Now that there is no principal's union in Providence, school administrators are all on one year contracts, and it is much easier to get rid of them. This is not an entirely bad thing, of course, but somehow the guns always get aimed at the wrong target.
Thus KC Perry, former principal of Feinstein High School, now serving as an assistant principal in the district, had his contract not renewed for next year. For whatever reason, there is an appeal process involving a formal hearing with the board, which was scheduled for Monday night.
So I prepared a full report on the data illustrating the success of KC's leadership at FHS, which you can read here. I dug up some older college enrollment data we had and came across some new stuff -- basically FHS students were the tops among PPSD neighborhood high schools in enrollment immediately after graduation, returning after 1 year, and earning 1 year's worth of credit within two years in all the years I looked at, which was actually before the test scores even went up. So if anything the whole process made me even more impressed with what the school accomplished before being named "persistently low-performing" and closed.
The middle managers trying to get rid of KC did a half-assed job, and really had no evidence or coherent argument, so after wasting about 4 hours in the life of the board, a couple of lawyers, the stenographer and witnesses, not to mention KC, the board voted 7-1 to reverse its previous decision and give KC a contract for next year.
Nice to win, even if it is a rear guard action.
No comments:
Post a Comment