Lexington has more Black principals than at any time since desegregation, Caulk says
For the upcoming 2020-2021 school year, Fayette County Public Schools will have more Black principals than at any time since a federal judge ordered the district to desegregate in 1972, according to Superintendent Manny Caulk.
It is just one measure of success in the effort to push equity, Caulk said.
Six of the district’s nine newly-hired principals for this school year are Black.
The latest hire is the new principal at Lexington’s Yates Elementary School, Barry Richburg, a North Carolina native who previously served as principal of an elementary school in Raleigh.
Others include: Donte Tichenor, principal of Booker T. Washington Elementary School; Twanjua Jones, new principal of Morton Middle School; John Moore, new principal of Ashland Elementary School; Michael Jones, new principal of Mary Todd Elementary School and Ebony Hutchinson, new principal at William Wells Brown Elementary School.
“This is not just about hiring leaders of color,” Caulk said recently. “It’s also about being inclusive, opening doors and providing access and opportunity where there had previously been barriers. This is not a reaction to current events. It’s bigger and more intentional than that.” (This summer, in Lexington and cities across the country , racial disparities were at the center of multiple protests).
“We are attracting talented educators of all races who want to be a part of what we’re doing to make an impact on racial equality and social justice,” Caulk said.
Richburg brings 18 years of education experience to the district having worked in schools in both North Carolina and Virginia. Since 2012, he has been the principal for two elementary and one middle school in the Wake County, N.C., Public School system.
Twenty-one percent of the principals in Fayette County are people of color. Fourteen are Black. One is Hispanic and 56 are white.
In response to the new hires, Penny Christian, who as president of the 16th District PTA said she comments “through an equity lens” said, “I hope at some point this is no longer such an anomaly that it is newsworthy.”
Under Kentucky law, school councils of parents and staff hire principals unless the state labels the school as low-performing at which time the superintendent hires the principal. That is the case for a handful of Fayette schools labeled low performing in fall 2018.
Ebony Hutchinson, the new principal of William Wells Brown Elementary, said she is focused on rebranding that school.
It has been one of the lowest performing schools in the district for several years. Hutchinson said she and her staff will have high expectations for students and families.
“My qualifications and experiences are what made me qualified for this position. Being African American is just an added bonus,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said the district is very diverse and the staff and leadership need to be diverse as well.
“Students need to see not only those who look like them, but those that don’t” in leadership positions so they will know that those possibilities are open for anyone, Hutchinson said.
John Moore, the new Ashland Elementary principal, told the Herald-Leader that it’s important to have strong leaders of all colors.
“Every child needs to be represented. That’s white, Black, Hispanic. It’s not just African American that needs to be represented in administration. It’s every group,“ said Moore, the former administrative dean at Coventry Oak Elementary.
“This is the time for innovative leaders and I think that’s why I was chosen,” he said. At Ashland, he wants to build a “solid foundation with a shared vision.”
For the 2019-20 school year, 12 percent of the teachers district-wide were people of color including 209 who were Black and 77 who were Hispanic. 48 were Asian, 4 were Native American and 13 were 2 or more races, said district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall.
Caulk said in August 2019 that if the student population of public schools in Lexington continued to get more racially diverse, children of color would be in the majority.
In 2019-20 black students made up 22.8 percent of the district’s student body. White students make up less than half, at 48.7 percent. Hispanic students were 17.8 percent and Asian students are 4.8 percent of the student body. The other 5.9 percent of students were listed as “other.”
The Fayette school district has significant achievement gaps between white students and their peers.
The percentage of Black students who were proficient and distinguished in reading and math was lower than any other race or ethnicity in Fayette County Public Schools in 2018-19, according to district data.
There have been some recent calls for improved equity in the district:
In June, two graduates of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School started a petition to get African American studies into the Fayette County Public Schools curriculum.
Davita Gatewood, who has worked on and off for the district, recently told the Herald-Leader that the district doesn’t seem to give minority candidates fair chance and that some teachers exhibit racial bias.
Caulk said intentional work in equity, diversity and inclusion is happening under his leadership.
He said his commitment is evident in his entire body of work – from choosing to accept jobs that pushed him to confront his own implicit bias and expand his understanding of those who look, live, speak, worship and love differently than he does to helping others develop their own cultural competency.
“Working for social justice is part of who I am,” Caulk said.
Caulk said he has expanded access for families with telephone translation services at every school. He made sure the district participates in the Pride Festival, in addition to Roots and Heritage, Fiesta Latina and other cultural celebrations.
Caulk said under his leadership, spending with diverse companies increased 216 percent in just two years, from $4.4 million in 2017-2018 to $13.9 million in just the months of the last fiscal year. He said he changed the staffing formula to provide more resources in schools that serve high percentages of children living in poverty.
Changes he directed have resulted in the number of students of color identified for gifted and talented services increasing by 33 percent, from 1,866 the year he was hired to 2,484 during the 2018-19 school year, he said.
He said he established the Success Academy to support, accelerate and re-engage students who are over-age and under-credited in earning a high school diploma.
“And the Rise STEM Academy for Girls was my solution to address the under representation of female students –- especially those of color – in science, technology and engineering fields,” Caulk said.
Caulk said his commitment to equity and inclusion is also reflected in the diversity seen in the hires controlled at the district level, including district mental health professionals, college and career coaches, and police officers, where minority representation is 47 percent, 83 percent and 30 respectively.
He said he also instituted the teachers-in- residence program that provides opportunities for educators of color to join the organization and be placed in special assignments in schools. At the district level, Caulk said a minority recruiter participates in the interview and hiring process.
“Fayette County Public Schools is a district where people who are committed to equity, inclusion and excellence want to be,” Caulk said. “People are passionate about wanting to be leaders in Fayette County Public Schools at this time, which is a reflection of the incredible work happening both in our schools and at the district level.”
Gatewood, a cheer coach at Lexington Traditional Middle School, agreed Wednesday that a lot of improvements on equity have been made, such as the hiring of more black cheer coaches, the six new black principals, and translation efforts.
However, Gatewood said her mother was on the Fayette County Schools’ equity council 25 years ago and some of the deficits the council worked on back then persist today.
“We still don’t have a lot of African American teachers in our schools. It shouldn’t look like that in 2020,” Gatewood said.
In Frankfort on Tuesday, incoming Kentucky Commissioner of Education Jason Glass told state lawmakers on the Joint Interim Committee on Education that along with the pandemic and budget problems, Kentucky schools are facing the challenge of advancing equity and anti-racism.
Glass said it’s a long overdue focus not just in Kentucky, but across the country. He said he would support districts on that issue.
“At the very center of our moral purpose in public education is providing every child the opportunity to expand their potential,” Glass said, and the opportunities have to be there for black and brown students.