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Quietly, unlike at Boston Latin, BPS appoints new headmaster at O'Bryant School
By adamg on Thu, 09/01/2016 - 12:06pm
Tanya Freeman-Wisdom, from the O'Bryant Web site.
When School Superintendent Tommy Chang named Michael Contompasis as interirm headmaster at Boston Latin School in June, he held a press conference at City Hall with Mayor Walsh and an assortment of name-brand school alumni. Then, last month, BPS made Contompasis available for interviews by local media outlets.
No similar fanfare, or, indeed, any at all, has accompanied Chang's appointment of Tanya Freeman-Wisdom as interim headmaster at the John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science in Roxbury, another one of the city's three exam schools.
Freeman-Wisdom, who has a PhD in education from Boston College, was previously headmaster at the Community Academy for Health and Science in Dorchester. She's also an O'Bryant alumna.
Like BLS, the O'Bryant also lost its headmaster in June, when Nicole Gittens left to become a deputy school superintendent in Brookline - news that BPS never announced, either.
Although the O'Bryant has not faced the sort of public scrutiny BLS has over racial issues, it's had its own problems in recent years, most notably an inability to keep a headmaster for long. Gittens served for barely two years, taking over from an interim headmaster.
In 2012, then headmaster Rodney Peterson resigned after word got out then Superintendent Carol Johnson had tried to get him a job as a principal in Memphis to quietly get him out of Boston after he admitted to domestic assault and battery.
At the press conference announcing Contompasis's hiring as interim BLS headmaster, Chang said he would conduct a national search for a new permanent O'Bryant headmaster, with the hope of hiring one by March.
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Comments
OB Headmaster
Thanks for giving this the airplay it deserves. Ms. Freeman-Wisdom is an O'Bryant Alum and we feel fortunate to have her in a leadership position here. Too bad the BPS higher-ups continue to believe there is some sort of hierarchy to our exam schools. They each have something of value to offer students in Boston.
I really don't get it
It's like BPS has put a cone of silence around the O'Bryant.
If there's no hierarchy
Then the racial imbalance activists should only consider overall exam school participation rates, not BLS participation rates by themselves.
Nope
Maybe if BLS has the same makeup as the other two schools, but it doesn't.
all things being equal
Student choice can easily be explained by proximity and ease of access.
Wait, are you part of the conspiracy that wants to propogate the myth of a hierarchical relationship among the exam schools?
Anecdotal 6th grade parent info
from talking to other parents of Boston 6th graders about the exams schools and ISEE tests, I'm hearing a lot of people as interested in BLA and the O'Bryant as BLS. To some extent, I suppose we all want to keep our hopes wide in terms of a placement but I feel like the other schools have a better rep to prospective parents than they had.
small sample size, etc...
Talk to parents whose kids have finished
or at least a little further along.
BLA
My kids are several years into BLA. Although BPS may never show the data, anecdotally BLA by Choice is happening. My kids are both strong, high performing students who had ranks for BLS, but chose BLA. Many classmates from their year (and subsequent years) did the same. Consider for each spot they freed up at BLS, kids with "lesser" ranks took the seats, and kids with "stronger" rankings took spots at BLA. Some might argue that "diminishes" one class while strengthening another. BLA has many honors/AP offerings, teachers who have achieved the status of National Board Certification, many clubs, and top athletic teams in the City League. What is doesn't have is a multi million dollar endowment, and active alumni fundraising, but we hope to change that in the future. Our stats show the same MCAS Math/ELA scores as BLS, the same graduation rate of 94% and 94.6% attending a four year college (higher than any school in MA including BLS). Where BLA is lacking and affected in high school rankings is AP courses. The number of students achieving the passing score really needs to improve. But it's not surprising that some of the students need support in AP exam preparedness, 70% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. These families have fewer resources to access private tutoring, and without an endowment to fund school tutoring/mentoring programs for AP/SAT, the school will be hard pressed to fund these with their budget shortfall.
In the midst of all this BLS talk of admissions, I wonder how it came to be the BLS received top rank, while BLA was relegated to second tier. Supposedly Girls Latin students outperformed Boys Latin on SATs and had similar academic rigor. I seriously wonder if BLS was given top choice purely because it was an older school and originally male only. Girls Latin/BLA has a long, and interesting history (Our Greatness Proclaim is a great book), and was created in 1878 because Boys Latin refused to admit women.
Though I am only familiar with BLA, I'm sure many of these points could be said for OB.
Corrections
Girls Latin founded in 1877
Book is "Her Greatness Proclaim."
As 'A' noted...
I'm not saying I am making a decision based on any of this. What I am saying is that the perception among a small set of people looking at the exam schools as a choice are definitely not BLS or bust and some are inclined to think BLS isn't the right match for their kid. Mostly because it is perceived as a somewhat merciless 'sink or swim' place.
Not at all claiming this is correct, incorrect, etc.. just reporting from the field so to speak.
Also, this may be exactly what people were saying at a West Rox. rec sports practice 10 years ago.
Meaningful Article
Many times, Adam has an article that should be, but is not, prominently displayed in the two 'major' newspapers or local TV outlets.
This is such a story.
O'Bryant's "inability to keep
O'Bryant's "inability to keep a headmaster for long" has been driven by the school department. That revolving door was set in motion in 2001 when an excellent, veteran Boston educator HM - who went on to serve at one of the pilot high schools for some 15 years - was booted out despite enjoying the complete support of staff, students and parents. (Look it up at Globe archives.) Her successor was so bad that he didn't even get re-assigned to another position in the district. Then came a newbie import, who ducked out once he had a bit of experience to the 'burbs. Who provided the continuity which enabled staff and kids to continue a tradition of excellence from the exam school that most reflects the school population at large? The HM you described as "an interim headmaster"! He bore the insult of being assigned duty as a co-headmaster when Johnson tried to cover up for Peterson, and ably continued to handle daily matters when Peterson had to go.
Steve Sullivan was a career educator in BPS, beginning during school desegregation. He had the respect and admiration of those who worked under him and of the students whose interests were his only concern - not advancing his career.
I'm glad Freeman-Wisdom is an alum - she'll already have an appreciation that she's working at the best school in the city!
Congratulations!!
Tanya will require support from City Hall and the Superintendent to be successful. I wish her the best!!
Great choices at the O'B & BLS
I have children in both Boston Latin and the O'Bryant.
Drs. Freeman-Wisdom and Contompasis are excellent choices.
Dr. Freeman-Wisdom hit the ground running. She is already in the mix and has had a number of positive meetings and conversations with parents, staff, and administrators at the school. To a person, everyone is excited for the new school year and looking forward to her continued positive impact at the O'Bryant.
And Dr. Contompasis can be counted on to right the ship at BLS.
I feel like my family will have a good school year, devoid of all the recent confusion, and that both schools will move forward.
OB alum here
Ignore these following blocks of text. Don't read any further. This may have nothing to do with the article.
As white boy attending O'Bryant, I was the black duck of the family. My cousins all got into BLA and BLS. We are all naturalized Americans from Europe. However my extended family had evacuated the shit hole that the continent of Europe is years earlier. Allegedly, I was inferior one for only scoring in the 3rd tier range(o'Bryant) on the ISEE at twelve years old, 2 years in the country, with as much as a 4th, 5th, and half of a 6th grade education so far in America.
It was a running joke amongst the adults in my family, how I went to a "ghetto" ; "black" school. They had this preconceived notion that I was attending school with a bunch of dumbasses. I protested a little to change their mind but mostly just kept quiet during those 6 years at OB. The stats were out there, I mean... 100% English 95% math efficiency in a public city school that's 90%minority just wasn't convincing enough.
One day in college, like 98% of my graduating class was, im just online browsing dank memes when I come across us news high-school rankings. I find out OB got a gold from us news and BLA didn't. It was pure bliss to confirm that they were wrong and that I was part of a generation of OB students in the 2000s that propelled us to a gold medal, #15 in state rankings ahead of #23 BLA and hundreds of ranks higher nationally.
I truly appreciate O'Bryant for socially preparing me for navigating e murky waters and dividing lines of race.
More censorship?
Interesting that my comment wasn't posted. Was this an oversight or more censorship?
I prefer to think of it as keeping the discussion on point
I don't recall what you wrote, because I now use the delete checkbox on so, so many comments that I can't keep track of them all (ah, the perils of popularity), but whatever it was, I found it objectionable for one reason or another.