PBS
Barth.
More than a week after Amistad High School students rallied for more diversity and fewer suspensions, Morgan Barth was confirmed as the school’s new principal.
After a short discussion, nine members of Amistad Academy’s Board of Directors unanimously voted last Thursday afternoon at the 580 Dixwell Ave. school to approve Barth’s nomination, effective July 1. No members of the public showed up to speak at the meeting.
Two other boards under the Achievement First charter network also voted for Barth’s appointment. AF Amistad High has a joint committee making hiring and other decisions because the school itself serves high school students from three charters — AF Bridgeport, AF Elm City College Prep and AF Amistad Academy.
That Amistad High committee accepted Barth’s initial nomination. The three charter boards then each voted to approve hiring him as the school’s principal.
Bridgeport’s board was also unanimous. Elm City College Prep’s board voted yes with one abstention, according to AF spokesperson Amanda Pinto.
Bath was officially appointed Monday after a series of meetings with students, teachers and parents.
Paul Bass Photo
Amistad students rally for more minority teachers.
Barth has been part of recent conversations about how to address students’ concerns on the lack of minority hires and a capricious disciplinary system. The school’s students are all black and Latino. The teachers are almost all white.
Barth said that Amistad has lagged behind other schools in the Achievement First charter network, in part because certification for high school teachers is much more difficult, leading to less diversity in the ranks. But part of the problem is likely specific to Amistad.
Barth said he and other school leaders committed to doing exit interviews with all staff of color who left in the last two years to better understand why they decided to leave. The process will also allow them to separate those who found other appealing opportunities from those who were not happy with the school, he said.
Students understand that “this isn’t just about waving a wand and saying that we’re just going to find teachers of color,” he said.
A large part of building a positive school culture is improving individual relationships students have with their teachers, he said. Students want to know that “if we do get a bunch of demerits and do have a conversation with the teacher about it, that that is done with love.”
Amistad has grown to 600 students in the next year. “For us that’s the biggest we’ve ever been and the school is growing every year,” Barth said. That is part of why some students feel disconnected from their teachers. Amistad also has a problem with staff retention, so relationships are not continuing from year to year, he said.
Barth, who is white, said he does not contribute to the diversity of the school, but can contribute to building relationships within it, because of his long history with Achievement First schools.
“I don’t think I would have thought about taking the role if it didn’t feel like this was the honor of serving our families and kids again,” he said.