Principal Gets ​“No Confidence” Vote

Barnard Environmental teachers voted 36 – 3 that they do not have confidence in the leadership of Principal Yolanda Jones-Generette, who has encountered ongoing controversy at the two most recent schools she has helmed.

The vote took place last week. Now district leaders are in conversations with administrators and teachers to determine how to resolve the issues by the end of the school year, according to teachers union President Dave Cicarella.

“At this point, we’re looking to get resolutions on these concerns by the end of the school year. Some things need resolution now. Some things can be fixed in the short term,” Cicarella said.

Both he and Superintendent Garth Harries declined to give details about the vote or subsequent discussions, citing a ​“personnel matter.” Jones-Generette did not respond to requests for comment.

“I am and have been aware of a range of issues at Barnard and what we have been doing and continue to do is assessing those issues, separating them and figuring out appropriate short and long term actions in response to all of them,” Harries said. Those issues include climate and culture, student behavior and instruction, he said.

Last summer, several teachers and parents contacted the Independent to either support or criticize Jones-Generette’s leadership and management of the K‑8 school.

At the time, Superintendent Harries told the Independent that the conflict was not widespread among staff and that Jones-Generette’s job was to improve the school, not just make people happy. Jones-Generette told the Independent at the time that she has worked hard to get parents and teachers on board with new strategies to manage out-of-control behavior and increase learning opportunities.

Suspensions more than doubled between last academic year and the one before it, with Barnard seeing the highest number of suspensions in at least four years — from 19 in 2012 – 13 to 76 in 2014 – 15. Harries then attributed the increase to a decrease in support for helping students affected by trauma, since the school lost part of its funding for trauma counselors.

District leaders also took an informal, anonymous ​“climate check” of teachers last May and recorded concerns about top-down management, a lack of transparency from administrators, and a lack of support for dealing with major disciplinary issues.

Soon afterward, Ilene Tracey, a director of instruction for several schools, including Barnard, sent an email to Barnard staff and administrators saying that the school was ​“heading in the right direction” and that the tensions were ​“not pervasive.”

Tracey said in the email that ​“staff is still cohesive with the exception of a few who have concerns about the direction the school is heading and concerns about top down management.”

Harries moved Jones-Generette from Lincoln-Bassett School to Barnard School in 2014, after a blistering state audit showed a divided faculty, high rate of student and teacher absenteeism, and a spike in suspensions. When asked whether he regretted moving Jones-Generette to Barnard, Harries said he made the right decision. Click here to read the full document.

“It was a decision we made at that time. It was the right decision,” Harries said. ​“The question is what are the various factors going on in that school right now.”

Administrators union President Cheryl Brown said Monday evening that she had not heard about the vote, but that she felt teachers were conspiring against Principal Jones-Generette. ​“I don’t know why the focus is on that particular school,” she said. ​“In my mind, I smell conspiracy.”

She said a pattern has formed at Barnard for the past few years, even before Jones-Generette got to the school, in which teachers ​“deflect” attention around the time the teacher evaluations are due. The deadline for teacher evaluations was Tuesday. ​“People don’t want to be held accountable to a standard,” she said.

Behavioral issues are ​“systemic” throughout the district and not unique to Barnard, she said. Principals regularly call her about safety issues in their schools, she said. Teachers as well as administrators have the ​“collective responsibility” create a positive school culture, she said.

Brown said Jones-Generette reached out to officials leading Youth Stat, a a citywide initiative that connects at-risk students with community resources to prevent them from dropping out.

Gemma Joseph Lumpkin, the school system’s director of youth, family and community engagement, said her team has started working with teachers, students and administrators at Barnard to determine their needs, after both Jones-Generette and Tracey reached out to her department. ​“We’ve met with the student focus group in gathering information on student needs, and we’ve worked with teachers gathering information,” she said.

Cicarella said there are definitely ​“concerns” at Barnard, which teachers, administrators, union leadership and district leaders are attempting to work out. ​“You don’t negotiate in the media,” he said.

There is no question that teachers have legitimate concerns, he said. ​“We are working on those. We’re trying to do it in the most thoughtful way we can.”

He said teachers are looking for some resolutions now and others by the end of the school year.

Harries confirmed that some of the upcoming steps will happen quickly while other will happen over time. ​“What we need to be sure is that Barnard is delivering effective instruction for its students.”