I grew up in Anacostia, the heartbeat of Southeast. Every day of my childhood, I lived the life my students now live.
Over the past year, we experienced incredible heartbreak with the loss of Gerald Watson and other students who have been victims of violence. I deeply understand the pain our students and community feel when a loved one is lost to tragedy. My close family members still live in this community, and each day I am grateful for the opportunities provided to me as a young child. I was able to take my love for football and use it as a force to propel me into a job I love.
I believe the most important career in our city and our country is serving as an educator, and I am committed to helping my students succeed. I know the grit, perseverance and determination it takes to survive the sometimes turbulent streets of Southeast. I also know the love, pride and resources that are available in our community. Southeast nurtured and prepared me for college and my career. That’s why I am proud to be the principal of Anacostia High School, which was designated in the spring as one of the DC Public Schools system’s 10 Connected Schools.
In launching our Connected School model, we will implement a whole-child approach to educating our students, and thoughtfully integrate partnerships to serve the school and community. We will be intentional about the academic and social support services we make available to students and their families. Throughout the year, the Anacostia family will hear from our Connected Schools team about the great ways they can get involved in our work.
We embrace the Connected School principles and built a strong foundation during the 2018-19 school year. Some of our achievements I’m most proud of include:
- 70% of our students meeting their math growth goals, and an 8 percentage point increase in students deemed college and career ready in English language arts on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessment;
- Decreasing our suspension rate by 6% after taking a restorative approach to discipline and teaching students the skills they need to respond to conflict;
- Conducting more than 60 home visits;
- Launching and sustaining the #WhyAna social media campaign to build pride in our community;
- Teachers reporting that they have the professional development they need to be successful; and
- Our student satisfaction rate increasing by 13% from the previous school year.
Our Connected Schools model will help us continue to make progress. This year we are even more determined to ensure that our students succeed The Anacostia Way, which has two core beliefs:
- Our students can and will succeed, and it is up to us to adopt a growth mindset to ensure that happens.
- Teachers are our most valuable resource, and we will empower them to set goals and take risks to do what is right for the students in their classrooms. With the Flamboyan Foundation and Turnaround for Children as Anacostia’s new powerhouse partners to boost our family engagement and support trauma-informed practices in our school, we are confident that our students and families will continue to feel the impact of our work.
We can’t do this work alone and will aggressively engage students and families this year. Members of our community can expect to see me more often. In fact, our entire team is committed to conducting over 200 home visits by the end of the school year. We are thankful that Giant Food has agreed to partner with us to provide gifts and resources to our families during those visits.
Our vision is to equip and empower all students with the social, emotional and cognitive skills to disrupt oppressive systems and thrive in their local and global communities. In order to accomplish that vision, the DC Public Schools leadership team is making a huge investment in our community — putting forward the human and financial resources to help us re-imagine the way our students and teachers experience school.
This school year, a team of students, teachers, staff and other stakeholders from the Ward 8 community will investigate new school models. The redesign team will travel around the country visiting innovative schools in order to pilot their ideas at Anacostia. We know this process will help us deliver stronger programming and provide more equitable access to quality education for our students. We believe that by expanding equity and empowering students within our community, we can help children free themselves from generational inequality.
As a native Washingtonian born and raised in Southeast, I have a sense of urgency about the work ahead. Our Anacostia community is often negatively portrayed in the media, and that narrative is wrong. The Anacostia High School I know fought the battle to desegregate schools, has bred champion sports teams, and has graduated scientists, astronauts, authors, musicians, doctors and lawyers. My #WhyAna is because I believe every single student in my building can accomplish their goals and contribute to their community. We encourage everyone to follow us on Twitter (@AnacostiaHigh) to learn more about the great work we do every day.
William Haith, a native Washingtonian, became principal of Anacostia High School in 2018 after one year as resident principal of Kelly Miller Middle School as a Mary Jane Patterson Fellow. He previously taught at Wilson High School, where he served as dean of students, information technology coordinator and later assistant principal.
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