One of the things the district is working to get right, he said, is to increase job readiness for graduating students.
“I want students to be ready to go to college, but if they want to go to work, they should be able to get the certifications they need,” he said.
“We are looking at exposing more kids to (Career and Technical Education) options, and much sooner—in middle school. We need to coordinate with industries to prepare kids for the jobs that are out there. But we also need to prepare them for the jobs we don’t even know about—and that means more instruction on critical thinking and entrepreneurial thinking.”
He said he would like to start a teaching program similar to one available in his former district in Palm Beach County, Fla. With that program, graduates who went on to complete their teaching certifications were guaranteed a position if they returned to teach in the district.
Hamlet said such commitments will help sell the district—to legislators in Harrisburg, to local and national foundations and ultimately to families who may consider charter or private school alternatives.
“I don’t get mad at charter schools. I just say let’s hunker down and do a better job,” he said. “What’s right, what’s wrong, and what do we need to add or subtract to do that?”
In a district in which 53 percent of the students are Black but 83 percent of the teachers are White, one of the things Hamlet is working to add is more Black teachers and administrators. The teaching program he alluded to would be part of that effort, but just a part.
“I have five high-level vacancies, and I’ve been tasked with building a diverse staff,” he said. “We are recruiting in areas of the country where we can find those diverse candidates to fill those slots. We know it helps Black students to see people who look like them in positions of authority and respect.”
Another initiative he hopes will help Black students and those with family conditions that present barriers to learning, such as incarceration, homelessness, substance abuse, and chronic unemployment, is the Community Schools concept.
“The way I describe it is the school serves a hub for services needed in that particular community,” he said. “Maybe in one place its medical access, in another social or transportation services, maybe even a food pantry. Whatever it is, it is available to the students and their families improve their condition and to increase educational success.”
Ultimately, educational success is Hamlet’s bottom line.
“Oh it’s great having a lot of (Advanced Placement) courses,” he said. “But I don’t want to see how many kids we have taking AP courses—I want to see how many are passing them.”
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