Black Educator-Pamela Redd

BLACK EDUCATORs

Nov\Dec 2015

REDD LIGHT

A profile on Houston elementary school principal Pamela Redd

I have been waiting a long time to write this article. I met Ms. Redd over a year ago while volunteering at the grade school where she is principal. She is one of the nicest people I’ve met and the kids at her school are in great hands. The teachers too.

It’s taken a long to write this article because I lost the recorder I use in interviews. Hers was the last interview I did before it went missing. I’m forced to write this article from memory, which is one of my worst resources. I hope to do her kindness and amiable personality justice. I wish that there were more educators like her.

Pamela is a graduate's graduate. She earned her B.A. at Houston Baptist College, a Masters in Education from Prairie View A&M AND a J.D. degree from University of Houston Law Center.

Ms. Redd is what I call a turnaround teacher. A fixer of broken systems or schools. She was a classroom teacher for over 10 years when she was given an opportunity to become an Assistant Principal and then principal. As a young teacher, her first assignment was in the 1st ward in the Houston Independent School District at, now defunct Brock Elementary, a school with a high poverty rate. Ms. Redd had the opportunity to visit the school before accepting the job, and looked around the school and into some of the classrooms and, sure enough, the students were completely out of control. They were not Jr. high or high school students. We’re talking elementary school kids.

“I think a missing piece to the puzzle at my first site assignment was that the administrators and some teachers were simply not relatable from the student’s standpoint. Even if they had a passion for teaching they weren’t able to navigate the divide to connect with the students. I was able to institute rules and a system with natural rewards and consequences that kids had to operate within. There was no wiggle room for bending the rules and over time this helped to reshape student behavior at the school. Kids don't know it but they need structure and to be held responsible for their actions in order to act responsibly. We forged lasting relationships and to this day, I am still in touch with some of my former students. Even though this was in the late 70s and 80s.

In my first assignment as Principal, back in 2006, I was assigned to a school in the Cypress Fairbanks ISD, also with a high poverty rate- about 80%. I carried the same philosophy with me, and was able to give teachers additional training and a different perspective of the

kids they were teaching helped tremendously. In addition to having a great deal of school spirit and pride, we did well on the state assessments. It was a great experience and an unspoken test by the school district of my abilities and resolve. I’m happy to say I passed the test.”

In June of 2013, Pamela was offered a Principalship in the Spring Branch school district and she has been the principal at Meadow Wood Elementary. With her personality and demeanor she seems perfectly suited for the classroom. I asked her if she misses the direct classroom interaction and she said “Well, I do still interact with the kids, just in a different capacity now. I LOVE kids so sometimes I do miss the classroom setting. Watching their expressions when they succeed or start to understand a new concept is always priceless. On the other hand, I still get to educate, in a sense. I mentor and interact with teachers in training, workshops and day-to-day work. It’s just as rewarding to help teachers in reaching their students and devising class strategies that actually move students ahead.”

In our conversation, we discussed special needs children I noticed were integrated into the school and classrooms (I was mentoring at Meadow Wood at the time). "I’m a huge proponent of special needs children being integrated into the classroom as much as possible – and not only the classroom, but lunch, recess, f

First, we operate with a funding system in Texas where the districts that are identified as “rich” give back to poor districts. Spring Branch is considered a rich district and a portion of the money raised through property taxes is “recaptured” by the state. It’s a no win situation for all – the “rich” districts aren’t able to utilize all of their funds. And the poor districts cannot operate without the funding it receives from the other districts. This is still an unresolved issue in Texas.

Second – schools with high poverty (40% or more of the students on free or reduced lunch) are given additional funds from the federal government and are referred to as Title I schools. These funds are much, much needed to provide the basics to students in order to help them achieve. This leaves little funding for extra curricular activities, which are also important in educating the whole child. Schools with low poverty rates typically have very supportive parents who are in a position to contribute financially to the schools. This results in these students – who are typically already doing well academically – to benefit from the extra curricular activities their parents are able to provide through PTA. My experience is only in elementary – so I’m not sure how this plays out in middle or high school. But in elementary, Title I vs. non Title I schools are very, very different.

In fact, in the future Pamela would like to see herself as a district level admin-

istrator educating principals and teachers much in the manner she does now. I would love to see that come to fruition. Kids deserve to see her wisdom spread and her caring shared. It’s highly contagious.

To Ms. Redd… I’m sorry it took me so long but I never forgot about our interview and how much I quietly admired you while we talked. You are cut from rare cloth. Please, please, please keep doing what you’re doing!!

v. ray

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