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B U F F A L O N E W S . C O M / F I X I N G S C H O O L S

HOW TO FIXBUFFALO’S SCHOOLS

Seventhin a series

Photos by Robert Kirkham and John Hickey/Buffalo News

Principal GregoryMott, top, encour-ages second-graderJoseph Allums tokeep up his goodreading skills.Seventh-graderHannah Jones, 12,above left, earneda perfect score onlast school year’sstate math test.Nathan Kindred,9, focuses duringa lesson.

P

rincipal Gregory D. Mott apologizes as he escorts a visitor through theGrabiarz School of Excellence. ¶ The students are a “little hyper” today. It’sHalloween, and a Friday to boot. To top it off, the school is wrapping up spir-it week, with special activities throwing the students off their usual sched-

ule. ¶ But what Mott considers disruption would be a good day at most schools. Thehallways – all immaculately clean – are silent. Students pass by in neat, orderly lines.In classrooms, children seem focused on learning. ¶ Even a parade of kindergartnerswithHalloweenmasksmoves throughwith littledisruption, stealingonlya fewpreciousmoments as it moves through the classrooms. ¶ “OK, back to work,” teacher Jessi-ca Mandell tells her fourth-grade students after the last little one leaves her room.¶ Following her cue, the students turn their attention back to their assignment. ¶ It’sthe simplest thing, but Mott believes the pre-K through eighth grade school’s successstarts with structure.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS,RIGOR BREED SUCCESS

B Y T I F FA N Y L A N K E S / N E W S S T A F F R E P O R T E R

Grabiarz School of Excellence has a highly motivated principal and a model

of support that squeezes in learning at every opportunity. So far, it’s working.

By Jane Kwiatkowski Radlich

N E WS STA F F R EPORT ER

Matthew Mills and Natalie Thomp-son had a short, stormy marriage rootedin Florida sun, beachside bars and toughlove. Facebook photos show the coupleby the ocean, embracing tightly. But thegood times were clouded by frequent ar-

guments played out be-hind closed doors.

Too often, their fight-ing turned physical, ac-cording to police agencieshere, in Sevierville, Tenn.,and Volusia County, Fla.

Less than one monthafter Mills and Thomp-son were married in LakeTahoe on Nov. 30, 2013,Thompson obtained anorderofprotectionagainstMills after his arrest ondomestic abuse charges.Earlier this year Mills,

46, and Thompson, 45, surprised theirfriendswhen theyabruptlypackedupandmoved from Ormond Beach, Fla., to Buf-falo, where Mills once lived.

Monthsafter their arrivalhere thecou-ple’s strife reached the boiling point fol-lowing an argument that friends believewas sparked by Thompson’s plan to re-turn to Florida.

On Oct. 21, Mills shot and killedThompson as she ran for her life downa rain-swept street in the heart of Allen-

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A8 The Buffalo News/Sunday, December 21, 2014 A9

consent spoke with Adam.“I was afraid,” Adam said. “Mr. Mott

had faith in me, though. He said I’d dogood and I trusted him. I knew he’d makethe right decision.”

Adam took the test, and earned thefourth-highestscoreofallofhisclassmates.

Laying the groundwork

P rincipal Mott arrives a little laterthan usual today. He rarely takestime off from work because everyminute here matters. But today

is his daughter’s birthday. He decides tosneak away for 30 minutes to take her tobreakfast.

Mott,whoarrivesat school lookingpol-ished inasuit coatandtie, glassesperchedon his nose, can do that because he knowshis staff will keep the school running, fol-lowing the structure and routine he spentyears developing.

What happens in the classrooms atGrabiarz today follows years of research,planning and refining.

The district recruited Mott, 43, to openthe school four years ago, bringing himon after Grabiarz had consistently failedto meet state standards. District leadersmerged what was then a middle schoolwith the formerCampusWest–wherestu-dents also struggled – for a combined pre-K-8 school that would debut in 2011.

The school building, which was builtin 2000, sits on the corner of Lawn Ave-nue in North Buffalo. Students enter intoa sweeping indoor courtyard dotted withtrees. The tiled floors are spotless. Stu-dent artwork hangs from a second storybreezeway. There is a case displaying a let-ter from local World War II hero Pfc. Wil-liam J. Grabiarz, for whom the school isnamed.

School turnarounds are never easy.Mott knew he needed to set a clear planfor improving performance, and convinceteachers, parents and students that –working together – they could do it.

He started team-building activities,tours of the school and a summer retreatfor incoming students. He became notjust the school’s principal, but its prima-ry promoter. His enthusiasm was conta-gious. Soon, teachers were meeting at cof-fee shops on weekends to develop lessonplans and programs.

“I felt like I went back to school,” saidMandell, the fourth-grade teacher whois also a member of the school leadershipteam.

The new combined school started withroughly half the number of students andstaff of the two old schools. That allowedMott to be selective in hiring. He pickedpeople who bought into his mission andwere willing to collaborate well togetheracross grade levels and subjects. Thoseteachers were also willing to get addition-al training that would enable them to besuccessful in the classroom.

Mott even embraced the CommonCore, the tough set of learning standardsthat raised the bar for the skills studentsneeded to master at each grade level. Asmany schools and districts delayed pre-paring for the Common Core, Mott trav-eled to Albany to learn about the newstandards. Back in Buffalo, he studiedhundreds of pages of materials, includingthe standards themselves, potential les-son plans and data on his students’ perfor-mance.

He used that information to organizeprofessional development for teachers,several of whom volunteered to pilot anearly roll-out so they could work out thekinks before their colleagues brought thenew standards into their classrooms.

By the time the school opened its doorsin September 2011, Mott and his teamwere ready.

Living the challenge

Mottknowsthechallengesgrow-ing up inthe innercity.

Raised in a single-parenthome on Buffalo’s East Side,

he saw his mother work hard to help himand his four siblings succeed. He attend-ed Buffalo Public Schools, and by the timehe was a freshman at Kensington HighSchool had made one key choice – hewanted better for himself and his family.

“A lot of the elements that inner-citykids may face, they were there,” the prin-cipal said of his own childhood. “You’refaced with some tough choices. You haveto make decisions.”

“I can remember this as clear as I’mspeaking to you right now,” he added.“Standing there on the street gettingready to enter Kensington, I knew rightthen I was going to college.”

Mott was accepted to seven differentcolleges and choose SUNY Buffalo Statebecause staying close to home was com-fortable. Toward the end of his under-graduate years, he took a few educationclasses.

“I was good at it,” he said. “I like infor-mation and learning. And you can have animpact on kids. It was rewarding for me tobeabletoreachbackandhelpthosewhodidnothave thesameopportunitiesasme.”

After graduation, he started as a sub in

the Buffalo Public Schools. His first per-manent job was part time as a social stud-ies teacher. Years away from a more stablepost, he left the classroom for a full-timejob as a school attendance officer, workingwith some of the district’s most troubledstudents – those who were habitually tru-ant.

Over the years, the district moved himfrom building to building, often times toput out fires or calm brewing troubles, in-cluding racial tensions.

His first principal job was at the dis-trict’s alternative high school.

Mott wanted to create more optionsfor troubled students to finish high schoolthrough GED or job training programs.The idea never made it through the schoolbureaucracy. But Mott walked away witha determination: Get to kids before theyget in trouble.

“How do you prevent a youngster fromgetting to that stage?” he said. “How doyou create an environment in the schooland provide the necessary support theymay not have at home?”

“When you talk about students whowere in the juvenile system and the crimi-nal system, let’s reach them while they’reimpressionable in their primary years,” headded. “Iwanted togobackandputallmyenergy into reaching them earlier.”

Culture of expectations

M ott sets the same stan-dards for his school and hisstudentsashedidforhimself.“It starts with a culture of

high expectations,” he said.A lot of students will give excuses.“But I have been there,” he said. “I

know with self-motivation and high ex-pectations, you can raise your status.”

Mott rattles off educational best prac-tices when talking about Grabiarz’s suc-cess, his voice crisp and authoritative. Hereadsat leastonearticleeveryday fromed-ucation journals or newspapers to keep upwith the latest research and trends.

When presented with a problem, hetakes a few minutes to assess potentialhurdles before presenting a solution. Hecarries on conversations about differenteducation models while simultaneously

Every minute spent in transition be-tween classes or getting settled in themorning could be spent learning.

Structure and routine are among thestrategies from Mott’s playbook for turn-ingoneofBuffalo’smoststrugglingschoolsinto one of its most successful. Except forthe district’s Discovery School, which per-formed better in reading, the percentageof Grabiarz students deemed proficient inboth reading and math lagged behind onlya few charter schools and those with spe-cial admissions criteria.

The elementary school also fared wellat individual grade levels, ranking 16thout of about 80 schools in Erie Countyfor sixth-grade math, surpassing the Am-herst, East Aurora and Hamburg schooldistricts. It ranked in the top 30 out ofabout 110 schools for fourth-grade math,surpassing the same districts.

And that success comes at a schoolwhere 94 percent of kids qualify for free orreduced-price lunch and about 27 percenthave disabilities. Its proportion of poor stu-dents is among the highest in the district.

Mott’s formula for success is straightforward: maximizing time for instruc-tion, reinforcing math and reading skillsacross all subject areas and giving stu-dents an extra dose of those key subjectsevery day with a period devoted to indi-vidualized instruction.

The principal acknowledges his schoolstill has a long way to go. Even with its topBuffalo rankings, the percentage of stu-dents proficient in reading and in mathis just 20 percent and 30 percent, respec-tively, underscoring the difficulty schoolsall over the state have had adjusting tothe tougher Common Core standards.Throughout all Erie County school dis-tricts, just 30 percent of students weredeemed proficient in reading and just 34percent in math.

Still, Grabiarz students overall aremaking substantial gains. At some gradelevels, student proficiency increased bydouble-digit percentage points between2013 and 2014.

The students’ success in these earlygrades sets them up to do well in the fu-ture. Research consistently reinforces theimportance of student achievement in theearly years, which lays the foundation forhigh school and beyond.

“GregMott talksaboutGrabiarzbeingamodel for turning around schools, and thedistrict should take that seriously,” Buffa-lo School Board President James Sampsonsaid. “Why not look at what the district isalready doing that can be replicated?”

Targeted approach

T he students in Chandra Cheek’sfourth-grade math class arelearning to convert kilogramsinto grams. Cheek first stands at

the front of the room guiding her studentsthrough a problem on the smart boardwhile students chant the steps in unison.

“Cross out the 3, make it a 2,” they sayin a rhythmic melody. “Cross out the 5,make it a 15.”

Cheek posts a word problem and callson three students to come to the front ofthe room to solve it. The rest of the classworks on it individually.

As in most classrooms, Cheek walksaround making sure the students work-ing independently get the right answers.But what’s different here is that another

teacher,MariaPluchino,walksaroundtheroom, as well. As the school’s math coach,she spends time in classes giving strug-gling students extra assistance.

That targeted instruction starts at thebeginning of the year, when teachers andstaff assess students. It is typical for stu-dents to backslide during summer vaca-tion, so the early testing allows teachers tosee where students fell behind.

“You have to start Day 1,” Mott said.That analysis continues throughout

the year, as teachers work with math andreading coaches, including Pluchino, toevaluate students and target areas wherethey need assistance.

They constantly review graphs andcharts that detail their students’ perfor-mance, down to the specific areas wherestudents struggle with each lesson. Theylook for trends and come up with plansto ensure students progress. The perfor-mance trends can change by the day.

For example, last school year Grabiarzstudents struggled with assessment ques-tions that involved writing. So this yearteachers in all subject areas are incorporat-ingmorewriting into their lessons.

Pluchino knows which students in

Cheek’s room need help by the way theroom is arranged: Struggling students areat tables in the middle, including one inthe front of the room. As Pluchino walksaround, she makes sure those students getextra attention.

The groups change as the year goeson and students master lessons at differ-ent rates. It’s so fluid the students aren’teven aware that table assignment has todo with their strengths and weaknesses.

Students also benefit from an extra90-minute period dedicated to readingand math intervention. Teachers grouptheir students based on the skills theyneed to learn and spend the time workingwith theminsmallgroups tomaximize in-dividual attention.

All students participate. Those whostruggle get extra remedial help, whilemore-advanced students such as HannahJones receive more difficult material tocontinue challenging them.

Hannah walks studiously through thehallways carrying a pile of textbooks, pa-pers and notebooks. She might be an ac-countant when she grows up. Or her mathskills might lead to a career in engineer-ing. She and another boy in her seventh-grade class maintain a friendly com-petition for the top scores on tests andhomework assignments.

For last year’s state math assessment,Hannah took the title. She earned a per-fect score.

She credits her teachers and fellowclassmates.

“They got me a lot of personal atten-tion,” Hannah said. “It helps because I getmore practice.”

Another math aficionado, fifth-graderAdam Galante, tends to be quiet. He lovesart and enjoys activities that allow him touse his artistic talents to solve math prob-lems, such as drawing diagrams or color-coding sets of numbers.

“Math is my favorite subject,” Adamsaid. “It’s almost like solving your ownpuzzle.”

Reading, however, is a different story.As state testing approached last schoolyear, Adam worried he would fail the read-ing exam. He sets high expectations forhimself and was anxious he would notmeet them. With his parents’ permission,he wanted to opt out of the test.

But Mott had confidence.The principal called Adam’s mother

to talk about their concerns, and with her

HOW TO FIXBUFFALO’S SCHOOLS

SCHOOLS • from A1

See Schoolson Page A10

EXTRA TIME EACH DAY DEVOTED TO MATH, READING HELP

Photos by Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News

Principal Gregory Mott feels at home sitting on an alphabet carpet during a kindergarten reading lesson. Mott believes reaching students in their elementary years is crucial to putting them on the path to success.

Math coach Maria Pluchino is pleased with the progress many of her studentsare making, including Jahzyia Washington, 7, left, and Michael Weston, 8.

Adam Galante, 10, discusses a math lesson that heenjoyed during a student focus group session.

Teacher Betty Winiarski, right, works on a unit with third-graders.Breaking larger classes up into smaller groups has been very successful atGrabiarz.

Brian Tate, 10, raises his hand to share an answer in class. Students show thatthey’re not done learning for the day as they take advantage of after-schoolacademics offered at Grabiarz.

Eighth-graders Morgan Sanasith, left, and MelanieJustiniano, work together on a sculpture as part of aproject that combines art, science and social studies.

B U F F A L O N E W S . C O M / F I X I N G S C H O O L S

Grabiarz School of Excellence / At a glance

In the past few months, The Buffalo News has spotlighted schools that have shown successimproving student performance, including three in other districts and two local charter schools.

Butsomesolutionsmaylieclosertohome, intheclassroomsofatraditionalBuffalopublicschool.That may be the case at the district’s Grabiarz School of Excellence.Grabiarz ranks as one of the highest performing schools in the Buffalo district. Except for the

district’s Discovery School, which performed better in reading, the percentage of Grabiarz stu-dents deemed proficient in both reading and math lagged behind only a few charter schools andthose with special admissions criteria.

The elementary school also fared well at individual grade levels, ranking 16th out of about80 schools in Erie County for sixth-grade math, surpassing the Amherst, East Aurora andHamburg school districts. It ranked in the top 30 out of about 110 schools for fourth-grade math,surpassing the same districts.

That success comes with a population of poor students that is among the highest in thedistrict. With 94 percent of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, Grabiarz alsohas the highest poverty rate of the top 10 performing schools in the city.

A10 The Buffalo News/Sunday, December 21, 2014

HOW TO FIXBUFFALO’S SCHOOLS

researching additional infor-mation about them on his com-puter.

“A lot of it is really personaldrive,”Mott said. “Iwantedtobean African-American adminis-tratorwhowasalwaysperceivedas an intellectual. As studious inhispractices.”

From the moment the bus-es arrive, Mott’s expectationsare evident. The busloads ofstudents are released one at atime, and the children know tohead straight to the classroom.Teachers guide prekindergart-ners in the right direction sothey aren’t aimlessly wander-ing the hallways.

“At 10:30 in the morning onopening day, kids were in theirseats learning,” Sampson, theboard president, said of a vis-it to the school. “There was nochaos.”

While structure maximizeslearning time, teachers seizeextraopportunities to reinforceskills. They use flash cards toreview math problems as stu-dents wait in line for dismissal.

Teachers across all subjectareas – from art and libraryto physical education – col-laborate to reinforce key skillsin their classrooms. The artteacher incorporates vocabu-lary words and mathematicalmeasurements into lessons.During one recent lesson, stu-dents created their own artisticrendition of different scientificbiomes.

“I’m always asking ‘Whatcan I do?’” said art teacher JanDylewski. “Who can we workwith?”

Many teachers, includingMandell, work the after-schoolprogram so they can build on

skills theypresentedduring theregular school day.

On Halloween, some teach-ers dressed as “word walls” –a strategy schools use that in-volves displaying vocabularywords to reinforce them to stu-dents. A sign that reads “dis-obedient” hung from a string

around Pluchino’s neck. Similar words were attached to herappendages.

“I didn’t pick my word,”jokesPluchino, amemberof theschool leadership team.

The payoff, however, makesit worthwhile.

“The more they see it, themorethey’llgetit,”Pluchinosaid.

A potential model?

F or Mott and his staff,school success is notrocket science. Whichthen begs the question:

Why isn’t every school doing it?Those on the outside point

to another element of Grabi-arz’s success: Mott’s leadership.

He is a regular presenter atSchool Board meetings, wherehe enthusiastically reports hisstudents’ progress and strate-gies that could be replicated inother buildings.

He also shows up at meet-ingswhenhe isnoton theagen-da, including one where theboardrecognized students whoearned perfect scores on theNew York State standardizedassessments. He beamed fromthe back of the room, applaud-ing Hannah.

He even made an impres-sion on one first-grader, whoshowed up at school on “dressfor success”day inasuitandtie.Theyoungmantoldhis teacherhe wanted to be like Mr. Mott.

Mott has also caught the eyeof state Education Departmentleaders, who recently visitedthe school to observe and meetwith teachers.

He is theschool’smaincheer-leader, Pluchino says, rallyingstaff around his goals and hismission. Not every school has aleaderwhocandothat, shesaid.

“He has higher standards,”she said. “But we’re all here be-cause we want to get there.”

Even the students.Mott sits at a conference

room table meeting with a“focus group” of students.The group meets periodicallythroughout the year to discussissues at the school. Today, hewants their feedback on howGrabiarz could be better.

One student wants Frenchclasses. Another more fieldtrips. One boy actually sug-gests more homework. Somewant Grabiarz to add grade lev-els so they can remain there forhigh school.

Mott looks pensive as he jotstheir ideas down in a notebook.

In many respects, this prin-cipal is at the top of his game.

But he does not take that forgranted. The man who gradu-ated in the top 10 percent of hiscollege class quickly realized itwould take hard work to stay

there.You can not be an educator

who sits at your desk and say‘I’ve arrived,’” he said. “I thinkthat’s one of the biggest prob-lems I see in the schools. Someprincipals, they have that sensethat they’ve arrived, and theyget to the point where they stopimproving.”

Strategies for success

Mott believes manyof the strategieshe brought to theschool – structure,

data-driven instruction andcollaboration among teachersacross subject areas – couldeasily be replicated in otherplaces.

Some of his ideas could alsobe taken a step further.

Although Mott was givensome flexibility when he hiredhis staff, teachers are now sub-ject to the same contractualguidelines and seniority rulesthat drive hiring and place-ment throughout the district.Because staffing is driven by

seniority, Grabiarz teacherswith fewer years in the sys-tem may get moved to otherschools if the district shufflespositions. Already this year, theschool lost a critical member ofits leadership teamthroughthetransfer process.

Allowing principals hiringflexibility would require chang-es to the union contract.

Introducing best practices atother schools also will requireadditional training for teach-ers in areas such as using datato drive instruction and under-standing the Common Core.Mott designed his own teach-ers’ professional developmentaround what they would needto know to implement the Com-mon Core standards in theirclassrooms,butthatwouldneedto be replicated districtwide.

District leaders also maywant to use student perfor-mance data to hold principalsaccountable, and determinewhat areas they need improve-ment.

Sustainability is also impor-tant, which is why Mott has ap-pointed and groomed a lead-ership team. Any one of them

could easily step in if Mott evermoved into another position.

Mott also worries that asthe school does better, it maylose funding targeted to helpimprove performance. Thatmay force him to cut resources.Schools that are identified asneeding improvement receiveextra funding to assist withtheir turnaround efforts. Ifthey improve enough to be re-moved from the state list, theylose that extra funding.

For now, though, the focusis to continue building on suc-cess. Mott even talks about ex-panding the school throughthe twelfth grade since qualityhigh school choices in the cityare limited. That would allowthe staff at Grabiarz to build onthe foundation they set in ear-lier grades.

But for now, he and his teamwon’t let that stop them.

Afterall,nothingelsehas.“This is how we get the re-

sults,” Mott said. “You’ve got toallow schools to continue withwhat isworking.Andyou’vegotto take some risks.”

email: tlankes@buffnews.com

AS SCHOOL IMPROVES, IT MAY LOSE FUNDINGSCHOOLS • from A9

About the series

How to Fix Buffalo’s Schools is an occasional series highlighting urban schools across the country that havemade outsized progress on some of the seemingly intractable problems plaguing inner-city schools. The success-ful schools were selected through statistical analysis of data on academic performance and demographics. Theschools chosen are some of the best examples of successfully educating students with backgrounds similar tothose in the Buffalo Public Schools.

To read the first five parts of this series and for online-only features, go to BuffaloNews.com/FixingSchools

June22: In the Bronx, a school for at-risk boys succeeds.July13: In Brooklyn, a model for teaching immigrants.July15: Buffalo’s Lafayette High School struggles to teach immigrants.Aug.17: Newark’s jobs training is a model for urban schools.Oct.5: CSAT Charter School graduates most students in county.Oct.12: Empowering students at Tapestry Charter High School.

Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News

Routine and structure is an important part of the success at Grabiarz. Here, students stand in a neat, orderly row while they wait for the bus.

Grabiarz demographics

Grabiarz School of Excellence has a diverse student population,and about 94 percent of students qualify for free or reducedprice lunch (FRL), the school system’s measure of poverty.

42% 27% 27%23% 94%Black White DisabilitiesHispanic FRL

Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News

Special-education teacher Amanda Shaw helps students sound out syllables in one of herclasses at Pfc. William J. Grabiarz School of Excellence.

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