Cami to principal: You’re “awesome”–and you’re fired
He was, he says, one of “Cami’s people.” Hired just last year to run Barringer STEAM, one of those untested innovations that state-imposed Newark superintendent Cami Anderson likes to inflict on the people of Newark. He did everything that was asked of him, including attending a charter-based conference in New York when he should have been taking care of his very sick mother. And Wayne Dennis delivered—higher scores, higher graduation rates, high numbers of teachers evaluated as only partially effective.
“I drank the Kool-Aid,” says Dennis.
And, the day before the new school year began for principals last week, Wayne Dennis was fired.
Unlike many of the school administrators who have lost their jobs since Anderson became Gov. Chris Christie’s agent in Newark, Dennis, 42, might not win a lot of sympathy from other school employees or many parents. He was admittedly a strong Anderson supporter and was worried when rumors spread she might leave Newark.
“I was upset about my future if she left,” says Dennis. “I thought she was on my side.”
It certainly looked that way, from messages Anderson sent the principal she hired a year ago. He forwarded a message from the superintendent in which she wrote:
“This will be an awesome thing. Barringer is transformed thanks to you….It is among my greatest sources of pride and priority to stay the course and make it a school that rivals magnets. We will have done what no urban district has done.
“Please know school-based leaders to me are the most critical people in this revolution. Hands down.”
Barringer, the oldest high school in Newark, was divided into two academies. Dennis ran Barringer STEAM, devoted to science, technology, engineering, and Cami to principal: You’re “awesome”–and you’re fired | Bob Braun's Ledger: