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A conversation with Carletta Wilson
A neighborhood parent and I sat down with Carletta Wilson, candidate to be 7th District School Board representative, for about an hour at Buzzy’s on Tuesday evening. Wilson, well-informed and ready to discuss anything that we brought up, was patient as the parent & I jabbered back and forth and scattered questions at her.
What follows is *not* a literal transcript of Wilson’s words unless actually quoted, but are the gist of what she said from my notes.
Wilson is the President of the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School PTA and has a child at the school. Employed as the Administrative Fiscal Assistant for VCU Athletics, she is also Region 1 Chair for the State Special Education Advisory Committee.
Should Bellevue be closed?
We should not close Bellevue. Keeping Bellevue open likely will not be enough, we might still need to consider resuming elementary classes in the round buildings at MLK. Given the crowding in the system in the East End, building a new school in Fulton should still be on the table.
What do you think of the megazone policy?
I am opposed to the megazone lines, there “needs to be an open policy across the board”. We need to make every school just as equal as the next.
What do you think about the Patrick Henry Charter School Initiative?
I have mixed opinion on charters. Research on the subject shows some positives, but not consistently. I am a believer in choice, though. Economics prevents choice for some people, the public system with the charter now offers more choice.
How do we find the balance? I am glad that the charter came in, now we (RPS) have to step up our game.
How important do you think it is to attract folks that have fled or avoided the public school system?
It is very important, this would be beneficial to all, and would help foster economic and racial diversity.
To do this, we need to follow whats going on in the world, structure our schools the way that the world is structured. There needs to be mandatory 2nd language classes and we need to keep up with technology.
Look at the East End elementary school. People say that these are the worst schools, but if you look at George Mason or Chimborazo, these are not bad schools.
What specific actions should be taken to move RPS forward?
We should look at the needs of each school and look at programs that are already working at individual schools. For example, there is a mentoring program at several of the elementary schools that is effective, we need to have this at more schools. Can we get what is working in all of the schools?
We need to more strongly utilize instructional specialists. The principals need the authority to fire/hire.
We need to offer more support to the teachers in the classroom. We need to hire more experienced teachers, this will also help to build confidence in the community.
Lets raise expectations over all. Raise the bar the for the new superintendent. The top needs to push excellence.
The meat of the job is becoming more proactive in how we do things. We need schools, we need to renovate, we need ADA compliance.
We can look at short term ways to make things better, long-term we need to have a unified vision of what we are working towards. We can’t continue to jump from initiative to initiative.
IB can start at the elementary level, as a whole school or sections in schools;
This may be hard, but is not as complex as it sounds. “We have a lot of good people in the system”.
Which of the current board members do you most admire?
Wolf for outspokenness, West the same (whether you agree with him or not, he was willing to state his piece).
Again, great write up John. You’re providing an invaluable service to the community.
We really do have caring and qualified candidates running for School Board.
I have thought for years that principals need the authority to hire/fire. However, that only works if you have a strong accountability system in place to make certain they are good principals and they are making the correct choices.
More experienced teachers can be a plus, but you are not likely to hire more experienced teachers that you actually want in the system until you improve it. RPS is competing against the surround systems and no amount of pay will bring in teachers if they are being stressed to the max, verbally abused by kids/parents/administrators/etc., and constantly have to listen to the bickering ‘downtown’.
Thanks for posting this John.
There are certain schools that I would not send my children to because of abusive administrators. I’ve spoken with quite of few teachers who left particular schools and/or RPS system because of inept and abusive leadership not because of higher pay. Some of these teachers left searing exit reports and human resources simply listened and agreed yet kept the principal in place. If something terrible happens to you or your child in RPS, the first thing the system will do is speak with their lawyer about how to protect themselves from you, the wounded teacher, parent, or child. They isolate you and act all suprised that something bad has happened. They want you to shut up and get a fresh start elsewhere. They lie to you about taking care of the problem which is usually a slap on the principal or other RPS employee’s wrist and a reprimand I imagine goes like this, “Now now no more leading PTA meetings with prayer…no you can’t speak publically about a student’s record…please stop bullying your teachers…you cornered a teacher and put a finger in her face? and you placed a teacher in time out? Oh no you can’t do that…humiliating and yelling at teachers, parents, and children is a very bad idea…Now go on back to work and try your best not to hurt people.” Years later, same a-hole principal still treating people like shit and teachers fleeing. Thank you downtown for doing your best to improve RPS.
Sorry to go off like that but Ry brought up “abuse.”
Carletta mentions several good schools in the east end. I would like to include Bellevue in that list. Bellevue actually has a higher rating than Chimborazo and has more of an economic diversity than any school in the east end. I’m glad the candidates so far are uninterested in closing Bellevue. This historic school is the ideal place for an arts and science magnet or IB program. Note: at the elementary there is no testing for enrollment in a magnet or IB school.