Standing On Principal
We’ve been hearing good things about attitudinal change at West Philadelphia High School since late summer.
The person always given credit for the change is the school’s new principal, Saliyah Cruz (pictured above), a former English teacher and charter school administrator.
Now, thanks to a well-reported piece in Sunday’s Inquirer, a lot more people know what was not a very well kept secret in local education circles: West Philadelphia High may be on the way back.
Ms. Cruz, reports the Inquirer, has a two-part plan: to change the attitude, then improve academic performance.
She’s done the former, and is working on the latter. And she’s in a big hurry.
“If we don’t get better this year,” she told the newspaper, “I deserve to be fired.”
That’s right. You heard it. A Philadelphia educator willing to put her job on the line.
Mercy.
Read the rest of the Inquirer story about Saliyah Cruz and West Philadelphia High School here.
Photo (top): Michael S. Wirtz
