WHAT'S GOING ON NOW:

A Transforming Principal

The moment Principal Joanne Hunt knew her school had arrived was the first day of the 2007-08 school year.

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein traditionally makes a five-school tour, and this year Harbor Science and Arts Charter School, an East Harlem K-8 school, was the only charter on the list. According to Hunt, principal since 2003, the chancellor wanted feedback on the importance of principal autonomy. At a time when Klein is in the process of empowering principals and making them accountable for school performance, Harbor Science and Arts served as a stellar illustration of just what a difference a principal can make.

When Hunt became the fourth principal in just three years, Harbor Science and Arts was a troubled school, able to retain only 10 percent of its teachers each year. Hunt’s first order of business was to hire a whole new cadre of teachers. Now the school boasts a teacher retention rate of 80 to 90 percent a year, and, to the delight of parent Regina Graham, most of the teachers are men. About 75 percent of the children qualify for Title I funding, and many live with single moms. “The children need a lot of role models,” Graham said.

She also credits the principal with closely monitoring teacher performance. “If the children don’t show any growth between October and April, she wants to know why and holds teachers accountable. The teachers who stay like the chemistry.”

Hunt and the dedicated staff have transformed Harbor Science and Arts into a school where, “Children don’t want to go home when they’re sick. They want to be here.”

The result of this hard works shows. Attendance is at about 90 percent and state test scores are 20 to 30 percent above District 4 standards.

Harbor Science and Arts prides itself on being able to successfully incorporate a character component, physical wellness and a heavy emphasis on the arts into an exacting academic curriculum. Through its affiliation with The Boys and Girls Harbor, children get swimming lessons twice a week for eight-week sessions. Two full-time art teachers, one in the lower school and one in the upper school, spearhead an ambitious arts program.

“At the end of the school year,” Hunt said, “we turn our sixth floor into a museum with an opening night, student docents and artwork displayed from each student with an artist statement.”

With its five-year contract renewal, Harbor Science and Arts is not content to rest on its laurels. “The school would like to move from being a ‘good’ to a ‘great’ school,” Hunt said. “My goal is to eventually hire one of my student alumni as a staff member at this school. Then I will feel like our mission has come full circle.”

—Nancy Brandwein