Harding principal resigns to join management group
Linda Conner Lambeck, Staff Writer
BRIDGEPORT — Harding High School Principal Carol Birks has resigned, effective Wednesday, to take a job with Global Partnership Schools, the New York City-based group hired to restart the troubled high school.
Birks, a 1986 Harding graduate, has been its principal since 2007. She said the offer to work and be mentored by Global Partnership was made Monday and took her by surprise. She was given a night to sleep on it and accepted Tuesday.
In a three-paragraph letter the Harding community will receive on opening day, Birks called the chance to work at Global Partnership a unique opportunity to further her knowledge and learn from what she called “major intellectual giants in education.”
“It’s bittersweet. I love this school,” said Birks. “It’s sad. I’ll be honest with you. I have had the opportunity to work with some very talented people. I have been able to learn and grow with them.” Until Global Partnership names a replacement principal, assistant principal Carmen McPherson will be the acting principal. School starts Wednesday for ninth graders and Thursday for grades 10 through 12.
Rudy Crew, a former chancellor of the New York and Miami-Dade County school districts and a founding partner of Global Partnership, said his firm has already interviewed a number of people for the job and are zeroing in on a candidate.
“At this point, it’s more a matter of finding a good solid match with someone who will be in that school and remain in that school for a number of years. That’s part of our criteria above and beyond their own leadership skills, it’s their commitment to the entire community.”
Global Partnership was hired over the summer by the school district to help “restart” Harding, using a $2.2 million federal School Improvement Grant. The grant was made available to the lowest performing schools in the state. Harding suffers from low test scores, a high dropout rate and sometimes volatile atmosphere. Under the restart model, the management firm brought in can, but doesn’t have to, change the principal. At two other schools in the district getting SIG grants, a “transformation” model was selected that did require the principals to change. Both principals wound up in different schools.
Linette Jones, a parent at Harding, said she is happy Birks is getting another job but sad to see her go. “She cared for students. She was a home-grown principal. I’m truly sad,” said Jones. She was happy to hear, however that McPherson would be taking over as interim principal.
Clyde Nicholson, who spoke during the public portion of the school board’s meeting Monday, before the resignation was announced, told board members Birks shouldn’t be blamed for conditions that existed long before she became principal. “You could put King Kong in Harding High School and it wouldn’t be able to straighten it out,” said Nicholson.
Board member Maria Pereira, who has said the principal at Harding should change, said the school is in a crisis and needs proven leadership. Still, she said, she found it disturbing that Birks will be employed by Global Partnership.
Birks said during her tenure she worked to establish a core curriculum, strengthen community support and foster relationships with students, including a principal’s round table.
