be harsh, but because they see something extra in our children.”
M&T has pledged another $2 million over the next five years and said its goal is continuous improvement.
“We’ll never be there,” Czarnecki said. “There is no ‘there.’ We’re relentlessly trying to find ways to improve the school every year.”
The larger message is that poverty does not condemn pupils to poor academic performance. With a coordinated approach, Czarnecki said, they can thrive.
“This is an investment where you see real progress,“ he said. “The notion that it can’t be done is just wrong.”
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