New Central Region Executive Director Announced
From SPS:
Today
I’m pleased to announce that Sarah Pritchett, principal of McClure
Middle School, has been appointed as the new Executive Director of
Schools for the Central Region.
Ms.
Pritchett will support the principals and schools in the central region
of the city with responsibilities that include coaching principals,
coordinating professional development for principals
and teachers, strengthening our systems for monitoring and using
student data, and conducting frequent learning walks in the schools –
all in service of ensuring a world-class, 21st century education for every child in every classroom in the region.
She
has been principal at McClure Middle School since 2007, during which
time McClure has twice been named a Washington State School of
Distinction. Previously, she served as assistant principal
at Rose Hill Junior High in Redmond, Washington, as house administrator
at Seattle’s Mercer Middle School and as middle school re-entry teacher
at Sharples Alternative School, also in our District.
Ms.
Pritchett earned a Master’s in school administration from Western
Washington University and a Bachelor of Science in psychology from
Washington State University. She holds a Principal’s
Certificate and a Teaching Certificate.
The
hiring team, which included district administrators and central office
staff, appreciated her participation with the Central Region
Administrators and as a representative on Principals’
Association of Seattle Schools (PASS). Her active role in these venues
will assist her in transitioning to executive director of the central
region. Ms. Pritchett replaces Nancy Coogan, who is leaving the District
to take over as Superintendent of the Tukwila
School District. We wish Nancy well and thank her for her years of
service to our students and schools.
Comments
Nauseous
McClure's projected enrollment next fall is 471 and the building's capacity is 675. It does sound like parents are unhappy with something there.
Lynn
http://www.queenannenews.com/main.asp?SectionID=26&SubSectionID=337&ArticleID=34230
The public doesn't know even the tip of the iceberg.
The move so typifys Banda's "man behind the screen" (staff driven) "leadership" that its actually funny in the absurd way.
Time will tell!
Congrats to the McClure community!
Do we really need executive directors? I know these positions were created by Enfield. They don't seem to help parents and I am not sure that they are useful to principals. Why can't the superintendent manage principals directly? It seems like it is another layer of bureaucracy that takes funding away from the classrooms.
Is this another one of Tolley and Heath's brilliant picks? I think Banda is too trusting of his advisors.
How could someone legitimately raise concerns about job performance without being accused of character assassination? Perhaps Nauseous could instruct us.
strengthening our systems for monitoring and using student data
Regardless of who gets this appointment, is this now one of the top 4 duties of and Executive Director??
The public doesn't know even the tip of the iceberg.
Comments like this may agitate, but are not very helpful. What would be helpful is giving specifics ( to the degree possible ), like mirmac did right above your post.
As far as the low enrollment, enrollment has been increasing and the school is on an upswing, largely due to the NSAP. McClure used to be the place to send kids removed from other schools for discipline problems. When I moved to QA 20 years ago, this school was known as having a disproportionate number of thugs and criminals (including a pair of students who were torturing and hanging neighborhood cats, and a student who beat a transient to death with a skateboard in Kinnear Park.) This was long before Pritchett, obviously, and caused people to opt to other schools. Now with the NSAP, the school population has changed dramatically.
Many good things are going on at this school. Nothing is perfect, I'm sure, but I take the mud slinging with a grain of salt, based on what I've heard from parents deeply involved at the school.
Dissenting Voice
The results from the staff survey on leadership is bit below the District average, but not disastrous. Same for the family survey results.
I don't know anything about Ms. Pritchett but it seems we always put the wrong people in roles of leadership at SPS. Why is that? Do other districts have problems finding good administrators to fill positions?"
I can say that Shoreline has problems finding good administrators as well, so it's not just Seattle. I've heard they'll often fill their positions with friends, or friends of friends.
CT
Nappy
Black 7th graders lag more than 40 points behind pts behind their white peers in math. And by wide margins in reading and writing too. This despite special all-black afterschool programs.
McClure has been on an "upswing" for at least 10 years.
The good news. With her gone, I'm sure the staff will be much better. Her main complaint was staff. A job of her going to meetings - will be a lot better than anything else.
-exMcClure
Rants about bullying and yearbook, WEB, and ASB classes. Seems her enemies are still out there. Strong black women are a magnet for the haters.
Napoleon
-parent
Look closer and you will find that there is another princpal at a school close by who also is VERY unpopular with staff and is white and female.
It's has not been daylighted because staff is running scared.
There are many posts on this blog about this situation, people are just focused on the wrong problem.
ANON 2013
No way to know unless you are directly involved, whether the bad teachers are the ones complaining, and whether what they are complaining about is her trying to get them to do their jobs.
Skeptical
When the number of grievances is leaps and bounds beyond other schools, it is delusional to say it's "just the haters". Please, I have stated objective evidence that runs counter to promotion, and can be confirmed by other sources. This seems to be a pattern for principals in this district, in regions with ineffectual Exec Dirs like soon-to-be ex Ex Dir Nancy Coogan and Ex Dir failure Marni Campbell. They have themselves been promoted per the Peter Principle.
-not a teacher, not a hater
YIKES
I wonder what the criteria is for that position?
If this move is good or mc clure, then it doesn't bode we'll for the central Distrct to improve or develop those schools.
Is SPS rearranging deck chairs on the titanic?
Wow. What a Seattle politically correct comment. What makes her a strong black woman? The fact that she's black? And a woman? Really? A principal is the standard for "strong"? What a low bar for measurement.
Same crowd came out defending MGJ. The reality in most of this commentary is in the job performance - not their demographic representation.
-parent
It's in a yard just west of the Ballard bridge, not sure of the street name, it's the street behind Trader Joe. Not just for little kids, I remember the story when I was a kid in the sixties and I never saw a real steam shovel. This one has the boiler on the back. I read that story to my kids and it is pretty timeless.
--Save the Post
hemibhana
That said, there are some objective truths.
The staff survey on leadership at McClure rated Ms Pritchett only slightly worse than other principals were rated by their staffs. The majority of the results are positive. So claims that all of the teachers or even a majority of the teachers don't like or respect her are countered by this evidence.
In case you're wondering, the bulk of the staff did respond to the survey. The data profile reports 46 staff at the school (47 on the school report) and about 40 responded to most of the questions.
As for the academic achievement gap at McClure, the only indications we have is the School Report which shows Black students underperforming White students, but by less than the District average.
McClure's Black students pass the MSP at slightly higher rates than the district average and McClure's White students pass it at rates slightly lower than the district average.
The pass rates for other groups are generally about the district average, except ELL, which lags. Now, you might think that the school should have done better given the SES of the surrounding community. The District data profile reports that 91.1% of McClure students are from the attendance area.
I don't know Ms Pritchett. I am neither inclined to support or oppose her promotion. I have heard complaints, but I have no first-hand impressions of my own. Everyone has their own truth, but there are some facts that we should all share. The data I have seen doesn't indicate grave problems at McClure. Is there other data that does?
-Yikes
Results from McClure staff survey:
Staff feeling positive about professional culture: 30% (District average 56%)
Staff feeling positive about school leadership: 32% (District average: 57%)
Conflict and dissension among the staff is resolved in a timely and effective manner: 15% (District average: 46%)
The principal encourages and supports open communication: 19% (District average: 61%)
The principal is an effective manager of school operations: 38% (District average: 67%)
These are not very good results. About half of the staff responded to the surveys.
The Executive Director of Schools for McClure is Nancy Coogan, a woman who has always impressed me as a straight-shooter. I would encourage folks to contact her about any school in her region.
Just last week Sarah Pritchett, principal, McClure, accused her entire teaching staff of being racist.
Who is watching for and monitoring such bizarre behavior?
Thanks to the NSAP, in three years time McClure's demographics have changed thusly:
FRL has dropped from 47% to 32%
White has climbed from 43% to 57%
These changes, along with the SES of the surrounding community, likely have a greater impact on student outcomes than any other factor. Such are the hazards of just looking at "gap" and test scores.
-Annie
I don't even understand your last sentence.
If you don't think this blog has created/inspired/irritated change, you haven't been paying attention.
He may be even handed but he speaks from two sides of his mouth. He is using the numbers post NSAP to support a mirage. Check out his past post where he states that there is a problem. Thus he is a pot stirrer. He knows that the increases in numbers does reflects mostly the change in enrollment at the school. Charlie is a contrarian. The last sentence accuses Charlie of being just like SPS, talk talk talk...nothing gets done. Even Charlie admits this, see you past posts as well for his own words.
-Annie