Et Tu, Cambridge Latin?

The chief of a storied Cambridge educational institution announces an impending resignation in early 2006. The school turns to an experienced administrator from within its own ranks to hold down the fort for a year. Meanwhile, school leaders convene a search committee that scours the country for a long-term replacement.

No, that’s not Harvard being described. It’s the University’s neighbor to the east of Annenberg, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS), which is facing administrative changes of its own.

This summer, Christopher Saheed was named acting principal of Cambridge’s only public high school for the 2006-2007 school year, following a secretive search process. Saheed, who previously served as the dean of curriculum and programs for one of the high school’s learning communities—subdivisions of the student population intended to provide a more intimate environment—is the fourth principal to serve at the school’s helm in the last seven school years.

But high turnover isn’t the only problem that has plagued CRLS—which was placed on probation by a regional accrediting agency from 2003 to 2005.

Whereas Harvard can point to top rankings on national and global surveys, Cambridge Rindge and Latin is still classified as “needing improvement” on a federal watch list. In many ways, Saheed’s challenges make Harvard Interim President Derek C. Bok’s job look like a walk in the yard.

A CANTAB TO THE CORE

Saheed’s roots with the high school stretch back over three decades. He first came to CRLS in 1974 as a student teacher before eventually serving a six-year stint as a dean.

Saheed says he has “a great deal of experience with the students and families in this community”—and that has made his transition from dean to principal smooth, at least so far.

He’s a Harvard man as well. Saheed holds a master’s degree in education administration from the Graduate School of Education and an advanced degree from Harvard in administration, planning, and social policy.

Harvard won’t be the only school within steps of Memorial Hall that boasts a national reputation—at least, if Saheed has his way.

Cambridge Rindge and Latin has the “potential to be, really, a top school in the nation,” he says. “I feel that we are just moving on target to being that.”

THE SEARCH IS ON

In January, his predecessor, Sybil N. Knight, announced that she would step down as principal of the school on July 1 in order to accept a job offer as an assistant superintendent in Harrisburg, Pa.

During Knight’s four-year tenure, the high school encountered serious educational hurdles. It was placed on probation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and its scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) standardized tests lagged behind similar schools.

Knight came to the school in 2002 after the then-acting principal, Paula M. Evans, resigned amidst a controversial restructuring plan. Local elementary school principal Len Solo served as interim chief immediately following Evans’s resignation.

In a letter written shortly after her resignation, Knight urged the district to pick her replacement from inside the CRLS ranks.

“A leader from within the existing CRLS leadership team, who has been immersed deeply in the work and has the demonstrated commitment to build on that work, will surely take it to the next level,” she wrote. “In doing so, stability will be maintained, morale will be heightened, and progress toward increasing student achievement will continue.”

But in March, Cambridge Public Schools Superintendent Thomas F. Fowler-Finn announced that the district would be conducting a national search to find Knight’s replacement.

The district used a committee composed of parents, teachers, community leaders, and a student representative to vet candidates. The committee issued periodic updates about the search on the district’s website but did not release any specific information about the candidates—such as the number of applicants or their biographical details.

Despite its closed nature, the search process did receive some scrutiny from community leaders.

In a March interview with the Cambridge Chronicle, shortly after the start of the search, Kathy A. Reddick, the president of the Cambridge chapter of the NAACP and a member of the search committee, lamented the lack of women and minorities on the list of candidates to replace Knight, who is African-American.

And school committee members said the secrecy surrounding this first stage of the search did not make managerial sense.

School Committee member Patricia M. Nolan ’80 said her board “never got formal reporting.”

“While I respect the search committee, it’s a sign of good management to make sure that all the stakeholders understand the process and the progress that is being made, without breaching any confidentiality of the candidates,” Nolan added.

INSIDE MAN

Ultimately, the superintendant announced that Saheed would replace Knight. But Fowler-Finn maintains that Saheed’s appointment had little to do with Knight’s letter.

“I have a lot of respect for Dr. Knight’s opinion, but we were looking for the very best candidate to do the job that was necessary,” he said. “Whether they were from within the system or not, was not a factor.”

Despite the questions raised about the search process, Saheed has received endorsements from faculty and staff members, community leaders, and students, fulfilling Knight’s prediction that a new leader from within the school would boost morale.

“The high school is a really upbeat place,” said School Committee member Nancy Walser, who has a daughter attending the school. “The whole place is really energized and I hear that morale is pretty high.”

School Committee member Joseph G. Grassi said that Saheed’s appointment fosters a sense of stability within the school.

“I think people have a comfort level that he’s there this year,” said Grassi, who graduated from the high school in 1985. “He’s one of the most well respected individuals in public education in the Cambridge Public Schools system.”

TOUGH TASK AHEAD

Saheed says that during his year as principal, he wants to improve the school by defining and focusing on its core values.

He aims to build a CRLS community “where people really know what the school stands for.”

“It’s a beginning point for laying a deeper foundation that gets us focused,” he says.

Saheed says that he thinks focusing on three aspects—boosting rigor, personalizing education, and improving the school’s climate—will engage both students and teachers in achieving a higher level of academic achievement.

“My sense is that when people feel good about their membership in an organization, that permits them to do their best work,” he says. “So for me, it’s important to engage students that way they feel that the school is responsive to them, that the administration is really listening to them and that includes them in the kind of process that makes them feel values here.”

Despite the stability that Saheed’s appointment maintains, the school’s academic progress is far from perfect.

On the spring 2006 MCAS exam, 33 percent of CRLS 10th graders received “failing” or “needs improvement” grades on the English exam—worse than the 31 percent rate statewide. And 38 percent of 10th graders at the school received such marks on the math exam—compared to 33 percent of students across Massachusetts.

The district will resume its national search for a permanent replacement later in the school year. Saheed, who has never served as an assistant principal or principal for a school before, will remain in the running.

“Every principal has to be a principal for the first time,” Walser said. “This could be a year where Chris can really prove himself.”

—Staff writer Laura A. Moore can be reached at lamoore@fas.harvard.edu.