"I'm going to focus on my work and make sure my staff focuses on the work of making sure these young people leave this school system prepared to go on to college and the world of work," she said.
She said highlights of the coming year includes rolling out the second round of the "Renaissance Schools" initiative, the district's plan to turn around failing schools by converting them into charters or schools run by a team handpicked by Ackerman. The selected schools offer Saturday instruction and enrichment programs and enhanced foreign-language training.
"We're about to start another round of Renaissance schools . . . we're committed to turning around our lowest performing schools as we move forward," she said.
Among her chief concerns under her five-year "Imagine 2014" school-reform plan, in its second stage of implementation, is revamping the truancy and school-safety programs in the district's persistently dangerous schools, she said. Twenty of the district's 265 schools made the state's list this year, said a district official.
Working alongside one of her newest hires, the district's new safety chief, Chief Inspector Myron Patterson, Ackerman will implement programs in schools addressing safety, discipline and truancy, she said. She will announce details of the initiative next week, said a district spokesman.
"We're going to monitor which kids are truant, which kids tend to have chronic disciplinary issues and . . . we want to make sure we focus on those as an integrated process," she said.
Districtwide, students and parents will also learn about conflict resolution, or "safe talk," and other lessons as part of a new districtwide anti-bullying program.
