One principal saves five hours each week because he no longer has to attend regional meetings. A second says onerous paperwork on student transfers has all but disappeared. And a third revels in the freedom to take field trips on short notice -- without getting approval from the superintendent's office.

They are among the 29 New York City principals participating in the "Autonomy Zone," a one-year pilot project created by Chancellor Joel I. Klein last fall. The pilot is designed to test whether schools with greater autonomy are more successful. Some administrators and advocates worry that inexperienced principals may not be getting the supervision they need. But the principals are mostly enthusiastic.

"The Autonomy Zone is the best thing that has happened for our school in a long, long, time," said Robert Lubetsky, principal of City-as-School in Manhattan, one of the schools in the zone. After one semester of participating in the Autonomy Zone, attendance at City-as-School increased from 81 percent last year to 86 percent as of January, he said, and now teachers spontaneously go on field trips with just a few hours notice given to the principal.

Schools in the Autonomy Zone (mostly new small high schools), must follow all laws, as well as federal, state, and union regulations. However, they no longer work under a Local Instructional Superintendent (LIS), and have more control over their school budgets.

The hope is that schools can be better held accountable if they are given more autonomy, according to Eric Nadelstern, the chancellor's chief academic officer for new schools. “Put control in the schools, [and] remove any excuses for why the school is failing,” Nadelstern told a panel discussion at the CUNY Urban Education Evening Community Conversations in December.

Held to higher standards

The Autonomy Zone schools must achieve greater standards than the average New York City schools. In five years they must reach 90 percent attendance rate, 80 percent graduation rate, 80 percent cohort graduation rate, students who started ninth grade together, 80 percent college acceptance, and 80 percent passing of state exams. If they fail, the school is closed.

But principals aren't worried about the higher standards. "The threat of the schools closing in five years is the least of my concerns," David Banks, principal of the Eagle Academy for Young Men in the Bronx, said in a telephone interview . "In my opinion these are minimal standards."

Less time in meetings - more in the classroom

Autonomy Zone principals praise the time saved not communicating extensively with regional officials. Last year, Andrew Turay, principal of the Peace and Diversity Academy in the Bronx had an average of six meetings per month, half of which were unplanned. "They [regional officials] would just show-up and then you had a meeting," he said.

Aaron Listhaus, principal of Middle College High School in Queens, echoed similar frustrations. "They would show up without making an appointment, and so we would not be prepared to deal with them," he said. Listahus said he reduced the time spent dealing with regional officials from 30 percent to 10 percent.

That time can now be spent with students. Leonard Trerotola, principal of International Arts and Business High School, saves more than five hours each week not attending regional meetings during school hours. Instead, he uses the time to teach one period per day, advisory twice per week, and he wrote two grant proposals for the school library.

Lengthy bureaucratic paperwork is also reduced in the Autonomy Zone. Nancy Gannon, principal of School for Democracy and Leadership in Brooklyn, recalls the days when 17 papers and a police report were needed to transfer a child to another school. "In the Autonomy Zone, I only needed twenty minutes and it was done," she said. Tretorola says he no longer writes 10-15 monthly reports to the region.

Principals support each other

Instead of working under a superintendent, principals support each other in "networks," five to six schools that have similar issues or philosophies. The networks meet once per month to discuss universal school issues. One network is working on project-based learning.

"What is project-based learning? How do you get better at it? We need to find ways to really strengthen the instruction," Nancy Mann, principal of Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom School in the Bronx, said in a telephone interview. "The Autonomy Zone will help us focus on those challenges."

Lubetsky is helping his network schools develop an internship program like that at City-as-School. Another network is focusing on improving instruction for classes that mix children of different abilities.

Listhaus says the networks are more productive and beneficial than the numerous regional meetings he attended. "We can decide on the topics that suit our needs and not have to participate in the one-size-fits-all agenda from the region."

More freedom in curriculum, staffing & scheduling

The freedom to assign staff and to design a schedule and a curriculum are considered great benefits for Autonomy Zone principals and their students.

"At the school level if you want to have three vice-principals, or you determine that you want a second parent coordinator, you can do it," said Banks of the Eagle Academy for Young Men.

"Mandates drive the scheduling, not the needs of the kids," said Pace High School Principal Yvette Sy, who has eight 54 minute periods, unlike the regional high schools that have nine 40-minute periods per day. She also hired an additional English teacher, dropping the class size to 13 students. "Every year there will a different program to meet the needs of the kids," said Sy. "We will change the curriculum depending on student needs."

Bronx Lab teacher Adam Kerzner enjoys the freedom to be creative, choose his textbooks, and easily take his class on a field trip every week. Prior to working at the Bronx Lab, he was a 6th grade science teacher, and was only permitted to focus on preparation for the 8th grade Regents science exam. "The curriculum was so rigid," said Kerzner. "Now, I have more flexibility."

Too many 1st year principals, too little supervision

Despite principals' cheers, there is one common complaint among veteran principals: The Autonomy Zone has too many schools with first-year principals, who need the support and guidance that a good region office would offer. Instead some of these tasks fall to the experienced principals who act as mentors.

The role of a veteran principal and a superintendent are not the same, says Jill Chaifetz, Director of Advocates for Children (the parent organization of Insideschools.org). "[The mentoring] helps a lot, but I don't think it's a substitute. It's not a clear supervision, you only get back as much as you get in," she said.

New principals in the Autonomy Zone lose valuable experience by not working under a LIS, says Banks. "Not every veteran principal is good at everything," he said. "At the superintendent meetings, you meet a lot of people who are good at a whole host of things. You learn who you can call, who is the point-person. You don't get that overnight."

Despite, a new principal's dedication, intelligence, and hard work, they still lack work experience and professional contacts. "When you're a first year principal you don't even know enough about the system to ask the right questions," said Banks, who has been a principal for more than a decade.

The combination of set benchmarks and not knowing what to ask, and whom to call may cause some "unintentional consequences," said Chaifetz, which could result in lack of special education or ESL (English as a Second Language) services, for example.

Currently there is no official criteria for admittance into the Autonomy Zone. The chancellor is to decide its future this spring, but if the participating principals have any say in the matter, it should be a "go".

Click here for a list of the Autonomy Zone schools.

--Vanessa Witenko, March 2, 2005

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