Nine DeKalb Principals Won’t Be Principals Next School Year

DeKalb Superintendent Dr. R. Stephen Green said officials considered five criteria before reassigning anyone: length of service (principals who had been at a school for less than three years weren’t considered for reassignment); a score of 60 or below on the state’s report card in 2016; the three-year average of a school’s growth; whether a school met the state’s “Beating the Odds” criteria, which compares schools with similar demographics; and whether a school was removed from the state’s “Focus” or “Priority” schools lists, which includes the lowest-performing 5 to 10 percent of schools in the state.

“They must be showing some signs of progress under that principal’s leadership,” Green said. “And if I see signals of that, then that changes the discussion. But when I don’t see that, I think the board and this community expect me, as the superintendent, to have the wherewithal to recognize that and make the change as needed.”

Green said principals at struggling schools will need to show progress over a three-year period in order to keep their positions.

“If we see that progress, we’re anxious to applaud and celebrate it,” he said. “But if we don’t see the progress – or the growth in students – as a result of the leadership, then we’re courageous enough to make the decision and change things.”