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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Incoming MCPS Director of School Performance spurred massive teacher turnover

From today's Boston Globe:

A hard lesson: change can come too fast

An extraordinary three-quarters of English High’s teachers and administrators have quit or been let go during the past three years, school records show, as headmaster Sito Narcisse pushed through one controversial initiative after another — from school uniforms to single-sex classrooms to eliminating the grade “D,” forcing students to earn a “C” or fail. Teachers who did not go along with Narcisse’s approach were “not the right fit,” in his words, and he sent 38 of them packing, while dozens of others retired or resigned.
 [...]
Narcisse, who is departing to become director of school performance in Montgomery County, Md., insists that he got English High moving in the right direction, pointing to a slight uptick in 10th grade MCAS scores and the success stories of students who, like Hussain, are going on to good colleges.


June 25, 2012 UPDATE:  Mr. Narcisse will be the Director of School Performance for the Down County Consortium as announced by Superintendent Joshua Starr at the May 8, 2012, Board of Education meeting.  

35 comments:

  1. English High School Dr. Sito Narcisse, Headmaster
    Sito Narcisse has come to the Boston Public Schools from Pittsburgh University Prep @ Millones Grades 6-
    12 School where he is the founding principal. Prior to this position, Dr. Narcisse was an assistant high school
    principal, a high school French teacher and chair of the French Department. He has also been a guest lecturer
    at the University of Pittsburgh Department of Administrative and Policy Studies. Dr. Narcisse holds a
    bachelor’s degree from Kennesaw State University, a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University, and a
    doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh.

    http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/files/bps/Personnel%20Appointments%20updated%208-24-09.pdf

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  2. Sito J. Narcisse

    Sito Narcisse has built a career dedicated to helping underserved students in urban areas to succeed when others thought they would fail. He is headmaster of the English High School, America’s oldest public high school, in Boston, Mass., where he has forged partnerships with corporations and institutions of higher education to help underserved students in that urban setting. As a William A. Yeager fellow, he earned his Doctor of Education degree in administrative and policy studies from the University of Pittsburgh School of Education in 2007.

    After beginning his career at Ravenwood High School in Nashville, Tenn., as a French instructor, Narcisse became chair of the French department; came to Pittsburgh to serve as assistant principal of Woodland Hills High School; and was later recruited to serve as the founding principal of University Preparatory School, a unique partnership between the University of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Public Schools.

    He is a member of such organizations as the American Educational Research Association; the American Association of School Administrators; the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, now known as ASCD; the National Association of Secondary School Principals; and the University Council for Educational Administration.

    Narcisse has been honored for outstanding minority leadership by the City of Boston and as a Black male educator by the Union of Minority Neighborhoods. Additionally, the Massachusetts Senate has recognized his work at the English High School as well as his commitment to and passion for education.

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  3. Narcisse had been looking for a new job for months - this from January

    http://theadvocate.com/home/1712473-125/41-apply-to-replace-dilworth.html

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    1. That is for a superintendent position; a promotion in title from the headmaster position he held in Boston.

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    2. The man who would be king!

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  4. Considering how much time Dr. Starr spends on Twitter, you would think that he would have googled this person.

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    1. You can find this article on him put out by his graduate school:

      http://www.education.pitt.edu/AboutUs/NewsEvents/ViewDetail/tabid/1152/ArticleId/27/How-Sito-Narcisse-Transformed-the-Worst-Public-School-in-Boston.aspx

      But, then just months later there are articles about him applying for other jobs around the country.

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    2. I went to comment on the University of Pittsburgh article mention in your post, but the comment section was closed, so I'll post it here:

      The English High School was not the worst public high school in Boston, if you look at the “data” on the Massachusetts Department of Education site, it was making some progress under the state’s “Commonwealth Co-pilot” program. In fact, prior to Narcisse’s arrival, teachers and staff at the school had worked, for two years, and received New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) Accreditation that fall. That would not have been awarded to the “worst public high school in Boston.” Narcisse had nothing to do with obtaining NEASC Accreditation, the work was completed before he arrived.

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  5. Dissertation

    http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04032007-212301/unrestricted/NarcisseFinalETD2007.pdf

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    1. Dissertation

      Someone should check this with "turnitin." http://www.turnitin.com/

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  6. Video introduction

    http://stg.iuniv.tv/top/episode/eid/65336/pid/3892

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  7. Actions are more telling than degrees or aspirations; his name says it all....

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    1. Yes. Actions do speak louder than words. As a former teacher at English I felt a need to respond to and add to the conversation. Dr. Sito Narcisse was the worst thing that ever happened to English high school. He came in with his “3-year plan” and a complete lack of understanding of the job he had taken on. As time passed we quickly became aware of both his professional and personal limitations. He was unwilling or unable to assess and appreciate the strengths of the school, which included a very dedicated staff. He quickly made changes without considering how they should be implemented or the consequences to students and staff. I could list the numerous ways in which his words and actions undermined the success of the school but unless you are familiar with the dysfunction of BPS they would seem unbelievable. I am happy that Dr Narcisse’s 3 year reign has ended. His legacy is that many wonderful teachers have been forced to leave the students that they wanted to teach and accept jobs elsewhere in the district and beyond. Also to his credit, the students of English high are less prepared socially and academically to enter college or the work force.

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  8. It is worth reading the entire article. Narcisse's transformation of English went way beyond uniforms and single sex classes. I hope when Dr. Narcisse comes to Montgomery County he realizes we are not Boston. Here are some additional quotes from the article, regarding firing so many teachers:

    "But Pred-Sosa, an award-winning teacher who was also a union representative at the school, was one of the first to be let go. She received the dreaded letter from Narcisse that she had been “excessed,” meaning that she would have to transfer to another school. Pred-Sosa was so shocked that she posted the letter on her classroom door, but Narcisse ordered her to take it down because it was disturbing the students.
    “When you come into a tough job and make decisions, people take things real personal,” explained Narcisse. “Let me say this: Lisa Pred-Sosa is not a bad person. But the reality was I didn’t think she was the right fit for what we were trying to get done. That was hard for her to accept. But she was not a bad person. Nor do I think it was her fault.“

    Pred-Sosa was among many well-regarded teachers informed by Narcisse that they would have to leave. Of the eight teachers that Hussain singled out in her graduation speech, Narcisse let three go, three more quit, and a seventh retired. One teacher who was released, Richard Beyer, now teaches honors English at Boston Latin, arguably the city’s best school."

    and:
    "However, Narcisse had another goal that threatened the mostly white teaching staff: he wanted more minority teachers, believing they would build stronger connections with a student body that was nearly 90 percent minority. Under Narcisse, the teachers and administrators went from two-thirds white to 60 percent black and Latino.

    “If I’m not mistaken, we are the most balanced school in the city in terms of race,” he said.
    Narcisse knows that some teachers believed he was pursuing reverse racism, but he thinks they’re focusing too much on skin color.

    “Anybody I let go would have said I was racist because I was a black headmaster letting go white faculty,” Narcisse said. “It’s interesting how they always pay attention to how many white people I let go and don’t care about how many blacks or Latinos I let go.”

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    1. “It’s interesting how THEY always pay attention to how many white people I let go and don’t care about how many blacks or Latinos I let go.”

      How many blacks and Latinos did he let go?!? The black and Latino teachers and staff who left on their own (escaped) don't count!

      I wish the author asked Narcisse who the "they" were! It would have made me feel that someone at the BPS district level was witnessing what was happening at English!

      What Narcisse didn't understand is that the black and Latino teachers were just a horrified as the white teachers about the way he spoke and what he said and did to people! Teachers and staff all candidly talked to each other about what he said, how he was trying to create a division amongst us! Our staff was not like that, we were seamless and always worked in the best interest of the kids, and, as I said, ALL were horrified!

      Narcisse's 2011 Senior Awards assembly speech or his 2011 Graduation speech never made it to YouTube! Parents were justifiably insulted by the way he spoke to about them and to their children!

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  9. It is interesting how people are knocking a man who tried to bring change to a school that needed it. If there were so many great teachers, why was the state trying to take over the school, years before Dr. Narcisse arrived. If these fired teachers were so great please inform me how their current schools are doing?

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    1. What's interesting is that the least amount of focus is on students. Time and time again we see administrators lauded as super heroes of education as they move from district to district. There are constant conventions where these education super stars sell their wares. Data is fluffed up, put in a power point and amazing conclusions are announced as if they are facts. This does what for students in classrooms?

      If, the gentleman in the above article was doing a great job, then why didn't he stay for the students? Why, as soon as he was being applauded did he start looking for another job? Why not stay in place and serve the students? This is a question that can be asked of a lot of public school administrators that are constantly flitting all over the country.

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    2. Prior to Dr. Johnson, the BPS "Office of Strategic Planning" set up school populations inequitably so that they would fail. A school with a high Special Ed population and a high ELL population would not pass Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) These "underperforming schools" would qualify the BPS for more State and Federal Grants. This money didn't go to the failing schools in direct services, but was "absorbed" by BPS district office and "filtered" out to all schools. It was a bait and switch tactic the city used to subsidize the school system. For example, I taught at one middle school where the Spanish ELL program moved to another middle school because the grant ran out at my school.

      English High was set up with an unequal amount of ELL students (66%) and a high SPED population of (35%) because it was their turn to fail. In 2006, the BPS found out that it wasn't business as usual, and that EHS was a being labeled a "chronically underperforming" school under NCLB, making them subject to state intervention. In 2007, EHS became a Co-Pilot School, and even after receiving NEASC accreditation in fall of 2009, the MADOE turned EHS into a Level 4 "turnaround" school in 2010! Right now the Massachusetts Department of Education is holding 900,000 of race to the top funds from English. If the school doesn’t make substantial progress by Feb/March of 2013 the state is threatening to make English a Level 5 school and take it over.

      On the high school level, BPS has 3,708 students attending 3 exam schools, 2,651 students attend in-district pilot schools, and 912 students attend in-district charter schools. These schools have selected “cherry picked” student populations. If you divided the populations of these exam, pilot and charter schools between the BPS comprehensive high schools, would these comprehensive public high schools, who service all students, still be underperforming? I don't think so.

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    3. I grew up in PG County and my sister worked for many years in the Montgomery County schools. I have lived and worked in Boston my entire adult life, including 14 years at English High, so I know both communities. It was a great benefit to the many better schools to be getting all the good teachers leaving English, but it constantly depleted EHS. I left in 2005 under the previous headmaster. With such poor leadership for over 10 years it will take a lot of effort for EHS to improve, but I hope it happens.

      RE the article from Narcisse's grad school publication, the U of Pittsburgh--he constantly monitored and tried to control what was printed about him. That article was a total white wash of what was really happening. The Globe article last week finally told the truth. I am wondering if folks in Montgomery County really think he is the best person to be in charge of "school improvement", he who did so much to destroy our school.

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  10. @Anonymous June 26, 5:39, it was the students who identified the teacher as 'great' and according to the article, Ms. Pred-Sosa had won teaching awards. The explanation Narcisse gave that was reported in the article was not that they weren't great teachers, it was that "I didn’t think she was the right fit for what we were trying to get done." Those are two very different things, as any parent with children at MCPS can tell you.

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    1. Narcisse said, "I didn't think she was the right fit for what we were trying to get done."

      That was one of the many party lines that was taught to him by "Center for Collaboration" (CCE) a "non-profit" (not to be confused with charity) educational vendor that was paid $180,000. over a two year period out of school funds, to provide Narcisse and the other administrators "leadership training." That's a lot of money to go to an educational vendor not in direct service of children! I would have given them a bus pass and an application for a library card! Go look at their web site and read their documents; all his key phrases are memorized from them!

      Then go and find their IRS 990's and see how much money they are raking in from the Boston Public Schools, for services that could, and should, have been provided by the district office! It would be laughable, if so many students and great teachers were not impacted so negatively by him.

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  11. There was poor leadership at English High for many years before Narcisse became headmaster, but he made it worse. The school had been much better in the past. The previous headmaster had been brought in to break the union by getting rid of those teachers active in the union, and he did. But they were among the best teachers and the atmosphere became so toxic that many others wanted to leave as well. Narcisse intensified the tactic of getting rid of people, often because they disagreed with him or were smart and had opinions.

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  12. @Anonymous July 1 9:29 PM, that is very interesting, given that the MCEA is very involved in the MCPS budget and other issues, and sits at the secret 'table' where budget allocations are decided. They must have wanted him hired, I assume.

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    1. Hi, Paula. What I heard from a source up here in Boston is that Dr. Starr told Narcisse not to worry about the bad publicity because something similar had happened to him in the past. But someone else with connections to Starr is sending him a message about her own experience with Narcisse at English. So Starr may be hearing more about it anyway. In a recent interview with the incoming principal at English she says that she is going back to basics, no experimentation. So it sounds like they are doing away with his "innovations". Still find it incredible that he will be judging schools, and I guess principals, on their performance.

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  13. Hi Anonymous, thanks. That seems odd about something 'similar' having happened with Josh. It seems if that had been the case we would have heard about it, but you never know.

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    1. We did hear about it. Starr had very bad publicity up in Stamford. He wrote a very long letter to the editor in the Stamford paper in response to parent complaints. But, none of it mattered. He still got the MCPS job anyway.

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  14. I just read about Starr in Stamford, after hearing about him here, no wonder he hired Narcisse! It's obvious, the "Lemon Aid" Clones have begun to set up shop in Montgomery County! Another Globe Article about Boston Public, this guy will probably surface here too!

    http://www.boston.com/news/education/articles/2012/07/08/boston_school_superintendent_carol_johnson_took_no_action_when_obryant_headmaster_charged_with_assaulting_his_wife/

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  15. I looked up Starr's problem in Stamford. It looks like he implemented a change that he thought would bring more equity in a manner that some disagreed with. When Starr's plans were criticized he accused those who disagreed as being against equity. That is very different from the leadership problems with Narcisse. Narcisse fired everyone who disagreed with him and those who didn't, regardless of how good they were at their jobs. He also brought in administrators who were not good at their jobs. I can see why Starr would support Narcisse and think their problems were similar--bold leader makes change that ruffles feathers--but in fact they are very different and Narcisse's leadership is much more problematic.

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  16. It is unfortunate the picture people are trying to paint of Narcisse. I worked at English High School as a teacher and the papers did not interview me. There were many people at the school who appreciated that his expectations for the kids and teachers were higher. Unfortunately, it is about politics. The bad part is that he had to let people who were not doing a great job go. When you have other teachers next door not working as hard or not trying to collaborate to help kids get better it impacts us all.

    In the papers it tells you our school was the worst before Narcisse. They are right! Narcisse held everyone accountable and they hated him for it. He also collaborated with us and allowed people to be innovated since our student population had a lot of challenges. Now some of my bitter colleagues are attempting to express that the teachers that were before Narcisse were better. This is an insult to the current staff. The school has done better under Narcisse then the last 15 years. The problem is that the district continued to dump children who should of been in alternative schools into English High School. Narcisse was fighting with the district to control that. He worked with parents to change the district process. However people in the district did not want to change the system. In Boston we will do whatever it take to fight against change. Our history for years have been a fight especially in the public schools. You should judge Narcisse for yourself! He actually demanded for parents to be involved in the schools and invited parents to visit classrooms.

    I think it is crazy that the people who have been fired by Narcisse have the loudest voice. Those of us still at English think this has put such a bad light under the good things that has been done at this school. Talk to Narcisse yourself and judge his actions yourself. You will find out as I did that he is not what the article is painting him to be. Our lost in Boston and your gain. Oh yeah, we have a history of chasing out people in our school system. We say that no one wants to collaborate with us but in reality we make it tough for people to collaborate with us.

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    1. @4:33: Well, you had your chance to speak here, and you are anonymous. It's pretty clear that the media can't interview people that don't have an identity.

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    2. @4:33: And now you live in Maryland? What a coincidence.

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    3. @4:33: No, you only have to look at the “data” to see the picture of Narcisse, presented in the Boston Globe article, was dead on accurate, and kinder than I would have been! No, English High did not do better under Narcisse, the Massachusetts Department of Education, doesn’t think so either, and is withholding $900,000 in "race to the top" funding from the Boston Public Schools. Since Narcisse was appointed headmaster, English High has spiraled down as indicated by the low graduation rate. In 2011, 68 out of 149 students graduated! In 2012, 89 out of 179 graduated!

      Permanent Teachers were not “fired” they were “excessed” to other district schools because Narcisse felt that they were “not the right fit!” Teacher’s didn’t hate Narcisse, it wasn’t about politics, from the day he came in, he had a personal agenda, and it wasn’t about the best interests of the students at English High and, on reflection, for the Boston Public Schools. He was using the first public high school in the United States as a stepping-stone to bigger and better ventures!

      Narcisse bragged in the "Jamaica Plain Gazette" that English High had the highest “5th year” graduation rate! Teachers were horrified! If a student has to repeat a year of high school, it cost the student around $17,000+/- dollars, because that is a year they could have been working. If you put that money in the bank, by the time the student is ready to retire it amounts to half a million dollars! That is a lot of money to run around the hallways of English High for an extra year! It’s even more if the student graduates from college.

      Then there is the cost to the Boston Public Schools, $16,666 x 170 students is $2,833,220 to retain those students another year because, even though Narcisse had the “race to the top” money, he didn’t spend it on safeguards that would have given these students the opportunity to graduate on time!

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    4. HaHaHa...AnonymousJuly 14, 2012 at 4:33 PM AKA Sito Narcisse!

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  17. I am Fran Perkins, wrote above under my own name and also as Anonymous on July 2, July 1 and July 4 at 1:22. I don't usually log into my Google account and it was easier to go with Anonymous, but I have no problem associating my name with my entries. I suspect that the entry above defending Mr. Narcisse's record was written by him or someone very close to him. I left the school years before he arrived and had been evaluated favorably before I left. I did maintain contact with others who stayed and I live in the neighborhood, so I stayed in touch with what was going on at the school. My only interest is in telling the truth and defending my former co-workers from unfair attacks. I have a slight connection to Montgomery county and a greater one to English High, so I care about what happens in both places. I hope Montgomery County has a better experience with his leadership than we did.

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  18. Hi Fran, Thank you for your support. I commented on an article in the “Fenway News Online” and was replied to by a poster with a similar writing style as the writer who is defending Mr. Narcisse's record here. I think it might even be a student.

    http://www.fenwaynews.org/community/superintendent-johnson-appoints-new-leadership-at-english-high-school/

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