Seeking Stability, Cross Principal Hits The Halls

Wilbur Cross High School Interim Principal Kermit Carolina announced over the PA that students had ​“30 more seconds to get to class.” Less than a minute later, he had his arm draped around a student’s shoulders. 

“Mr. Carolina, this is the first time I got caught in the sweep today,” the student said. ​“It doesn’t have to be like this.” 

Through his body language and his tone of voice, Carolina let the student know that he cares about him. That he’s invested in his education. And that his expectation as Wilbur Cross’s principal is that every student get to class on time every day so as not to disrupt the teaching and learning taking place within the high school’s walls.

“Excuses are tools of the incompetent,” Carolina cautioned as he escorted the student to the the cafeteria, where all students who get caught in the periodic hall sweeps must report.

That was just one scene among many on Wednesday that illustrated how Carolina is looking to make his mark on Wilbur Cross High School during his tenure as interim principal. 

The Independent spent the day shadowing Carolina for a first-hand look at how the former Hillhouse High School principal and New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) supervisor of youth, family and community engagement is working in his new assignment as Cross’s interim principal. 

Carolina stepped into that role on Oct. 17 after the abrupt resignation of John Tarka, who left the position for a state job five weeks into this school year after replacing the school’s longtime former principal, Edith Johnson. Carolina has assumed the role during a particularly challenging time for educators in New Haven and across the country amid staff shortages and pandemic-heightened misbehavior.

While walking the hallways, Carolina pursued three main missions: to be a visible and approachable presence for teachers, students, and staff alike; to make sure students who are late to class get the education and support they need while not letting them disrupt the teaching and learning of those who are on time; and to continue to get to know the 1,000-plus students at New Haven’s largest public high school. 

Based on this reporter’s observation on Wednesday, Cross students and staff weary of so much change — including the sudden departure of a new principal, let alone all of the disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic — are warming up to Carolina’s approach to accessible, restorative, and at-times disciplinary leadership. 

While leading Cross temporarily, Carolina is continuing his work as NHPS’s supervisor of the Office of Youth, Family & Community. He’s bringing the same restorative justice practices and violence intervention approaches from that administrative job to his leadership of Cross.

"Apple Cinnamon Is My Weakness"

After greeting students getting off their buses at the start of the day, Carolina went on to his next mission — getting his daily cup of mint tea. 

Prepared with his mint tea bag, Carolina headed to the school’s culinary wing to get a hot cup of water. 

On his way there he checked in with several teachers asking: ​“How are you doing this morning? Anything I can do for you?” 

While getting his tea, Carolina was reminded by the student chefs that the school’s bakeshop was open for another 15 minutes. The bakeshop menu items are made by student cooks.

Carolina couldn’t pass up the menu’s homemade apple cinnamon muffin. ​“Apple cinnamon is my weakness,” he said.

Keeping Halls "Swept"

Around 9:40 a.m. Wednesday, Carolina made an announcement over the PA system reminding students to get to their second class of the day on time. It was the second such PA announcement he made that day. It wasn’t the last.

“Good morning. The bell is about to ring, and I just want you all to remember to head straight to your next class. Let’s get there on time,” Carolina said over the speaker in the school’s front office.

Dozens of students filled the hallways, hustling to their next period. Carolina stepped into the hallway to serve as yet another reminder to get to class and to greet students with a fist bump and a ​“Good morning!” 

After the buzzing of the final bell for the start of second period, Carolina returned to the PA system and said: ​“Thank you teachers. Please close your doors at this time. We will start sweeps in the halls for those of you that didn’t want to get to class at the right time.”

Hallway sweeps help generate consistent data about which students aren’t going to class on a daily basis. ​“I need an accurate list, because we are fastly approaching a few students who have been consistently late. Please help me help you,” he said over the office speaker. 

Carolina said that since taking on the interim role, he has prioritized making teachers feel supported, particularly in a time when many educators have cited feeling disrespected and overworked districtwide because of the ongoing teacher shortage. 

By holding students responsible for being late to classes, by doing hallway sweeps several times throughout the day, Carolina said, he can keep students from disrupting educators’ classes and distracting their peers. 

During the many times in the day Carolina caught students in the hallway sweeps, he heard a variety of excuses. Excuses ranged from ​“I was helping my friend get his book bag” to ​“I got lost.”

Carolina also conducts sweeps outside of the school in neighboring East Rock Park, where students sometimes go to skip classes. 

During Wednesday’s park sweep, Carolina was joined by drop-out prevention specialist Reginald Slade and the New Haven Inner City Enrichment (NICE) center’s Emir Abdullah. 

The trio caught about two dozen kids at the park at around 1. p.m. Once Carolina, Slade and Abdullah arrived, the majority of students ran. Carolina checked the schedules of those who stayed to see if they had free periods. 

Sitting on a bench on his phone was a freshman. 

“What class are you missing right now?” Carolina asked. 

The student said that he did his work already for the class he was skipping and that he has straight As in all his classes.

“I just want to make sure you don’t fail,” Carolina said. 

“I know how important school is,” said the student. ​“It won’t happen again.”

Carolina sent the student back in the school building to get to class. 

Carolina said that he has been in ​“observation mode” in his first two weeks in the interim role. He has prioritized learning what the school needs, then begun developing and implementing specific programming that will support students and staff. 

One observation he made 12 days into the job: ​“Cross may not be the right fit for every student that’s here. I’m determined to find that right place for students.” Carolina said many students tell him they are not adjusting as well as they hoped to the big high school setting. 

“There are some kids who can’t handle the size of the building,” he said. ​“And it’s important that we keep all kids in the district on track.” Carolina said he particularly wants to focus on freshmen and ​“repeat” freshmen who are having trouble adjusting to the large school. 

Carolina sends students caught in hall sweeps to the cafeteria. So far, he said, the same 20 or 30 students are consistently not going to class and ending up in the cafeteria. Those students are mostly freshmen and ​“repeat” freshmen. Carolina said he believes these students are struggling to focus in their classrooms and would be better suited to one-on-one or small group instruction. 

He aims to implement a ​“Restore and Reconnect” initiative around Nov. 1 for those students who are consistently late to class. The effort will provide targeted, one-on-one support and instruction. Carolina is developing the program with the help of, among others, the director of the district’s restorative practices program, Cameo Thorne. 

Before implementing the plan, Cross will continue to collect daily data on the students who are consistently getting caught in hallway sweeps. 

“We need to make sure this building is conducive for high quality teaching and learning,” he said. 

Carolina said so far he’s been ​“supported by phenomenal assistant principals and teachers” during his transition. 

“I’m here to be a part of what they’re making happen,” he said. ” A principal is only as good as [their] team, and they are a well oiled machine here.” 

He described his biggest responsibilities so far on the job as being a positive presence to support both students and staffers.

After cutting through the cafeteria on Wedensday, Carolina spotted a student at the other end of the hall. The student turned around quickly upon seeing the principal and almost got away. 

“Hey!” Carolina called out. ​“How can I help you out, son? Because you know you’re not supposed to be in the hall.” 

The student told Carolina he got to school late and didn’t want to disturb his classmates while they were taking a test. So he instead walked the first-floor hallways. 

“You got to get here on time. You need to be taking that test too,” Carolina responded. 

The two walked to the class he was missing, sports medicine. Carolina told the teacher that the student had arrived late to school. ​“Good morning. I’m just delivering this young man so he can get in on this test,” Carolina said. 

Inside The Mediation Room

While having lunch with friends on Wednesday, sophomore Isabella Borrero greeted Carolina with: ​“Hey Mr. Carolina, today’s been a good day for me so far.”

Borrero was one of many students who have taken advantage of using a mediation room Carolina created to resolve conflicts that start out outside of the school building. 

Borrero told this reporter that, on Tuesday, she and another student had been arguing over social media. They talked out their issues in the mediation room and ​“agreed to disagree” rather than fighting it out. 

“The mediation room was new to me because at our age, and especially our generation, talking out stuff isn’t what most kids do,” she said. 

She said the two girls agreed to keep their distance from each other and to drop the issue to avoid having it ​“affecting our goals for life.” 

Borrero said since resolving the conflict she feels more comfortable in school again: ​“I don’t have to worry about watching my back.” 

She said she likes Carolina as a principal so far. ​“He’s cool, but he makes known his place is the principal.” 

After having grown close with Tarka at the start of the year, Borrero said she thinks Carolina fits in at Cross because he works well with the students.

When suggesting for students to head to the mediation room Carolina reminds them that they are not in middle school anymore.

“If you hear about an issue with somebody, let’s talk it out,” he added. ​“Don’t try to solve the issue in front of the crowd.” 

Threats, Honors

Carolina’s Wednesday also included watching the induction ceremony of 88 new students to the National Honor Society, getting his flu shot, and several meetings — including one with staffers from the Clifford Beers mental health agency to begin developing threat assessment protocol for the school’s staff. Carolina had to cancel his daily instruction rounds to classrooms to cover for two assistant principals who were absent. 

During the session with Clifford Beers, Carolina met with Michaelangelo Palmieri, director of specialized community based services, and project administrator Brittney Jackson. Cross Community Care Coordinator José Camacho and guidance counselor Mia Comulada Breuler joined the meeting as school point people for the threat assessment process. 

Stemming from the district’s Youth Connect program, the threat assessment infrastructure program will train a group of staff members at Cross and Hillhouse to identify the severity of student threats. 

During the Wednesday meeting the group decided on what staff would be trained, then organized a first meeting for Clifford Beers to introduce the process to those staff. 

The goal is to have a group made up of such staffers as social workers, guidance counselors, and nurses to help make school-based decisions on student threats rather than having the decision be made unilaterally. 

Returning the hallways, Carolina walked past the first-floor boys bathroom and paused.

“Oh wow. It’s smelling a lot like vape in here,” he said standing outside the bathroom. 

“I don’t know who it is, but I’m gonna sit here and wait for you to come out,” he said. 

A minute later four boys exited the stalls. Each got a quick sniff before being allowed to exit. 

"Wellness Wednesdays" & Arm-Wrestling

The day included the latest iteration of a weekly ritual called ​“Wellness Wednesdays.” That specialized morning program lets students have extended homeroom time to join in teacher- and student-led extracurricular programming like book clubs, knitting circles, study halls, FAFSA help, drumline, jewelry making, and club meetings. 

Carolina stopped in on the arm-wrestling club wellness program. Roughly three dozen students signed up to learn and try out arm wrestling with Wilbur Cross chemistry teacher and arm wrestling professional Mike Selearis. 

Carolina insisted on going against the 11-time champ Jordin, who is a junior. 

After removing his suit jacket and getting in a few arm stretches Carolina went up against Jordin. The 10-second match resulted in Jordin getting his 12th win in a row.

Carolina’s explanation: ​“I wasn’t going to hurt myself trying too hard.” 

Since arriving at Cross, Carolina has also called for ​“reinforcements” from several city violence interrupters and some of his former student athletes from Riverside. 

One of those helpers is the Connecticut Violence Intervention Program’s William ​“Juneboy” Outlaw. Outlaw will be at Cross every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to spend the day conducting mediations and supporting Carolina as a violence prevention professional. 

During a teacher wellness check-in, art teacher Elena Kazienko said amid Cross’ administrative disruptions and the teacher shortage, Cross has been kept afloat by veteran teachers who provide students and staff with ​“consistency and skill.”

“Even with all these changes thrown at us, the highest skilled teachers are what have been keeping the programs functioning,” she said.

Kazienko has taught in New Haven for 16 years, 12 of them at Cross. 

While reflecting on the departure of Tarka and the search for a permanent principal for Cross, Kazienko said: ​“It’s tough when your kids don’t know who’s going to be around this year. It’s the veteran teachers who have to carry that thread.”

Carolina previously served as principal at Hillhouse High School for about five years. He said Hillhouse and Cross have more similarities than differences. ​“They both have great teachers and administrators, enthusiastic kids, and the school spirit is real.” 

"He's Not Blind To Student Needs"

English teacher Barbara Sasso described this school year so far as ​“tough in a very different way.” 

She said her students are continuing to describe and demonstrate the long-term effects of the Covid pandemic on their lives. That’s reflected in the assignments students turn in. Or in how one of her students who was hospitalized during the pandemic due to contracting Covid is still dealing with residual heart problems. 

Sasso said she worries the district’s supply of social workers and counselors will not last long term for students to deal with ​“the trauma of their regular lives.” 

She had hopes to retire last school year but ​“figured I can be one stabilizing force.” So she stayed at Cross for a 26th year. 

This year, Sasso said, she has turned down almost weekly requests from suburban school districts offering to hire her for a higher salary.

“Dedication doesn’t pay the bills,” she said. 

She said teachers are leaving not because of the kids. ​“It’s the fact that we don’t have enough support.”

Sasso said she has not had the chance to spoken with Carolina personally, but he has visited her class to personally deliver stray students.

“It’s helpful that he really wants to get kids in class,” she said. ​“You can’t have chaos in the hallways when you’re going to call yourself a school.”

She said Carolina once wrote her student a late pass to class after the student had stopped at a vending machine to get a snack. The machine took the money but did not dispense the snack. Carolina lectured the student about being at the vending machines in between classes, then purchased them a snack and wrote the late pass. 

“It’s good he’s not blind to student needs,” Sasso said. 

Assistant Principal Ann Brillante said after the departure of Principal Edith Johnson, the ​“administrative team had a really good picture of what needs to be in place to maintain stability.” 

She said while Cross teachers are taking on larger workloads, administrators are doing their best to onboard Carolina to bring temporary stability back to Cross. 

“When Cross doors open, the whole city comes to school, so we need stability as often as possible,” Brillante said. 

Brillante said this school year has felt the closest that any year has felt to normal since the start of Covid. She said school staff have been leaning on senior leaders who had the stability of Johnson in the past.

Every day Carolina wears or carries in his pocket a pin that reads ​“Kids first.” He said the pin was the last object his late education mentor Wanda Gibbs touched before passing. 

He said the pin reminds him to ​“stay focused and committed” to his work. 

“When you fight for kids,” he said, ​“you never lose.”