Gerena Elementary School

Gerena is a Level 4 school and serves a community of extremely challenged population in terms of resources, health, social status and literacy. The new administration is determined to bring all inequalities and inequities to end and place Gerena on the success map. Within one and a half of the turnaround wonderful things have started happening in terms of student achievement and behavior of the children. Much remains to be done in terms of getting the community invested in the children's education and providing a welcoming environment for the families within the school. Too much turn over of support stuff is a problem. The child student ratio specially in the lower grades ( the Kindergarten and preschool) is horrendously high.. 1:21 in some cases. The teachers are wonderful and do their best to manage such numbers but the stress is obvious. Tardiness and absenteeism is still a big issue. The physical environment of the building leaves much less to be desired. Some parts of the building are condemned while others should be. The building has no walls and the wall free classrooms have their advantages and disadvantages. It is too big and complex for preschoolers. Much time is lost in transitioning from one end of the building to the other. Safety during recess and other outside programs is an issue. Gerena is now experimenting with a blended Montessori and Cornerstone model and there is still confusion among teachers as to the best way to go about it and Montessori seems to be on its way out with the administration supporting and employing more Cornerstone trained people and gently phasing out Montessori (before it truly had phased in). Nobody will ever know how it would have been with a true Montessori school.