Supporters of Carver High vow to continue fight

23rd April 2012 · 0 Comments

By Zoe Sullivan
Contributing Writer

As the sun crept up into the sky, a band of orange-shirted individuals gathered in front of the entrance to George Washington Carver High School in the Desire area of New Orleans. Betty Washington, Carver Class of ’66, stood in front of a double row of early risers, alumni and community members, each one holding a sign emblazoned with “Hands Off Carver.” Their mission was to prevent a newly appointed principal from taking up the reins of the school’s 10th-12th grades. “The RSD is trying to come in and allow a school called Collegiate Academies, Sci Academy, to come and take over this school,” Washington told The Louisiana Weekly.

The New Orleans Charter Science & Mathematics High School received a B+ rating from the New Orleans Parents’ Guide to Public Schools. During the 2010-2011 academic year, 8.8 percent of the student body, 36 students, were given out-of-school suspensions, according to state records. Just over four percent, 18 students, served in-school suspensions, and one student was expelled.

The group has made three attempts to obtain a community charter from the Recovery School District (RSD), and raised complaints about the way the process has been handled at a Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting in early March. Washington said that the community group feels that the process was “rigged.”

“We were told by John White that we were not going to get chartered, before anybody submitted an application,” Washington stated. She went on to explain that her group had been trying to work with the RSD and had agreed to tone down protests when they learned on April 18 that a new principal had been appointed.

“We had no notice that there was going to be a new principal coming in. They did not communicate with us whatsoever,” Washington told The Louisiana Weekly. “We don’t know that he’s gone through any of the process in terms of how principals are selected. They just pulled him out and put him here. No disregard [sic] for this community at all.” Expressing her disappointment with the situation, Washington added, “The bigger piece is that we had been negotiating…trying to find a way to work this out.”

Recovery School District spokesperson, Kizzy Payton, told The Louisiana Weekly in an email that “a national search was conducted to identify the next leader for Carver High School.” According to the email, 35 candidates submitted applications and 13 were interviewed. The statement also said that “[t]he RSD firmly believes the newly identify principal, Isaac Pollack,…will do an extraordinary job in turning around the school and helping ensure ever [sic] student is on track to graduate…”

Responding to a question about the community group’s surprise about the new principal’s instatement, Payton said: “[t]he position was advertised on the RSD website and nationally for three weeks.”

Some in the crowd questioned whether Pollack has the qualifications to serve as a principal, but the RSD pointed out that although Pollack began teaching in 2006, he has management experience since he served as a founding teacher at the Science and Math Academy and as an academic dean.

One of the alumni in the crowd, Ernest Charles, says that he had participated in meeting with RSD officials on the issue of who will run Carver High School. “I also met personally with Mr. Dobard and Dana [Peterson], and we said, ‘OK, we’re going to try to work this out…and for them to do this…’ it wasn’t in good faith…I’m totally disgusted with them.”

In answer to a question posed via email from the Louisiana Weekly about the hiring process and why the community group was not consulted, Payton replied by email that: “the RSD makes all decisions on principals independently and with the best results for students in mind…We are working aggressively to ensure that all of the students in our phase-out high schools are served well.”

The crowd swelled between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. when it disbanded because the new principal had not arrived. In a lull before teachers and students began to stream into the school, the group joined in a circle and offered a prayer for the success of their mission.

When yellow buses full of students arrived, they were met with cheerful “good morning” greetings from the demonstrators. Before the youth could enter the building complex, however, Walter Harris, Jr., Dean of Students at Carver, pulled boys with untucked shirts aside and had them adjust their clothing.

One woman in the crowd described the support that the school has from the community. “At our rally this Saturday, we got over 450 supporters that signed our petition. We want this school to stay in this community as it always has been….After we’ve done all of this work, now they want what we’ve worked for.”

The RSD statement noted that Carver’s School Performance (SPS) scores have “ranged from a low of 13.7 to a high of 44.8 in the last 10 years” and cited this as an “imperative” for finding a “transformative leader.” The school’s score did jump 20 points, however, from 28.8 during the 2008-2009 academic year to last year’s 44.8.