Sections
Neighborhoods
Features
Follow Us
NHI Newsletter
Legal Notices
Some Favorite Sites
- 5 Snacks After 10
- Abram Katz
- African independent
- At Risk for HD
- Back To Basics
- barista
- Branford Eagle
- Business NH
- Conn Art Scene
- Cornwall-On-Hudson
- Crosscut
- CT Business Litig
- CT Capitol Report
- CT Energy Blog
- CT Enviro Headlines
- CT Green Scene
- CT Law Tribune
- CT Local Politics
- CT Mirror
- CT News Junkie
- CT Watchdog
- CTV
- Design New Haven
- Gotham Gazette
- Hartford Guardian
- Josiah Brown
- Karman Turn
- La Voz Hispana
- Laurel Club
- Len's Lens
- Magrisso Forte
- Media Attache
- Media Nation
- Medical Intelligence
- Middletown Eye
- MinnPost
- My Left Nutmeg
- NBC Connecticut
- NH Advocate
- NH Register
- NH Review of Books
- NH Youth Map
- Northampton Media
- OneWorld
- Only In Bridgeport
- Oral History Project
- Reddit NH
- Road To Greenness
- Saved By Design
- See Click Fix
- Smartpill Design
- Specials In NH
- St. Louis Beacon
- Taste Of NH
- Tom Ficklin
- Valley Independent Sentinel
- Voice of SD
- VT Digger
- WFSB-TV
- WPKN Today
- WTNH
- Yale Daily News
- YourCT
Government/ Community Links
- Advocate Calendar
- Agency on Aging
- Animal Shelter Volunteers
- Arte Inc.
- Arts Council
- Beth El Keser Israel
- Bike New Haven
- Chamber of Commerce
- Children's Museum
- City of New Haven
- CitySeed
- Citywide Youth
- Community Loan Fund
- Community Mediation
- ConnCAN
- Creative Arts Workshop
- CT BAEO
- CT Tech Council
- Dariba Referrals
- Data Haven
- Elm City Cycling
- Elmseed
- Empower NH
- Friends Of Wooster Sq.
- GAVA
- Habitat For Humanity
- Info New Haven
- IRIS
- Jazz Haven
- Jewish Federation
- Job Finder
- Junta
- Labor History
- LEAP
- Legal Aid Network
- Literacy Coalition
- Magrisso Forte
- Mary Wade
- Music Haven
- New Haven 828
- New Haven Chorale
- New Haven Reads
- New Life Corp.
- NH Bulletin
- NH Land Trust
- NH Symphony
- NH/Leon Sister City
- NHS
- Orchestra NE
- PAR
- Parents Available to Help
- Pat Dillon
- Peace News
- PechaKucha
- Planned Parenthood
- Police
- Promoting Enduring Peace
- Public Allies CT
- Public Library
- Public Schools
- Public Works
- Rainbow Girls
- Register Calendar
- REX
- ROOF
- SAMA
- SCSU Events
- Share Our Voices
- Shubert
- Solar Youth
- Soul-O-Ettes
- Squash Haven
- United Way
- Urban Design League
- Urban Resources Initiative
- Ward 25 Blog
- Ward 26 Blog
- Westville Chabad
- Westville Renaissance
- Westville Synagogue
- Workforce Alliance
- Yale Events
- Yeshiva NH Shul
- Yeshiva Of NH
- Youth Continuum
New Hillhouse Principal Promises “Full Court Press”
by Melissa Bailey | Jun 29, 2010 10:12 am
(7) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author
Posted to: Schools, School Reform
When he steps off the basketball court to take charge of Hillhouse High School, Kermit Carolina’s first job will be to build four new “schools.”
Carolina (pictured above), who has coached the Hillhouse boys basketball team for six years, was approved by the school board Monday night as the school’s new principal. Carolina is currently the basketball coach and assistant principal. He will replace Lonnie Garris, who’s retiring after 20 years on the job.
Carolina, who’s 42, starts his new job Thursday with a salary of $129,405, a $22,679 raise. He will step down as basketball coach.
Before joining Hillhouse as assistant principal in 2007, Carolina taught history at Riverside Education Academy and served as in-school suspension coordinator at a transitional high school. In 1992, he founded the Hot-Shot Summer Camp, a program for kids from West Rock, Dixwell, Newhallville and Dwight.
His appointment brings the school district halfway to its goal of filling two vacant spots at the city’s largest high schools. Wilbur Cross remains without a new leader as of July 1.
Coach Carolina said he’s looking forward to the chance to reach more kids, beyond the “House Family,” as he affectionately calls his basketball crew. Under his leadership, the team won two state championships. He said he’d transfer a couple of lessons he’s learned as a coach, such as how to build teamwork. He said he taught teamwork by running a lot of “intense” drills.
“We’re going to take some of those strategies from the court into the school building,” he said. “We’re going to institute a full court press.”
As the district moves forward with its school reform campaign, Carolina has already put together an improvement plan. He said it involves breaking up the students and staff into four distinct “schools” within the school. Each one will be a “small learning community,” he said.
Each has its own theme: The Freshmen Academy will help kids transition from middle to high school. The HELP school will focus on Humanities, Education, Law/Government, Public Service. The “STEM” track will specialize in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. And CAB will offer Communication, Arts and Business classes.
Hillhouse already has some themed programming along these lines. Carolina said the difference next year is that each program will be its own “school,” with its own students and its own staff—including an assistant principal, counselor, and teachers for English language-learners and special education students. All freshmen will enter the Freshmen Academy, Carolina said. The upper grades will get to choose which “school” to be part of.
That tailored approach to learning is one tool Hillhouse is employing as it aims to meet the district’s school reform goals: cutting the dropout rate in half, closing the achievement gap in five years, and ensuring every kid gets the opportunity to go to college.
Hillhouse has a long way to go. According to the latest test scores, only 5 percent of students scored “at goal” on reading on the Connecticut Academic Performance Test, compared to 17 percent district-wide and 48 percent for the state. Click here for the school’s interim assessment.
As Carolina shifts his focus to those goals, what will happen to his basketball team?
Carolina said he is sure that if given the chance, his three assistant coaches would step up and carry on the successes of the basketball team. Schools Superintendent Reggie Mayo said he will open up the Hillhouse basketball coach position to applicants from inside and outside the school district.
“The job will be posted,” Mayo said. “It’s an open thing.”
Post a Comment
Comments
posted by: Willy D. Greene on June 29, 2010 9:11am
Congratulations Kermit. Stay focused on the real mission of truly educating our children, Really get to know your staff to build a team who’s main agenda will be to work togehter as a team and support each other in making sure our children will receive the quality education. An education that they rightly and richly deserve. Furthermore keep the children’s family involved. Find ways to make the parents accountable in the education of our chidren. Help them understand that they are stakeholders in the education of our students. You will have your critics smile, say hello and stay your course. Again congratulations. I wish you well.
posted by: Dawn Bliesener on June 29, 2010 11:00am
Congratulations!!! I think this is wonderful for HillHouse and contrary to other comments, u know best how to proceed in this new position and the last thing u need is any unsolicited advice !! You got the job on YOUR merits and u will perfect the position on YOUR intelligence, integrity and above all else HONESTY!! Again, congratulations!!
posted by: Harriet Potter on June 29, 2010 11:26am
“All freshmen will enter the Freshmen Academy, Carolina said. The upper grades will get to choose which “school” to be part of.”
Wot, no sorting hat? CAB, HELP and STEM are cute acronyms, but what’s wrong with Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, & Slytherin? Bring the magic!
Seriously though, congrats Mr Carolina, and good luck on the job.
posted by: Disgusted with all on June 29, 2010 12:03pm
...
Dr. Mayo says Carolina has tough shoes to fill, but if you read “Hillhouse has a long way to go. According to the latest test scores, only 5 percent of students scored “at goal” on reading on the Connecticut Academic Performance Test, compared to 17 percent district-wide and 48 percent for the state”. ... So what shoes is Carolina going to fill??? 17% district wide!!, and Mayo is doing such a great job that you want to renew him for 3 more years!!!! ...
posted by: anon on June 29, 2010 3:11pm
Congratulations! Breaking the school down into smaller learning communities is a great idea. The basketball team will probably do better, too.
Despite the basketball team’s success, ironically, only a tiny fraction of our high school students passed the state’s physical fitness exams. When you have so many students who are physically unfit and tired, it’s harder for them to be successful in school.
Maybe the school district needs to take 20% of their resources and focus them on things outside the school buildings themselves, like expanding gym classes, opening youth centers/gyms in the evening, improving walking routes, planting trees and making sure that the surrounding neighborhoods safe enough to take walks in. Talk to a few parents in this area—many of them won’t let their kids take walks even during the middle of the day.
You simply can not have a successful school when this is the case, no matter how many new programs you throw around.
posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on June 29, 2010 10:36pm
I’d like to see this type of break down starting sooner in the public education system. To break the school down like this in grades 5-8 would then allow the high schools to specialize in certain curriculum like they used to prior to the 1950s when Hillhouse, Cross and Boardman Trade school were located at York Square.
