Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School has a new principal — just over a month after the former administrator “parted ways” with the school’s charter operator for unknown reasons.
Julia Rich, who previously was an administrator for a San Francisco-based charter school provider, will be the new principal when Green Dot Public Schools takes control of the school’s academic program next year. Green Dot is an L.A.-based charter school operator that Beaumont ISD has opted to partner with to improve academic performance.
“I am thrilled to be joining this community,” Rich said in a statement. “My North Star is cultivating lifelong learners. Seeing students grow their capacity to learn and achieve is why I joined education.”
Green Dot’s original candidate, John Burnett, left the role in April with little public explanation.
At the time, Burnett, who also previously served as a KIPP administrator, said he “doesn’t want to be a distraction from the true focus: King’s Scholars.”
According to his LinkedIn profile, he is now a contract leadership coach.
Parents and community members had their first chance to see what King Middle School will look like under Rich’s leadership during a community meeting Tuesday evening.
“We will be implementing an A-day and B-day schedule,” Rich said during a virtual presentation. “What you see … is unique across the board. We will offer reading and math for each and every day. Our students will be exposed to electives, and they will also have social studies and science.”
Electives will include career and technical education options, band, art and chorus.
And in the middle of each block day, Rich said, students will have an advisory period.
“Advisory is a time for students for students to build community with their classmates and work on skill building, social-emotional learning, critical thinking with the thinkLaw curriculum and additional resources,” Rich said. “We like to focus on skills that will translate to the classroom and beyond.”
Chris “Cliff” Claflin, the Executive Director of Green Dot Public Schools Southeast Texas introduced the Rich during the meeting and in a news release sent out Tuesday.
“We are thrilled to welcome Julia to Beaumont and know that her leadership, passion, and perspective will be invaluable to growing our students’ academic success,” Claflin said. “We can’t wait to see the great things to come from her leadership at King Middle School.”
The district is partnering with the charter operator to avoid state intervention or closure following years of failing state accountability scores, one of several such partnerships across the district.
The partnership, which is one of the only options the district had left due to the accountability scores, has been questioned by some community members, including Linda Gilmore, who spoke out at the May meeting of the BISD board of trustees.
Gilmore said, in her opinion, “charters are established in low socioeconomic areas for students the district has given up on their academic learning and turning it over to a business.” She also questioned their efficacy.
District and Green Dot officials have worked to push back on that idea since announcing the agreement last year.
In a February community meeting, District Innovation Officer Anetra Cheatham said the venture still is a partnership.
“The district is extremely excited to partner with Green Dot,” Cheatham said during the meeting. “We want to dispel this idea that we have now given our school to Green Dot. It is very much both a Green Dot school and a Beaumont public school.”
Green Dot and other charter partners are funded by tax dollars.
Cheatham explained the process of the partnership, which is laid out in State Bill 1882. The law outlines how schools can work with outside operators to pause accountability penalties for two years.
The agreement with the Green Dot culminated an extensive search process that started early last year.
Prior to finding Green Dot, the district made several failed attempts to find a charter to operate King Middle School through a process known as “Calls for quality schools” that allows public schools to secure outside partners to help rehabilitate schools struggling with academic and accountability rankings.
While the agreement officially is labeled a “partnership,” the contract gives Green Dot authority to hire and fire all employees, principals and other academic instructional employees, specifying that the company is “under no obligation to hire or contract with any person currently employed or contracted by the district in any capacity.”
In an effort to bridge the gap with the community and answer any questions, Green Dot is inviting parents of current or future King Middle School students to meet with officials at the school on Tuesday, from 5 to 6 p.m. and 6 to 7 p.m. to receive “updates and free swag.”
isaac.windes@hearstnp.com
twitter.com/isaacdwindes