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Kermit Carolina: Suiting back up, this time for Cross.
A public school leader who has made a career out of working with at-risk teens will step into the top role at Wilbur Cross High School on an interim basis to replace a school leader who is leaving his post six weeks into the academic year.
That soon-to-be new interim Wilbur Cross High School principal is Kermit Carolina, who currently works as the New Haven Public Schools’ (NHPS) supervisor of youth, family and community engagement. Prior to being reassigned to that district-wide role in 2015, Carolina served as principal of Hillhouse High School.
NHPS Superintendent Iline Tracey announced Carolina’s appointment at new Wilbur Cross principal during a Tuesday night Board of Education meeting. Carolina will fill the principal position at the city’s largest school for the foreseeable future after John Tarka, who was appointed to the job in July, announced he will be leaving effective this Friday for a job with the state Department of Children and Families.
Carolina’s first day as Wilbur Cross High School principal will be Oct. 17.
Tuesday night's Board of Ed meeting.
“I’m very proud of Mr. Carolina for taking on this responsibility of stepping into Cross to take on such a great and awesome responsibility to support his students,” Tracey said Tuesday night.
Carolina developed deep ties with New Haven teens and their families as a Hillhouse coach, then as its principal, then as a top district-wide coordinator of efforts to reach at-risk youth.
Reached by phone for an interview on Wednesday, Carolina — a New Haven native and graduate of Wilbur Cross — said he’s “excited for the opportunity to provide my alma mater with the leadership it deserves and needs during this critical time in the school year.”
“I’m heavily invested in the success of this district,” he continued. “I’m willing to do whatever is needed and whatever I’m called to do” to make sure Wilbur Cross students, staff, and administrators thrive. “Everything for me is centered around kids first.”
What are the top challenges that he sees facing Wilbur Cross High School as he takes on this new job?
“The biggest challenge right now is that we have a staff shortage, which has had an impact on the culture and climate of the school,” he said. He credited former Principal Edith Johnson as an “outstanding leader” who “left behind a very good staff,” and pledged to work closely with the current assistant principals and with Asst. Supt. Paul Whyte on “helping to keep the ship moving in the right direction.”
“Maintaining the focus on high-quality teaching and learning is a priority for me,” he added, as is all of the “operations” issues around transportation, new hiring, and “all those sorts of things” that go with running a school.
“The most exciting thing to me is the ability to really connect with the students and listen to them,” he said. “We have to listen to the students and the parents and what their needs are.” He said his prior district-wide role has most prepared him to identify “vulnerable students, vulnerable families, and provide wraparound services to those students and families to ensure that they’re able to access great education.”
That means that he and his staff have to make sure that all students, including the most vulnerable, “attend school. We have to make sure that they attend school, stay in school, and increase the instructional time needed.”
Carolina said he’ll be serving as interim principal until Tracey identifies a future permanent principal for Wilbur Cross. Until then, he said, he’s up for the challenge and prepared to do what’s needed. “I’m a soldier for the district,” he said.
While Carolina’s appointment did not require a vote from the board Tuesday, the Board of Ed did vote unanimously on two other administrative promotions.
Fair Haven School Assistant Principal Yesenia Perez will become the new principal of John C. Daniels School on Oct. 21. She previously worked as John C. Daniels School’s assistant principal. Perez will replace Tina Mitchell as John C. Daniels’ principal. Mitchell, like Tarka, announced her resignation from her post within the first two months of the current school year.
Cynthia Clark, an elementary school teacher at Fair Haven School, will also undergo a titular change on Oct. 21 to that of interim assistant principal of Fair Haven School.
Will Carolina collect his salary plus principal salary??? How much is this gonna cost taxpayers.....?