What made Cecil Elementary a Blue Ribbon school
With the holiday rush and cold season upon us, I didn't have a chance to comment last week on the appointment of East Baltimore's Cecil Elementary as a Maryland Blue Ribbon school. But here's something that struck me about the award:
At the city school board meeting earlier this month, the board named a new principal of the school, Roxanne Forr. Forr is only the fifth principal that Cecil has had in 42 years of existence, according to a school system press release. That means each of the school leaders has lasted an average of nearly a decade.
Ninety percent of the students at Cecil receive free or reduced-price lunch. Ninety-one percent of the students passed the state reading test last spring. Ninety-six percent passed in math.
People ask how a school serving such an impoverished population can get those kind of results. Judging by the track record at Cecil and at George Washington Elementary (the national Blue Ribbon school in Pigtown), the answer seems pretty simple: a great principal who sticks around for a long time.
Here's hoping that Forr (who replaced James Drummond) can keep a good thing going...
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Comments
I've been lucky enough to work under, and with, Mr. Drummond for over five years now. He was a fantastic principal who knew absolutely everything that was going on in the building. He maintained very high expectations of everyone, from the teachers to the custodians to the cafeteria staff to the students, and they all delivered. And it wasn't because they felt coerced into it; they all wanted to do a good job. Mr. Drummond is a fantastic motivator and I wish I had his level of skill in that arena. Mr. Drummond is now working as an Executive Assistant to the Area Academic Officer in Elementary Area I so I'm hoping he can spread some of his magic across the 24 schools in that area.
Roxanne Forr has been in Cecil Elementary for many years and, prior to her promotion, was Mr. Drummond's Assistant Principal. As a result there was a "passing of the torch" and a nice bit of continuity for the school and its community of parents, teachers and students. She was the acting principal at Cecil up until the Board Meeting and I'm sure everyone wishes her the best of luck.
Posted by: Claude | December 29, 2007 12:13 PM
this is a student from cecil im so glad we are the blue ribben school,thanks for having us on tv.thanks im in ms.wallce class,from cecil,im in the 5.bye come its the best school.
Posted by: shelby | September 9, 2008 6:58 PM
Hi, my name is Shenikia. My teacher Mrs. Wallace read my comment that I wrote. She noticed that I had many mistakes and made me proofread what I wrote.When I read my comment, I saw all the mistakes.So I had to rewrite my comment to make my teacher proud of me.
New comment:
I'm glad to be a Blue Ribbon School because we do our best on the MSA. We work hard every day in class.My teacher favorite words are try,try,try,and try some more.
Posted by: Anonymous | September 12, 2008 12:31 PM