P.S.35 The Nathaniel Woodhull School

P.S 35 is located in Hollis, a working class neighborhood of Queens, which despite urban problems, the community take pride to maintain the school and surroundings with care and pride. Mark Dempsey is the Principal of P.S. 35, a school which serves a unique diverse student population. A mix of ethnicities comprises its rich fabric of its immigrant community. Participating in the vibrant P.S. 35 school community are many students of African- American and Latino background as children from countries such as Guyana, Philippines, Haiti, Pakistan, and the Dominican Republic.

My sister, my daughter and I were invited to P.S. 35 by Principal Mark Dempsey last year to celebrate ‘The Year of the Ox’. As special guests, we prepared a reading event for their students of the book, “Sam’s Lucky Money”, explaining the symbols and traditions of our heritage. We were delighted by the receptiveness and inquisitiveness of the children. We were asked questions such as, “Are dragons real?” ‘How long has Chinese New Year been celebrated? ”, And a special question for my fifth-grade daughter Emma, “How many friends do you have?”

PROFILE MARK DEMPSEY – SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
CONTINUITY IN COMMITMENT to EDUCATION AND INTER-CULTURAL DIALOGUE

1. What were some of the challenges that you faced when you became the principal of the school in 2006?
The school had experienced principal turnover; my predecessor was in the position only fourteen months. It was a steep learning curve for me, given the wide diversity of the community. The challenge I faced was to assess the culture and strength of the school: the staff, the students, their families and the immediate neighborhood. It was critical for me to watch, listen, observe, learn from my colleagues, and be patient in order to understand the community prior to effectuating administrative initiatives. At the same time, the need to learn new information in order to make informed decisions is neverending… and very rewarding.

2. You have had quite a prolific career working with diverse communities; can you tell us about some of your experiences and how these influence your approach to your job as a principal?
I started out as a teacher with the Peace Corps in Benin, West Africa. In addition to my Masters in Educational Administration, I have a Masters in Intercultural Management from the School for International Training in Vermont. Following my studies, I worked with a Graduate Fellowship program with African students as a student advisor. These students pursued their governments’ priority fields of development, e.g., public health, economics, business, and nursing. My role was to monitor their academic progress, particularly their research, maintain close contacts with their professors, and address any financial, health, visa, travel, or other personal issues. From my continued interests in Africa, I worked for the Kellogg Foundation where I gained fieldwork experience in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Locally, I’ve worked as a Community Planner for the New York City’s Mayor Office, focusing on the area of Jamaica, Queens. Through that experience I learned Mayor Dinkens’s “asset-based model” approach to urban planning versus a “deficit based model.” In other words, to define a community by its strengths and resources rather than its shortcomings. Some of the assets of my school community are the presence of churches, stable businesses, the proximity to infrastructure (airport, trains), and most importantly, active and involved parents who work hard to earn a living and care deeply about the education of their children.

3. When you took this job, you moved close by to the school grounds, three blocks away. Besides obviously cutting commuting time, why did you feel it was important to live in the neighborhood?
My intention was to immerse myself in the community to be close to my students and parents and other businesses which support the school community. The neighborhood has a complex socio-economic dynamic as seen by the close juxtaposition of huge mansions and lower income multiple-dwellings. I wanted to simply better understand the neighborhood.

4. What are some of the ‘values’ that you have set as a standard for P.S.35? How are some of these values expressed?
A number of key staff, parents, and a community based organization developed a mission statement that centers around the concept of ‘Developing the Whole Child’. The core aspect of this statement is that we strive to develop all the sides of the child: academic, emotional and social growth. To this end we try to ‘promote the love of learning’ and ‘improve the fundamentals’. Our teachers have incredible creativity and determination and the power to light the fire of our students. We’ve had with some success, ‘community mediator services’, a leadership program that promotes, fundraising, volunteer programs and outreach to the elderly. We funded our own after-school enrichment programs, sponsoring classes in dance, singing, drama and a school band. As the resources and funding have become more difficult to obtain, we are constantly seeking creative ways to sustain our mission. We are especially fortunate when people come to us -- recently, a former alumnus, David Simons an accomplished television and movie writer (Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Sister, Sister, Full House) visited our school to talk about his life and work. Our students were so excited; a fourth grade class has been blogging about his visit!

5. What are some ways in which you promote a positive and inviting school environment in your school?
As a daily morning routine, I greet children and parents at the school entrance, sometimes scolding parents who bring their their children late. For me, keeping things personal and providing regular and easy access are important to running a good school. We are a team with a wonderful assistant principal, an excellent parent coordinator, terrific teachers and support staff. Our safety agents often receive compliments for their courteous and welcoming demeanor. The kitchen staff and custodians take a personal interest in our children.

The Assistant Principal, the Parent Coordinator, and the two Secretaries in our Main Office have business cards, so that parents know who we are and how to reach us. Unlike some schools, our parents are welcome to enter the building at dismissal to pick up their children. It’s important for our constituency of parents, to disassociate the school with the image of other public and government buildings in which they may have had negative experiences, such as immigration, police, and social welfare agencies. The school belongs to everyone: staff, children, and parents. We try to keep the parents informed of our school activities. Our notices are currently dispersed in three languages English, Spanish, Haitian-Creole, and we are working on adding Bengali. Although it takes time to have many of our parent notices translated into several languages, it is critical that all parents feel considered and included.

6. Do students in your school congregate together on basis of ethnicity? How do you promote interaction of children that may come from different backgrounds whom may speak different languages?
There is a natural tendency for students of the same background – particularly during adolescence in middle school -- to group together based on factors of comfort and safety. We try to facilitate and maximize interaction, mixing up student groups in creative ways. One of our teachers, who is Irish-Jewish, brought her experience living in India with the creativity of our children to form an Indian Dance Troupe. It was just thrilling to see the results of children from all different backgrounds dressed in traditional Indian clothing performing very complicated, choreographed traditional Indian dance moves. I don’t know who appreciated it more -- the dancers or the audience.

7. How did the idea of presenting Chinese New Year come about? What were the goals of the program?
Our kindergarten teachers have historically staged a Chinese New Year parade around the school with the kindergartners. There are few Chinese-Americans in our school community and in the greater Hollis community. The majority of students identify the Chinese as people who work in the service industry, primarily restaurants and other service jobs. Exposing our children to people of Chinese descent -- such as you and your sister Lillian as business professionals and your daughter Emma, a bi-racial child of Asian and European background -- opened their eyes to a completely different outlook. By inviting you into the school, students were able to ask questions that they were curious about in a relaxed and natural setting. This interaction, I’m convinced, took away some of their preconceptions that they had had about people of Chinese descent. By using the book, “Sam’s Lucky Money”, a book about how a typical Chinese family prepares for New Year, provoked a self-reflection trigger by means of identification with a common activity. As everyone celebrates New Year, it provided a platform for the children to reflect and share with others how their own family celebrated rituals and traditions.

8. For those who might be considering a career in education, how many hours do you work a week?
The hours are long. I typically put in 60-70 hours per week. There is always something else to do. We are always looking at student data to try to make informed decisions. There is always more to learn. Besides my routine administrative duties, I allocate time in the evening to make “positive calls” to parents with notes from my teachers to personally let parents know how well their children are doing. I’m convinced that parents need and deserve to be thanked for all of the support they provide. Parents rarely get thanked for anything. My assistant principal and I conduct visits to homes of children who are struggling with behavior, attendance, or academic issues so that we can have face-to-face discussions with parents outside of the school. I feel that so many of the teachers do whatever it takes to reach children and create good working relationships with the parents. The challenges are many in terms of the pressure to have the students perform better each year on standardized tests. In this financial environment where staff and resources have been substantially reduced, the performance goal does not let up. Of course, teachers deserve a tremendous amount of support for the effort and care they invest in the children.

9. What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?
It is observing those exquisite teaching moments by my teachers when children are fully engaged and joyful about exploring new ideas and learning new concepts. When I see the effort and care the teachers take to prepare their lessons and deliver creative, thoughtful instruction, this simply makes my day. When I see teachers take initiative and demonstrate their leadership on a project, it is very gratifying and exciting. When I have thoughtful interactions with students where they give me advice, I simply love it.

10. What made you decide to be an educator?
I lost my father when I was seven years old, and that has definitely been a defining and motivating factor of my decision to be an educator. My Mom also was a career educator. As a man, I believe it’s important to provide a role model in the lives of children, fight for their interests, treat them as the brilliant, joyful, funny, hardworking people that they already are. So many of the children in New York City lack that relationship and support from father figures. For the fathers that we have in our community, we encourage them to be as visible as possible, in sports activities, pancakes breakfasts, speakers on career days, and morning volunteers.