by Steve Reinbrecht
The new Reading School District superintendent told me the reasons he thinks he will succeed when his predecessors have failed to improve student achievement, manage finances or keep the public informed.
Mumin has three advantages – a truly different school board, a finance department rebuilt by independent professionals, and, he says, the knowledge of how to change uninspired students’ attitudes because he made the change himself.
The district serves about 17,600 students, employs about 2,000 people and has a budget approaching a quarter of a billion dollars.
It has had a string of ineffective leaders. The latest, Carlinda Purcell, was hired in March 2012 for five years with a starting salary of $175,000 and was fired in November, with never a clear explanation of the reasons or how her contract was resolved. Mumin’s salary has not been set, at least that I could find publicly.
Of course, all the recent superintendents also said they had their board’s support. But there is a difference with this board. Of the nine members who hired Carlinda Purcell as superintendent in March 2012, six have been replaced. The school board is rid of its biggest troublemakers. Yvonne Stroman, newly elected in November, resigned at the beginning of the year. Karen McCree ended her 14-year tenure on the board when she submitted her resignation. I wonder if Stroman and McCree were “counseled out,” to use the term educators use when ineffective teachers are pressured to leave.
For the first time in decades, perhaps, sensible technocrats such as BCIU leader John George and small-government guru John Kramer, now on the school board, are calling some shots at Berks County’s most important institution.
Mumin acknowledges that the district has been closed off to the public and vows to change that. He wants to connect better with families, despite the cost such face-to-face efforts to help city students require. Perhaps public-service organizations can add bodies to the job, he said. In Syracuse, N.Y., he noted, administrators hand-deliver disciplinary notices to students’ homes after school. They quickly become known in the community.
Mumin knows many parents are uncomfortable or even intimidated entering district buildings.
“800 Washington is a scary place.”
He wants to set up tables during the annual Salsa Fest and at events at places like the Hispanic Center, the YMCA, and the Olivet buildings, to help get his message out.
Mumin said he can relate to the students and parents in Reading because he grew up in Philadelphia. Mumin told me he was often truant, missing 75 days in high school. He turned himself around, began his higher education at a junior college and finished with a doctorate at the highly selective University of Pennsylvania.
And he comes in after the Berks County Intermediate Unit, an education service, spent months transforming the district’s organizational nightmare, which included stacks of unopened mail in the finance office, which oversees the budget of $227 million.
The BCIU identified all the district’s important operations and fixed them, especially finances, which now has state-of-the-art software, he said. The IU also began work on curriculum and also hired him as a superintendent.
I have to say, you can’t beat Mumin for charisma, which has to help in a job like his. He seems about eight feet tall and is lanky and animated, with a bow tie and cuff links and an English teacher’s tendency to elaborate. He complimented me on my hat, pegging it as a Bailey with a glance at it across the room. He’s the type of man who gripped my hand a little longer than I like, but when I let go, he didn’t keep holding it as some Masters of the Universe are wont. He’s young, 42, and handsome, and I’d swear his big brown eyes got a bit moist once or twice when he discussed topics that move him.
Mumin said he’ll measure students’ academic progress by their performance on standardized tests, of course. But he mentioned some other metrics – how many children are taking tests, such as SATS, that are necessary for higher education. How many advanced placement (AP) scholars the district has. Attendance and truancy. The raw number of graduates. This year, 753 graduated. A short-term goal is 1,000.
Unlike at other poor urban districts, Reading has good attendance, Mumin said, but the achievement scores are still low. That shows him the teachers need more support in how to reach the children, he said.
Mumin has put Alex Brown, who was principal of Southwest Middle School, in the Intermediate High School, also known as the Citadel. Mumin called the school the “hot spot” of the district. Dennis Campbell, who had been Citadel principal, will be principal of Southwest.
Mumin is also looking for a principal for 13th and Green Elementary School to replace Chasity Cooper, who recently resigned.
With a week until school starts Aug. 25, he needs to fill other important positions, listed on a whiteboard in his office. Two positions oversee the district’s principals: the chief instructional services officer and the literacy and humanities director.
The district needs to find a director of equity, concerned with diversity and race relations, a position required by the state Human Relations Commission.
And he needs a director of English as a second language, in a city where a third of the residents lives in homes where no one speaks English very well.
He wants to set realistic goals for students. He knows many are likely to go to 2-year schools and certificate programs. Reading High School could be a prime source for future technicians that manufacturing and health sciences will need around here.
Mumin confirmed that county educators and leaders have had trouble working with the district on projects such as a “career in two years” and Reading Area Community College’s technical academy.
“There’s been a perception that we close our doors on our partners. … Our partners want to help.”
Mumin said he has met with leaders of RACC, Greater Reading Economic Partnership [a development agency], Penn State Berks, the YMCA, Olivets children’s clubs, Berks Women in Crisis, and other groups who have also pledged support. He said he hopes to use their energy to address problems in the districts that need direct human attention.
Those leaders said, Mumin reported, “We’re here to help, but for years we haven’t been able to get into this building.”
Mumin said every hire goes through his office or the office of Assistant Superintendent Juliette Pennyman.
He said he hired a nurse just before he talked to me, and read some notes about why she got the job:
She was born and raised in Reading. She had worked in a hospice setting. Her mother had been a nurse. She sees her job as more than being a nurse but helping students “holistically.” She’s not afraid of different people. She is student centered. “These kids need us.”
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