- A principal-selection committee for North Charleston High School, made up of CCSD district and school employees, interviewed applicants with no experience as principals and selected one of them as a finalist.
- Some interviewees seemed to have seen the committee's questions in advance.
- Poor, overworked Superintendent McGinley has taken on "an associate superintendent's job"to speak to employees and supervisors of the remaining finalists.
- NCHS has had seven principals in the last 10 years. No wonder.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Playing with Principals in North Charleston
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35 comments:
Makes you wonder what is not stated in the article, and what no one is privy to but the peeps in charge.
Study the longitudinal data over the duration of those principals. Look at AYP indicators,test scores/improved test scores,etc., literacy initiatives, school safety and discipline, and improvement ratings on those past school report cards. Determine what worked. And then create a profile of the next principal before hiring. But for a change, actually support the person who is hired, unlike the past. There are reasons some of those who had success chose not to stay. It wasn't the faculty. It wasn't the students. It wasn't the parents. It wasn't the community. It was the overall lack of support/encouragement from those who were in charge downtown. If you asked those principals who experienced some degree of success while they were at NCHS and then departed, they'd say the same thing. That's what has to change. Micromanaging a staff from 75 Calhoun that already is stressed, and not allowing an effective principal the opportunity to actually lead is a recipe for yet another disaster.
Mr. Mullins-Creation of FIRST Career Academies in CCSD as well as securing a $3 million grant to establish these changes; strong partnerships with business community, Chamber of Commerce, and Education Foundation; high faculty morale; Mr. Peake-16/17 AYP goals met in his final year at NCHS and an improvement in school report card's Absolute Rating (?) as well as refinement of Ninth Grade Academy; Colwell-300% increase in Algebra 1 EOC test scores his second year; 50% increase in English 1 EOC test scores his second year; improvement in school's Improvement Rating his second year; implementation of CCSD's first literacy initiative (READ 180) within school's Freshman Academy; viable partnership with City of North Charleston; Ms. Middleton Middleton-stabilization of school; peaceful transition to new building from Brentwood; improved teacher retention. Sooooooo, it hasn't been all bad, as some would assert. Some amazing faculty members who were very loyal to the school were a major part of the successes.
Of the latter, I have no doubt!
Imagine if companies changed CEOs every year. Not sure those companies would be able to get any traction toward success. Yet as much as pundits believe schools should be more business-like, they don't make the necessary commitment to qualified leaders and staff.
My hats off to the teachers and students at North Charleston High for surviving what seems like the decisions of a superintendant who cannot make up her mind what she wants.
Those kids need a breather and a principal who'll be with them more than a year.
Anonymous 8:43 I left the school in 2007 after David Colwell went to another state, but friends that are still at NCHS tell me that Ms. Middleton is a pretty good principal and has done a better job then the PC has said.I wonder why they are moving her.
I believe she's being moved because under the terms of some grant CCSD is using, NCHS must have a new principal.
Data is data.
"Data is data"...except when the data is limited to only what is needed to support a particular view point.
The superintendent manipulates data all the time to get what she wants. To get the truth, a fair analysis would need to consider all the information and weigh the facts in the context that generated the data. That's hard to do when the administration holds back critical information in order paint a different picture which too often has nothing to do with the truth.
Try being a good principal working under these conditions.
Good point. Well said. This is why even the successful principals at NCHS departed. No administrative support. I would venture to guess Ms. Middleton is no different than the others who preceded her and also had some success.
Babbie 10:29PM
The grant had nothing to do with Middleton leaving. She was actually the replacement principal in the grant (just like Kim Wilson here at Stall)
That makes her transfer all the more outrageous.
When the boss doesn't like you, you get moved. Simple as that. Ask some of the NCHS teachers or the administrators how much Juanita Middleton felt supported, appreciated or respected by James Winbush. She has the data that shows she made changes at Lincoln when she was there, has the respect of the community, and has the data from NCHS moving in the right direction.
So sad, and meanwhile, the children suffer, the teachers have their heads spinning with all the changes, and someone will no doubt be brought in who can be controlled by the "boss".
Here's a novel idea: move the associate superintendent! Better still, put NCHS back under Lou Martin. It makes no sense to have only two high schools in the district reporting to the so called "innovation zone" anyway. No innovation coming from that office.
Who authorized the super to create the innovation zone anyway? Did the legislative delegation reconfigure the Act of Consolidation again? I thought the law required there to be one associate superintendent for each of the 8 constituent districts. When did that change slip by the board? I agree, North Charleston's leadership doesn't need to be relegated to second rate toadies.
Who comes up with these stupid names anyway? Calling a part of the district an Innovation Zone makes no sense. Are we to assume everything innovativbe is good? What about a chia pet? Innovative but not so good. Innovation Zone is about as stupid as that renaissance mess they have been floating around. What does it say that North Charleston gets stuck with all these stupidly named initiatives? Are they trying to label the North Charleston area?
Are you seriously saying there are two high schools not associated with the others? Can someone verify this? What is the other one besides NCHS? I assume it's Stall, since someone likes to pick on that school too.
I believe the other high school is Military Magnet. Notice that SOA/AMHS are in the same geographic area, but no one would dare say they are part of the innovative zone. Nothing like CCSD when it comes to double standards and playing with labels. Can you say 'profile'? Someone needs to tell Miss Philadelphia Main Line wanna-be, this isn't the hood.
Not Military Magnet according to website. How did Baptist Hill get in the mix with NCHS and feeders in the N Chas area? I thought the superintendent got rid of the constituent areas a couple of years ago by telling the public she wanted schools in similar levels together. Are Baptist Hill and N Chas in time out?
The move a couple of years ago to organizational levels (elem, middle, high),which actually made some sense, was obviously a tactic to get rid of the need for constituent boards' influence. But the truth is that CCSD changes organizational structures like some people change underwear. Is that what they learn in the Broad Academy?
Does anyone know what the reason was for the Innovation District? How many people work in it? How much does it cost a year? Seems like more edublob spending.
Anon 9:15am What is the Broad Academy? Is that another word for the 75 Calhoun Street central office?
Those are some good questions about the Innovation District. They have been asked, even by some board members, only the administration is refusing to respond by giving straight answers. This is just one of hundreds of "special projects" the district calls "public-private partnerships". Even as board members were being told to sign on to the administration's budget, board members were not being allowed to see exactly where millions in public funds were being spent. The district has cut guidance counselors as part of its recent budgets yet it pays big money to several outside groups listed as "public-private partnership" so they can provide in-school counselors. There is no accountability and the superintendent is threatening board members with a law suit if anyone pushes the issue.
Nancy McGinley is a bully and the board's majority is giving her a license to do as she pleases. The board really doesn't know what she is doing or how much it costs, much less if there is a better way of doing it.
There are many highly qualified people working below the senior officials at CCSD who do know what is going on and would be glad to discuss what they know with anyone who wants to help public education. Only they can't do it. Their jobs would be threatened if they talked. That is the only reason Dr. McGinley wants total control over every question asked and every answer doled out. She decides and if board members want more, too bad. The public's right to know is wrapped up in a law that has no teeth. The public asks and she uses the public's own bureaucracy to stonewall them on the answers. The superintendent has summed it all up with her own personal in-house attorney which the board has given her and the public funds. Her reply has been and still is, "The public be damed."
No, as the superintendent is framing the issue, it's not about attracting and supporting good principals in community based schools. It's not even about public education in general. And based on what the admininstration is doing, it's definately not about the children.
The Broad Academy is a training organization that the superintendent and the former superintendent went to that teaches people how to run a school district using a business model. You can see the fabulous impact it's had in CCSD by looking at 75 Calhoun. The superintendent surrounds herself with people who know little about education but who are also Broaders and gives them big bucks. It also accounts for the constant swings in the direction the district seems to take. The CCSD Board would do well to investigate just how many senior people the super has advising her who know little or nothing about working with children, teachers, and administrators. It would be real special to see some of them (who seem to have all the answers) work in N Chas for just one day. Here's an idea! Appoint one of them principal of NCHS. It would save us money and shut them up while they built some credibility.
Why don't Board members ever have confidential one on one teacher and administrator chats in schools? They might get a better picture of what is going on. If people are afraid for their jobs but everybody got a chance to come in and confidentially talk (might take a couple of days in some schools), the Board would have a better idea of the good and bad. If what we all want is for things to get better, shouldn't we look for the truth?
Okay now, let me get this straight: New principal. New evaluation instrument based on student achievement. Yeah, this should be interesting.
Let's just think about this. McGinley says new principal brought report card improvement rating up from At Risk to Average last year. Guess she didn't look at what happened under Middleton's leadership at NCHS the same year. Identifical improvement. Hmmm.
To 5:59 am post:
White, younger man with no experience as HS principal vs. Black, older female with HS experience. Discrimination by race, age, sex? If it walks like a duck...looks like Mrs. Middleton could lawyer up if she wanted to.
Won't make it two years.
I wouldn't give him that long. Sounds kind of like that young guy they brought in from New York a couple of years ago.
He says he'll stay as long as the superintendent wants him to be at NCHS. Seven principals in 10 years and McGinley was involved in every change in leadership made since 2004. Considering all of that, sounds like he isn't very confident in his keeping the job either.
McGinley's current contract expires in 2013, unless the board votes to extend it like it did two years ago. When will the superintendent be held accountable for her failures?
Middleton will NOT 'lawyer up.' She has a brand new job working with little ones paying close to 100K and she doesn't have to work for Winbush anymore. Which would you rather do?
Forget the spin. All the facts, when seen as part of the total CCSD picture, show Nancy McGinley has done very little to improve public education in Charleston County. If you can get beyond her manipulated numbers, she has accomplished very little since she arrived 7 years ago. It's been one trial and error experiment after another. Most of the reorganization plans and new programs she has attempted have been expensive failures.
She has no communication skills. If she did, it would require she be able to hear AND understand the concerns expressed by the people she serves. And who is she supposed to serve? Teachers, board members, parents and neighborhoods surrounding every school, among others. Ultimately she must serve and be answerable to her real employer, the taxpayers. Instead she want to limit access to information. She doesn't understand how to communicate. She is constantly repeating her mistakes instead of learning from them. She isn't going to change and we would be slightly insane to think she will given her history here.
Nancy McGinley deserves no more contract extensions and certainly not another raise. Let her slide out just like she slipped in - not with a cry, but with only a whimper. When it's over, CCSD will need a total reorganization and not just a new superintendent.
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