MARYSVILLE — The federal government is mandating changes at two schools in the Marysville School District if they are to receive certain federal funds, according to MSD Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland.

Nyland announced this news during a Feb. 26 Business Before Hours meeting of the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce, noting that it applies to Tulalip Elementary and Totem Middle School, the latter of which he was only informed of via e-mail on the evening of Feb. 25.

Nyland informed his audience at the Feb. 26 Chamber meeting that the district had already begun working with Tulalip Elementary staff and the Tulalip Tribes to try and meet the challenges that they’ll face. MSD Assistant Superintendent Gail Miller informed the staff of Totem Middle School of their status after school that same day, and district officials notified the school’s parents and students on March 1.

Tulalip Elementary had failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning for five years, putting it into Step 4 of “improvement” status as a Title I school. However, Miller explained that Tulalip Elementary was chosen for a federal takeover for failing to meet an additional state standard, averaging three years of data on its progress on the WASL, that was introduced in December of last year and has received tentative approval from the federal government.

Totem Middle School was not on the original list of low-performing schools distributed by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to school districts earlier in February. The names of “newly eligible” schools were sent to district officials across the state on Feb. 25. Although Totem Middle School only has two years of WASL data, since it was created in 2007, OSPI included eighth-grade WASL data from Marysville Junior High School in 2007 to obtain a three-year average.

In order to qualify for School Improvement Grants from OSPI, funded by the federal government, state-designated schools must adopt one of four federally sanctioned models:

1. Turnaround, in which the school principal and half its existing staff members are replaced, and programs including curriculum revisions, extended learning hours for students and increased professional development for staff are implemented.

2. Restart, in which an outside agency is contracted to run the school, similar to a charter school.

3. Closure, in which the school is simply shut down and its students are sent elsewhere.

4. Transformation, in which the school principal is replaced, its existing staff members are retained but subjected to more stringent new standards of evaluation, and all the programs of the turnaround model are implemented.

The district’s decisions are due March 10. At the MSD Board of Directors meeting March 1, a majority of the Board voted to adopt the transformation model for Tulalip Elementary, which Miller noted would not require the replacement of the principal in that school’s case, since it had already replaced its principal last year.

Board Directors Michael Kundu and Chris Nation expressed concerns about waiting a full week to cast a similar vote on the model for Totem Middle School. Kundu expressed a desire to avoid adding stress to the lives of the school’s staff members by delaying their decision, and even moved to approve adopting the transformation model for both Tulalip Elementary and Totem Middle School, although he received no second. He cast the only “nay” vote when fellow Board Director Cindy Erickson moved to adopt the transformation model for Tulalip Elementary only.

“This is a very important decision and we’ve had much more time to consider it with Tulalip,” Nyland said. “With Totem, we’ve literally had a matter of hours. You’re probably correct, but I’m just uncomfortable with rushing to judgement.”

Miller noted that OSPI members had suggested to her the possibility that the district might be able to adopt the turnaround model for Totem Middle School, without dismissing its staff, since the school has already undergone significant staff turnover within the past two years.