The King of Crown Heights

ENLARGE PHOTO+

Verone Kennedy, principal of New York City's MS 584

Samantha Appleton for TIME

• Share

(2 of 3)

He became a teacher and worked in just about every position in education--teacher's aide; staff developer; math coach; and sixth-grade teacher in a self-contained class where he taught social studies, science, math and English language arts. Along the way, he was recruited to work in some of the city's best schools. But when offered a position in his old neighborhood, he realized that that was where he could make the biggest difference. "We each have a responsibility and an obligation to better the lives of as many people as we can," says Kennedy. "There is greatness in those kids."

Becoming a principal seemed the most effective way to accomplish his goals, and in 2003 Kennedy was accepted into the first class at the new Leadership Academy. The program was intense--more than a full year of rigorous training in how to be a good leader, motivating staff, analyzing student test data and dealing with parents, while apprenticing with a mentor principal in an existing school. After graduating with 76 others, Kennedy was offered the opportunity to start a new middle school, the Granville T. Woods School for Science and Technology, known as MS 584, in one of the poorest and most isolated areas of Crown Heights. At a time when principals were being held increasingly accountable for student test scores and only 18% of the entering students were reading at grade level, it was among the city's most difficult assignments.

For Kennedy, leadership has two critical components--example and teamwork. He is one of a relatively small number of black male principals who can serve as role models to a student population that is overwhelmingly black or Hispanic. "These kids don't see themselves past 21," he says. "I know that for them to see me here helps them believe that they can succeed."

Over the past 2 1/2 years, Kennedy and his team have placed a strong emphasis on literacy and on the social and emotional development of their students. He has started a reading program called You Can't Be Caught Without a Book, because, he says, "if we are going to get students thinking, we need to get them reading."

Kennedy searches for titles that will connect to his students' own life experiences and plans to progress to the classics. He says the first book that grabbed him was Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, and he looks forward to reading it with his students. In the meantime, Kennedy has started book clubs for parents and Saturday field trips to colleges, museums, movies and Broadway shows. He's trying to find a way to send students studying Spanish to Spain, and he runs a weekly group for about 25 kids who are having trouble in school.

All of these efforts are intended to heighten the students' sense of connection with the world around them and encourage them to believe in themselves and to make ambitious plans for their own futures. Says Kennedy: "If you can't envision it, you can't work toward it. We talk about college here, not just high school." "Believe and Achieve" is one of his mottoes.

At MS 584, these efforts seem to be making a difference in the lives of the children. School is safe, attendance is high, and a sense of community is growing. The school graduated its first eighth-grade class last spring.