Becoming the new principal of Kenmore Middle School would be difficult enough, but David McBride is stepping into a role Dr. John Word had occupied for 18 years. McBride says he’s ready for the challenge, and Arlington Public Schools seems to agree. On July 20, The Arlington School Board appointed McBride as the interim principal of Kenmore Middle School for the 2016-2017 school year. Officially, it’s an interim job, but McBride says he’s not looking at it that way. McBride said he’s going into the school year as the principal, and interim or not, that’s the role he’s going to fill.
“I’m excited for the opportunity as far as principalship goes,” said McBride. “I think this is a great fit. I know this community.”
“[McBride] has spent his entire educational career with Arlington Public Schools,” said Superintendent Dr. Pat Murphy in a statement by Arlington Public Schools (APS). “[McBride] is a student-centered leader who believes in and supports the whole child model in his work with students, teachers, staff, and the community. Through his work, he has demonstrated a commitment to developing staff and engaging in leadership activities that support students and families. His ability to build relationships and shape a vision for academic success for all students by creating a climate of excellence will be an asset to Kenmore.”
Murphy also spoke to staff and administrators before the meeting about the choice of interim principal, but few introductions were needed. McBride has been an asistant principal at Kenmore for nine years. McBride has previously worked in Arlington schools as an English teacher at Swanson Middle School for 12 years before moving up to the county level as a teacher specialist for five years. There McBride said he worked in reading achievements, trying to boost APS reading scores.
“But while I was working, I missed being in a school,” said McBride. McBride came to the school as Kenmore was moving into its new building and APS was hiring more faculty. During his time as assistant principal, McBride said he learned a lot about the school, and about being an administrator, from Word.
“[He showed] dedication and commitment to all children,” said McBride. “[Being principal is about] the strength of commitment to make sure that every kid will find a place at school. At a school like ours, that’s not easy, but John was very dedicated to making sure the school was for students. He didn’t lose sight of that. To take long-term vision and then to see kids who had challenges come back to say “I’m OK”, and more often than not they’re doing really well, that’s the cool thing about long-term commitment to the school. I think I learned that from him.”
Nancy Birnbaum, president of the Kenmore Middle School PTA, said Word was a terrific principal because he was always willing to listen to parents and faculty, even when he disagreed. According to Birnbaum, Word was always looking to improve the school, and as the community moves forward with a new principal at the helm, Birnbaum said there are a few areas where the school can focus and improve.
“We need to ensure that new teachers coming into the school have the tools and support that they need to be successful,” said Birnbaum. Birnbaum said Kenmore could also continue to improve is in communications with parents.
“[The school] needs to keep parents in the loop,” said Birnbaum. “I know from a personal standpoint there have been times where that wasn’t as good as it could have been. Not bad, but it could be improved.”
Even before the school year starts, McBride says he’s making an effort to reach out to different groups of parents and administrators to set up clear lines of communication. McBride also said it’s important that the school administration keep in contacts with residents and the community around the school.
“We need to make sure our communication is good and that we’re good neighbors,” said McBride, noting that some neighbors he’d spoken with had concerns about traffic at the school. McBride also said that he was meeting with a group of Hispanic mothers at the school who have formed a close knit group to identify the needs for their students.
“There are pressures and challenges,” said McBride. “[Middle school] is a big time of transition and change for students.”
The school itself has been going through changes, particularly in the use of technology, and McBride says he’d like to see Kenmore continue to be a leader in integrating technology into curriculum.
“This school could really be a 21st century school in how we access communication,” said McBride. “We always try to be up to speed or ahead of the technology curve. We’ve had smart boards and smart technology for a while, and we’ve seen teachers be really proficient with using that for presentations, but we’ve expanded that so it’s no longer the teacher being the presenter, but students are working in small groups with panels and smart board to work together. While the teacher is the expert, they become more of a facilitator to help students explore these problems together.”
As the classroom technologies evolve, McBride says the school and ways of teaching students have to evolve with them. For a principal, McBride says one of the challenges can be just keeping up with those changes. McBride compared walking into a classroom at Kenmore to walking into a scene from Star Trek, with information projected all around the walls of the room. But in other ways, McBride says the school still has to fulfill the very same fundamental education requirements that it always has.
“We’re pretty cutting edge for using alternative ways to get students engaged in their learning, to explore their interests in a richly diverse and supportive environment,” said McBride. “It’s exciting, it’s a different way to have middle school. We still have plenty of traditional practices, but you can kind of see on the horizon that education in the U.S. has the potential to change and become personalized… The challenge is to make sure, as we welcome in new staff, that we remain focused on the main thing: high quality instruction. My challenge is to make sure we’re moving in a positive direction.”