In the past 14 years, Atlanta’s Douglass High School has churned through a new principal roughly every two years.
The latest former principal, Tony Burks, was removed by Superintendent Meria Carstarphen in May after just one year on the job.
Alumni and parents say Douglass’ high principal turnover rate is accelerating the school’s slide from an engine of opportunity to one of the lowest-performing schools in the state.
Carstarphen did not respond to interview requests from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for this story.
Reached by phone, Burks said only, “What’s most important is that we do what’s best for students at the school and fully implement the school improvement plan.”
“It’s not about the position of any one person,” Nash Alexander III, a Douglass graduate and former assistant principal at the school, told the Atlanta school board Monday. “It’s about the long-range position of Frederick Douglass High School.”
Nationwide, about a quarter of principals leave — often by their own choice — after a single year on the job. Turnover rates tend to be higher in high-poverty schools like Douglass, where most students are from low-income families.
Several studies have linked high principal turnover to greater teacher turnover and lower student achievement.
Forrest Hill Academy Principal Anthony Howell is also out after Carstarphen declined to renew his contract. Forrest Hill is the district’s alternative school.
Douglass is in the midst of a turnaround effort funded by $3.8 million in federal grants.
The school is at risk of state takeover if an “opportunity school district” amendment to the state constitution receives approval by a majority of voters in the 2016 general election.
Douglass has seen some improvements over the past year, district records show. More students were enrolled in advanced classes. As of the first semester, the school saw fewer discipline referrals and fewer students on out-of-school suspension.
But Douglass’ overall attendance rate of 85 percent this year fell short of last year’s. And schoolwide state testing data is not yet publicly available.
Douglass has not shown signs of problems implementing the school turnaround plan, Georgia Department of Education spokesman Matt Cardoza said, and the state did not ask Atlanta to remove Burks.
City council member Michael Julian Bond, a Douglass graduate, told the Atlanta school board Monday he’s concerned about Douglass’ direction.
“We want to be with you,” he told the board and Carstarphen. “But it’s hard when we face, year-in and year-out, bad policy decisions,” he said.
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