{"id":26174,"date":"2010-12-09T08:21:39","date_gmt":"2010-12-09T13:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=26174"},"modified":"2023-08-29T16:43:58","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T20:43:58","slug":"desi-nesmith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/12\/desi-nesmith\/","title":{"rendered":"Reshaping an Urban Elementary School"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>Desi<\/a>
UConn alum Desi Nesmith, the new principal of SAND elementary school in Hartford, reads to children. Photo provided by the Neag School of Education<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One day late this summer, Desi Nesmith \u201901, MA \u201902, sits in his no-frills office at America\u2019s Choice at SAND School<\/a> in the North End of Hartford. No school banner hangs on the wall. No 2009-10 calendar to remind him of his first year as a principal. No Husky blue.<\/p>\n

He has just been trained by a \u201cbreakthrough coach\u201d to balance his professional and personal lives by keeping them separate. Part of the deal was to make his office less homey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to attempt to make this adjustment. Look behind you,\u201d he says, gesturing to boxes and bins packed with his belongings. \u201cThat was my office yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s trying, but the casual visitor gets the idea this new effort will in no way temper his passion for making over a school that, before he came, was stuck on the No Child Left Behind \u201cneeds improvement\u201d list, with state mastery test scores ranking 11th from the bottom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my first year as principal at SAND, so I\u2019m totally open to ways to be effective and do this job,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Last spring, Nesmith received the inaugural \u201cPromising Young Professional Award<\/a>\u201d from the Neag School of Education Alumni Society<\/a>. Nominated by Thomas DeFranco, dean of the Neag School, and Richard Schwab, former dean, Nesmith was touted by Schwab as \u201cone of the most talented graduates that we had during my tenure as dean.\u201d In late September, Nesmith also garnered the \u201cOutstanding First-Year Principal Award\u201d from the Connecticut Association of Schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nesmith was selected to lead SAND in its first year under the America\u2019s Choice school redesign. As part of that, all faculty had to reapply for their jobs, competing with applicants from elsewhere in the district. Only about a third of the original staff was selected to stay. Families could opt in or out of the school, but if they stayed, they signed a compact to commit to the project.<\/p>\n

The result was that Connecticut Mastery Test scores showed double-digit improvement in almost every subject and grade, the greatest gains at any elementary school in the city. Third-grade reading scores from last year shot up from 22 percent at or above proficiency to almost 54 percent this year.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s proud of the students, of course, but especially of the teachers. \u201cI refer to them as the \u2018A Team\u2019,\u201d he says. \u201cI was able to bring on staff who come here for a reason. Failure was not an option.\u201d His big dream is to ditch the \u201cneeds improvement\u201d rating at SAND altogether.<\/p>\n

On the first day of school this fall, Hartford Superintendent Steven Adamowski visited SAND School as part of a tour of success stories in the district. The official state visit was featured in the CTNow section of The Hartford Courant<\/em>. Nesmith credited the school\u2019s swift progress to adhering to its learning model, which includes a 2.5-hour daily literature block; building parent and student support; and having a core of committed teachers.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve come a long way at SAND. \u201cSome kids told the assistant principal and I that \u2018we used to run the building,\u2019 and I have no doubt. They learned pretty quick that it was a new day,\u201d Nesmith recalls.<\/p>\n

Nesmith\u2019s day starts at 7 a.m. with breakfast with students and sometimes parents. He checks his calendar for the day, visits classrooms to observe instruction, and then consults with Donna Wellins, the assistant principal, over lunch in her office. His afternoon is filled with meetings to gauge the status on personalized teaching plans; returning calls; and visiting specialty classes, such as art and music. He has been known to head to the gym, doff his jacket, and play a little basketball with the kids. \u201cOf course, they don\u2019t want you to leave, but you have to leave,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

After that he often deals with budget and human resources issues, and speaks with his special education director, who is spread over one of four zones in the city.<\/p>\n

His stories are filled with people, students, teachers, and parents from the past and present. People like Shakur Mackey, a summer school student entering the seventh grade. \u201cThis time last year he certainly gave me a run for his money. Now he\u2019s done a 180,\u201d Nesmith says.<\/p>\n

Outside class that day, Shakur, dressed in a neat polo shirt and khakis, says, \u201cI used to get in trouble a lot because I used to make bad choices. I\u2019m making better choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a work in progress,\u201d Nesmith comments, as Shakur goes back to his expository writing exercise.<\/p>\n

He shows off Elka Spencer\u2019s class of sixth-graders going into seventh, who are writing reports. One student, Juan Ruiz, has written about the Butler-McCook House in the Hartford Icon Project. He interviewed the site\u2019s manager and found out about the toys from the time period, World War I service by one of the Butlers, and the story of how the house was put back in shape after a wayward driver crashed into it a few years ago.<\/p>\n

Nesmith mentions Grandma Mildred, the family taskmaster for another of his students. \u201cHe knows I\u2019ll pick up the phone and call her on any little thing. She doesn\u2019t play. She drills into this kid that he comes to school to learn. She and I are on the same page with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Nesmith\u2019s favorite story is about CJ Morrison. As a fifth-grader in Nesmith\u2019s class at Mayberry School in East Hartford, CJ didn\u2019t like to write. Nesmith, then in his first teaching job, visited CJ’s home to work with him. That year, CJ scored in the proficient range of the CMTs in writing.<\/p>\n

Now CJ, a student at Capitol Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, reads to SAND second-graders every Tuesday. \u201cJust to see him once a week in his tie and his jacket working with my kids \u2026\u201d Nesmith says of the circle of learning.<\/p>\n

Part of Nesmith\u2019s style is to stay in touch. He does so with Leon McKinley, his mentor, who hired him at Mayberry and promoted him along the way. McKinley, director of Hartford elementary schools, calls Nesmith \u201ca star in the making,\u201d who one day will be a strong superintendent. Nesmith continues to get advice from his past teaching colleagues, many of them now directing schools of their own, and checks in on myriad past students and their parents.<\/p>\n

Maureen DeLucco, the mother of a former student at Mayberry, says, \u201cThat to me is the real test. He\u2019ll look up the kids after they\u2019re out of class. Some teachers, after they\u2019re done, they\u2019ll close the door. Not Mr. Nesmith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nesmith earned a B.S. in 2001 and an M.A. in 2002 through the Neag IB\/M program<\/a> and completed the UCAPP administrator preparation program<\/a> in May 2009. He taught for two years at Mayberry \u2013 an experience he calls \u201cmagical\u201d \u2013 and worked as a teacher-in-residence at the Connecticut State Department of Education, where he met his wife, Aixa Couvertier, now a literacy coach at the School for Young Children on Asylum Hill in Hartford. Couvertier also graduated from Neag\u2019s IB\/M program in 1998.<\/p>\n

\u201cDesi has that rare quality that we admire in effective leaders,\u201d DeFranco says, \u201ca clear vision for the school, strong leadership skills for the teachers and staff, high expectations for the students, and a management style that helps create a safe and welcoming school environment for parents, teachers, and students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The feeling about Neag and UConn is mutual. \u201cI\u2019ve been blessed,\u201d Nesmith says. \u201cI\u2019m a big fan of my UConn.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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