Founder’s Blog

Woody Exley’s updates on the Alma Exley Scholars

Vernon-James Riley: Rapid Rise To Educational Leadership

In the five years since we honored Vernon-James Riley, he has earned two master’s degrees and has emerged as a respected educational leader.

Plunging immediately into school leadership wasn’t what he had in mind when he left Michigan State with a master’s degree in 2009. But three months later he was Dean of Students at a charter school in Brooklyn, N.Y.

“Originally I didn’t want to work in a charter school,” he told me. “I wanted to work in a public school, where I thought good people were needed. But when I returned home to New York City, I learned that a hiring freeze was in effect in the public schools.”

Instead, Mr. Riley, who grew up in Harlem, accepted a summer internship with Education Pioneers, an organization that places graduate students in high-impact positions with educational organizations across the country.

“They placed me at a new charter school, Excellence Girls, in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn,” he said. “I met a lot of hard-working people who were trying to do the best they could for the kids who attended the school. It made me realize that charter schools are mischaracterized. Charters are public schools. They don’t charge tuition, and they are available to all students as long as there are open seats.”

As September approached, he renewed his job search, applying to several New York City charter schools to teach social studies, his field as an undergraduate at Yale, but there were no openings. Instead, recognizing his leadership potential, the principal of a new charter school, Summit Academy in Red Hook, Brooklyn, asked him to apply for the position of dean.

“I went right into a leadership role,” he said. “It was quite a steep learning curve, especially for someone 21 years old. But I learned a lot.”

After two years, he was named Founding Director of Operations at Amani Public Charter School, a brand new school in Mount Vernon, N.Y. In this position, he was in charge of the business side of running the school, sharing leadership responsibilities with the Director of Curriculum and Instruction.

Mount Vernon is part of wealthy Westchester County, but a large part of the city has more in common with the adjacent borough of the Bronx, in terms of demographics and income.

“That’s what drove my interest in joining the founding team of the school,” Mr. Riley told me, “and, of course, the opportunity to be a pioneer.”

During the summer of 2012 he began the 14-month Summer Principals Academy offered by the Teachers College at Columbia University. Sandwiched between two summers of study, he completed a 450-hour administrative internship at Amani Public Charter School. In this program, he earned a second master’s degree while fulfilling the requirements for a license to serve as a school principal in New York State.

This summer Mr. Riley took another big step up the educational ladder when the highly-regarded North Star Academy Charter School in Newark, N.J., selected him as an Instructional Fellow.

During the first year of the two-year fellowship, he will teach several subjects and pursue professional development opportunities. In the second year he will serve as a mid-level educational leader. This will prepare him to assume the leadership of a charter school in Newark.

There are many ways to have an impact in education. Mr. Riley’s talents and education have enabled him to have an impact through educational leadership. In this capacity, he has been making a difference for students in urban areas where the educational challenges are monumental.

Congratulations and best wishes for future success to Vernon-James Riley, one of the 24 Alma Exley Scholars who are setting an example for those to come.

-Woody Exley

A ‘Novel’ Way to Support the Alma Exley Scholarship

The outpouring of support for the Alma Exley Scholarship Program over the past 18 years has been truly gratifying.

Now I’m delighted to announce a new and very special offer of support. This generous offer comes from a friend in connection with the publication of his newest book.

Patrick Lee has offered to donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of his new novel to the scholarship program.

The book, “The Flies of August,” by P.J. Lee, is available as an e-book from amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com for $2.99, and it is available as a paperback for $7.59 from amazon.com. Patrick has offered to donate one dollar from each purchase to the scholarship program, up to a maximum of $1,000. You can read the e-book on a Kindle, Nook or tablet.

The book is a crime novel filled with compelling character studies as well as insightful social commentary. What makes the story especially fun is its locale, the town of “Webster,” which seems an awful lot like West Hartford.

Patrick Lee previously volunteered his considerable talent to our program by creating and maintaining our original website. Now, thanks to this generous offer, friends of the Alma Exley Scholarship Program can enjoy a good book while supporting a good cause.

The direct link to the e-book on Amazon.com is:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMWE8F8

The direct link to the e-book on Barnesandnoble.com is:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-flies-of-august-p-j-lee/1114763118

The link to order the paperback from amazon.com is:

http://www.amazon.com/Flies-August-P-J-Lee/dp/0989458806

Free samples as well as enthusiastic reader reviews can be read at the websites.

“The Flies of August” has received excellent reviews, and I can tell you that it’s a real pager-turner. Once you pick up your e-reader, you won’t want to put it down.

This is what one reviewer wrote on amazon.com:

I don’t know if I can adequately relate how much I enjoyed this book. It had everything that I look for, but rarely find. The plot was well-thought out and beautifully paced. The author took the time to develop all of the characters, major and minor, and I found myself caring about each of them. I guess that the best way I can describe The Flies of August is that it reminded me of a truly excellent film, where you’re moved along through the plot while real life happens around the characters. It’s not flashy – there are no explosions or horrifically detailed, gory descriptions. No explicit sex scenes. No gratuitous vulgar language. It’s just a really, really good book. If you decide to give it a try, I hope you settle in and enjoy it as much as I did.

– Woody Exley

Minority Teachers Still Very Much in the Minority

As the number of students of color has increased in public schools across the country, school districts have welcomed more teachers of color into their faculties.

But teachers from minority groups still account for a small minority of teachers across the country – and an even smaller minority here in Connecticut.

According to a national study, only about 17 percent of U.S. public school teachers are persons of color although about 40 percent of students are from minority groups.

Connecticut lags the rest of the nation in the diversity of its teaching profession. Only about 7 percent of our public school teachers are persons of color, while 39 percent of students are from minority groups.

Experts say minority teachers are important for a number of reasons.

Parents of minority children often feel more comfortable discussing school issues with a teacher of similar heritage.
A diverse teacher population provides role models for all students.
Research suggests that access to minority teachers may increase attendance, lead to higher test scores, and decrease the student suspensions.

A report by the Center for American Progress concluded:

“Teachers of color serve as role models for students, giving them a clear and concrete sense of what diversity in education–and in our society–looks like.
“A recent review of empirical studies shows that students of color do better on a variety of academic outcomes if they’re taught by teachers of color.”

How are we doing here in Connecticut? According to figures from the State Department of Education for the 2010-11 school year, 7.4 percent of teachers were persons of color. The breakdown was: Latino, 3.4 percent; African American, 3 percent; and Asian American, 1 percent.

In the six years from 2004-05 to 2010-11, the number of Latino teachers increased from 1,187 to 1,263 and Asian Americans increased from 262 to 389 while African American teachers decreased from 1,251 to 1,106.

Forty-four percent of the minority teachers were in six school districts, Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, New Britain, Norwalk and Stamford – districts with large percentages of minority students.

Thirty-nine school districts had no minority teachers at all.

Districts with the largest percentages of teachers of color were: Bloomfield, 25 percent; Hartford, 25 percent; Bridgeport, 24 percent; New Haven, 22 percent; Capitol Region Education Council, 18 percent; New Britain, 18 percent; Norwalk, 14 percent; Stamford, 14 percent; Waterbury, 12 percent; Danbury, 11 percent; East Hartford, 11 percent; and the Connecticut Technical School System, 11 percent.

Some districts with smaller percentages of minority students have made progress in recent years.

Congratulations to Greenwich, where minority teachers increased to 9 percent in 2010-11. The district increased the number of minority teachers from 57 to 61 from 2004-05 to 2010-11 although the total teaching staff decreased from 673 to 668 in the same period.

In Bristol, minority teachers increased from less than 4 percent to 6 percent although the total staff decreased from 545 to 516 in the same six-year period.

What happened in West Hartford? The teaching staff grew from 654 in 2004-05 to 666 in 2010-11. At the same time, the number of Latino teachers decreased from 18 to 14 and African American teachers decreased from 18 to 10, while the number of Asian American teachers increased from 6 to 10. The overall percentage of minority teachers fell from about 6.5 percent to 5 percent in that period.

At the Alma Exley Scholarship Program, we believe it’s important to call attention to the need for more teachers of color in public schools in Connecticut and across the country.

We’re focused on encouraging greater diversity in the teaching profession by providing financial support, recognition and encouragement to outstanding students of color.

It has been most gratifying for those of us involved in the program to have played a small part in launching the careers of many gifted and dedicated educators over the past 16 years. Our distinguished recipients are making a difference in schools across Connecticut and from Boston to Los Angeles.

– Woody Exley