Seattle Times (RVP News Partner):
Rainier Beach High will soon have two principals, the first in a number of changes the district is planning as it works to live up to its promise to provide high-quality schools in all neighborhoods.
Lisa Escobar, now principal at The Center School, a small, alternative high school at Seattle Center, will become a co-principal at Rainier Beach with Robert Gary Jr., who has been principal there since 2006.
It will be one of just a few times the district has had two full-time principals at one school. The move also is the first in a number of “educational investments” the district plans to make as it phases in new school boundaries, under which more students will go to school closer to home. This fall, the new boundaries will apply only to students entering kindergarten, middle and high school.
Seattle School Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson said she’s proud of the progress Rainier Beach High has made under Gary’s leadership, but the school still “has a very steep hill to climb.” Read more.
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Lisa Escobar was one of the main reasons I considered The Center School for my 9th grader this year. She is an outstanding leader. I opted for private HS because I did not trust the current SPS administration to leave TCS intact. For the sake of the students at TCS, I am sorry my hunch proved right.
I don’t know how effective TWO principals will be at RBHS. It could be a good thing for the school. Or it could result in a power play with staff and families choosing sides. All I know is that I would not want my child caught in the middle.
Anyone familiar with the last principal change at RB would understand why it has to be done this way. The current and near future students cannot wait through years of lawsuits and settlements for a change.
WTF? two principals? What a clusterf*%(^
No, Laurel, it makes perfect sense. With the new assignment plan coming into play, they want to make RB look as paletable to parents who would normally shun such a school as possible. Whether the current principal is any good or not doesn’t matter because the PERCEPTION is the RB i s a “bad scchool” with “bad students” and there will be either 1) a mass flight from it or 2) a hue and cry over being assigned there, or both.
So bringing in a successful principal from a successful north(ish) Seattle school might appease some of those contemplating making a stink over being assigned to RB. I can’t say whether this will work. Probably not. The district is trying to make changes at Cleveland for next year as well, and there are already people saying, “Well, it might be really good, but I can’t take a chance on MY kid, nope, not me.” And I think that’s what will happen at RB as well.
On top of being dangerous, Rainier Beach and Cleveland are the two worst-performing high schools in the state of Washington—no need for quotation marks around the words ‘bad school’, agibean. I wouldn’t blame anybody for doing what they could to keep their kids out of either one. Quite the opposite.
I think it’s funny that the superintendent says that the increased enrollment expected at Rainier Beach High School will make the school more work than one principal alone could do. Ha! Every other comprehensive high school will be bigger with more programs and just one principal.
Why does the press, the board and the public allow her to tell such lies without challenging them?
I agree Charlie. I am also perplexed that Dr. Gary will be in charge of community outreach when he’s done such a poor job of it in the past (last year’s tour of RBHS was practically non-existent and Gary was a no-show—no hand-outs, no presentation, no nothing). And what’s he going to say to people about why there are two principals? Really?
I also question the choice of Escobar since, though I think she’s fantastic, her recent experience has been with small, alternative-type schools (NOVA and TCS) with highly-motivated student populations. I would think the District would have been better moving Garfield’s principal—someone experienced with a large, comprehensive high school with a diverse student population.
It took more than 5 years and an almost $500K settlement(plus the other legal costs) to get rid of the previous RB principal. Do you think Dr. Gary is going to leave for less? Should students, staff, and South Seattle have to wait him out? Obviously this is a “no confidence” vote on his leadership of the school, but the district is currently not able to fire or move him.
If you need somebody to blame its sainted John Stanford and his no. 2 Olshefsky, who hired these last two losers, assigned them to RB, and paid the settlement that set the precedent. Goodloe-Johnson is stuck with the mess they created. Adding a second, competent principal in charge of actual management of the school in the meantime is the best option under these circumstances.
Hopefully, part of the Escobar/Gary team purpose will be to identify the necessary community tools and assets to increase the success of the RBHS students. What they need most of all is more one-on-one tutoring and more diversity in how they ca express themselves. While the African drum corps is definitely worth expanding, so too does the school need a stable and talented YOUNG white/black theater director!!! RBHS could be the south end hub for theater and rising talent if only funding and support would go in that direction.
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