A model pilot school

IN AN INTERVIEW at the State House last week, Governor Deval Patrick cited the Samuel W. Mason pilot elementary school in Roxbury as one of the "models out there right now where people are putting on the table and addressing, I think, some hard questions." It was a school he visited in his election campaign. He said he was impressed with its intimacy, both in class size and its connection to its community, even though it is surrounded by industrial firms off Massachusetts Avenue.

"In some ways," Patrick said, "I felt like I was walking through my own vision of what a great public education could be."

If Patrick's visit was anything like mine last week, his praise is understandable.

The Mason has 220 students. Sixty-four percent are black, and 25 percent are Latino. Eighty percent qualify for free lunch. Twenty three percent are listed under special education, but are in regular classes under a full inclusion policy.

The inclusion is made much more possible with a staff-to-student ratio of 1 to 8.

The Mason's failure rates on the MCAS tests were way below the averages for the Boston public schools and in most cases were equal to or better than statewide rates. Whatever one thinks of the MCAS, it is stunning how the Mason narrowed the achievement gap. Just as impressive was the quiet respect of the students and the freshness of the teachers, even though it was the final weeks of the school year.

"I truly have never felt more part of a town," said kindergarten/first-grade teacher Caitlin McArdle, 31. "I'm constantly being invited by the parents to wedding showers, baby showers and birthday parties. When I was in another suburban school system, we got the kids, closed the door and the teachers hardly interacted with each other. Here, we have kids we don't even teach that we care deeply about."

Fifth-grade teacher Karolyn McNeil, 35, said a school where parents feel close to the teachers is one that can quickly get on top of disruptive students. "We have one boy who was not doing well and his father took away his fun things. His dad meets with me every day or so for updates. The kids know everyone is watching."

Susie Lee-Snell, 37, a part-time science and MCAS prep teacher and third-grade teacher Michelle Anderson, 37, talked about the little things the teachers do.

There is one student who has trouble waking up who they call early in the morning on his cellphone. They talked about an angry boy from a dysfunctional family whom the whole staff worked with to mellow him out.

In McArdle's classroom, Joann Coleman huddled with students over little tubs of water, teaching them the science of why things float or sink. Coleman, 52, is a paraprofessional currently studying at Northeastern. She left an administrative job at Genzyme to become a teacher. She attended the Mason as a child. "I interviewed at a couple of schools," Coleman said. "When I saw what was going on here, it wasn't even close."

Principal Janet Palmer Owens, who has worked in the Boston public schools for 37 years, walked me up the stairs, pointing out the window at neighboring companies that give her teacher-training conference space and free banquet tables and chairs for special events.

This is on top of learning collaborations with colleges, conservation groups, and downtown firms. "I am consumed with cultivating what resources I can get," she said. "I am already planning for the next five years."

The Mason does have a wish list to make things better. Jenny O'Neil, the school's director of community learning, said that while its after-school serves nearly half the school, 40 children are on a wait list. Several teachers want a science lab. But they work with what they have, because, as Aadina Balti, 28, a math teacher, said, "This is not just about the MCAS, it's about having a culture of learning."

Patrick, who has proposed a 10-year, $2.2 billion education initiative, said the Mason was a prime example of teachers having the latitude to "do the magic that they can do." Providing schools with this level of intimacy will need every bit of creative thinking because the dollars to reduce class size is immense.

For instance, Florida will spend $3.3 billion next year under a 2002 voter mandate to reduce class size.

Palmer Owens said, "I want a private school education for my students." Patrick, a graduate of Milton Academy, knows what that would cost.

Derrick Z. Jackson's e-mail address is jackson@globe.com.