Articles

 Author: REBECCA E. EDEN ree@herald-sun.com; 419-6566

May 31, 20201
 

Southern High School Principal Henry Pankey was named Wednesday as the next leader of Hillside High School.

Pankey described his new position as "the ultimate challenge" of his career, one that he asked for and plans to keep at least until 2005.

"I am the principal of Hillside High School, and this change was something I wanted," Pankey said during an informal news conference at the Fuller Administration Building on Wednesday with his wife and one of his two daughters present.

"From the bottom of my heart, I want to work at solving Hillside's problems and make it a better school," he said.

The no-nonsense principal replaces Richard Hicks, who was transferred to the school system's department of community education on Morris Street, where he will coordinate business and community partnerships. Hicks is taking over the position from Carol Johnson, who is on extended medical leave.

After more than a decade at Hillside, Denlinger decided in February to demote Hicks after an internal investigation found he passed 259 students who should have failed for missing too many classes. Many Hillside parents, students, teachers and other staff members criticized Denlinger and the school board for the decision and want Hicks to stay.

The love and support for Hicks shown in the last months demonstrates a passionate Hillside community, Pankey said.

"It is a testament to Hicks," Pankey said. "He's had a great career and I admire him a lot."

Board Chairwoman Kathryn Meyers said Hicks' new position is vital to the community.

"I wish Mr. Hicks well in his new position," she said. "He certainly has the knowledge and expertise to strengthen the ties between the business organizations and the schools."

Pankey and Hicks begin their new jobs today. Pankey, whose salary was not released Wednesday, did not get a bonus or raise. Hicks, who recently offered to resign in exchange for $400,000, will continue to make more than $104,000 a year.

Meanwhile, Southern High School's site-based decision-making team will soon establish a search committee for a new principal.

During a phone call with Superintendent Ann Denlinger earlier this spring, Pankey raised the possibility of going to Hillside and the two talked about his long-term goals in the district, he said.

"It wasn't as if Dr. Denlinger called me up and is forcing me to transfer, quite the opposite really," Pankey said.

But, Pankey admitted to having mixed feelings about leaving Southern. He called his three years there an "incredible and rewarding experience" and joked about cloning himself so he could be the principal of both schools simultaneously.

"A lot of Hillside and Southern people, including me, will go through a mourning period because of this change before healing can take place," he said. "I love Southern and it will always have a special place in my heart, but I am truly excited about this move."

On the top of Pankey's to-do list is call student government leaders, site-based decision making team and PTSA members, and meet with staff to begin building relationships. Then, he wants to analyze Hillside's test scores, curriculum and other data to create measurable learning objectives.

"While I respect the traditions and culture at Hillside, I want to instill my strong philosophy of academics," he said.

His emphasis on academics helped Southern students leap from "low performing" to "exemplary" status as determined by the state's ABCs of Public Education program in his first year at the school. In 1999, Pankey received the Hall of Fame award from the National Alliance of Black School Educators, and he was selected as Principal of the Year for Durham the following year.

The Rev. Coleman Moore, chairman of Hillside's site-based decision making team, said although he is "obviously very disappointed how it all ended up," he'll support Pankey and his efforts to improve the school.

"I'm sure Mr. Pankey will work as hard as he can to make Hillside the great school that it has been, that it is and that it will be in the future," he said.

Pankey, who suspended many Southern students for not tucking in their shirt-tails and not bringing a three-ring binder to school, envisions Hillside as a traditional prep-school where students dress nice, show respect and earn good grades.

"Hillside High School is going to give Southern High School a run for its money, and we will be as academically superior as some of the top high schools in Durham and in the state, for that matter," Pankey said with confidence.

Pankey said his reputation for tough love is accurate.

Pankey has not yet decided whether he will ask Southern staff members and teachers to follow him to Hillside. Once he learns the needs of the schools, he will begin to fill positions, possibly with Southern faculty, he said.

In a fax sent to Denlinger earlier this week, Hillside teachers said they would be displaced if Southern teachers were transferred.

"We sincerely hope you will not renege on the promises you made to the Hillside faculty," the teachers wrote.

In addition, the teachers allege Pankey made negative comments about their school, tarnishing its image, a fact they said Denlinger acknowledged.

"Henry Pankey was guilty of literally telling low-performing or discipline-problem students 'to get out of my school and go to Hillside where they tolerate this behavior,' '' a group of Hillside teachers and staff wrote. "You adamantly stated that you were aware of Mr. Pankey's behavior... and now it appears you are transferring a principal directly responsible for forging the negative image that Hillside has lived under, as a solution to the problem."

Pankey said he succeeded at Southern because the community supported his implementing a school improvement plan named an "Unconditional Commitment to Excellence." The plan includes curriculum alignment, extensive development initiatives for teachers and numerous opportunities for parent and community involvement.

"I have every confidence in the Southern staff to carry on the collaborative vision we created together, as a team," he said.

Not so fast, said members of the Southern community, who gathered outside Fuller Building throughout the day Wednesday.

"We want Mr. Pankey at Southern," parent Felicia Hodge said after the decision was announced. "We are not going to tuck our tails in and go home. We still have to fight. This is not over yet."

Hodge said she was disturbed that Denlinger met with the Southern group a half-hour after the decision was made.

"Denlinger can't be trusted," Hodge said. "What use is meeting with us to hear our concerns a half-hour after the decision has been made public?"

Denlinger issued this written statement about Pankey:

"Henry Pankey brings to Hillside High School a proven track record of leadership, discipline and passion for high quality instruction and student achievement. This appointment honors Hillside's rich history while ensuring a smooth transition for students, teachers, parents and the larger community."

Pankey holds a master's degree from the University of Maryland and a bachelor's degree from the N.C. School of Performing Arts. Before coming to Durham, he served as principal in Laurinburg and in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was also an adjunct professor at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn.

Pankey is married to Aleyah and has three children, Ashia, 15, Amira, 8, and Aaron, 14 months. And a 10-week old German shepherd recently joined the Pankey family.

Caption:
Photos: HICKS; PANKEY

Copyright, 2001, The Durham Herald Company

 

ALLISON WILLIAMS/THE CHRONICLE
Henry Pankey, the new principal of Hillside High School, talks to a parent. Following a year of controversy,
Pankey hopes to return the school to normalcy and improve its academic and behavioral problems.

By: Ruth Carlitz

Posted: 9/26/01

Students returned to Hillside High School in August uncertain of what awaited them. After Richard Hicks' suspension last year for allegedly changing students' grades and failing to enforce the district's attendance policy, the popular principal was replaced by an equally visible leader: Henry Pankey.

Pankey has many goals for Hillside. Specifically, he said he wants a 75 percent pass rate for end-of-course tests, a 95 percent attendance rate and a lower dropout rate. He said he also hopes to successfully implement his dress code policy and character education programs.

But Pankey said he does not expect change to come easily.

"Change is not an event--it's a process," he said. "It's a very slow process where you make a little progress each day."

During Pankey's three-year tenure as principal of Southern High School, the school moved from being one of the lowest performing schools in North Carolina to attaining exemplary status.

Carr Agyapong, a parent of two Hillside students, expressed confidence that Pankey could achieve his goals at Hillside, although only with additional resources.

"Some [students] will need extra care so that we can have 75 percent that can perform at the level he's stressing," she said. "It can be done; it's just going to take a lot to get us there."

Replacing the popular Hicks is a challenge, but Pankey said he is happy with how the year is going so far. Parents at Hillside echoed Pankey's confidence.

However, Durham NAACP President Curtis Gatewood said he feared Pankey would be too quick to suspend students.

"I don't know if that's going to be the pattern--to suspend and get rid of the so-called problems so they can have a higher percentage of people passing the tests... but if that is going to be the strategy, I can tell you we're going to have some big problems," said Gatewood.

Pankey was quick to refute that idea.

"You try to avoid as many suspensions as possible," he said. He emphasized that suspensions were a last resort if peer mediation, in-school suspensions and parent conferences failed.

Pankey has also instituted a stricter dress code, urging students to pull up their pants, tuck in their shirts and abstain from wearing provocative clothing.

"Nobody wants to see the crack of your butt during the school day. Dress should not be a distraction," he said. "The most important dress code is a cap and gown."

Although Pankey said he is happy about students' compliance with the policy, some students said that by emphasizing dress, he ignores other issues.

"I feel that he concentrates more on the little things than on the big things, and the big things get missed," said sophomore Salaka Hayes.

Although Hayes said she is pleased with Pankey, she had some suggestions for how he might improve.

"He does have good intentions, but if he would communicate better and be a little more organized, things would run a lot smoother," she said.

Another of Pankey's programs is his "Diamonds in the Rough" scholarship fund, which distributes money evenly among all seniors going to college. Pankey's goal is $1,000 for every senior.

Last February, Superintendent Ann Denlinger announced that she would transfer Hicks from Hillside to an administrative position as community involvement coordinator.

Hicks is involved in fostering and maintaining partnerships between schools and businesses and non-profit organizations, said DPS Media Relations Coordinator Michael Yarborough. The school board did not vote on the decision, and many members said they lament Hicks' departure.

"I regret Hicks leaving, but that is by no means not being supportive of... Pankey," said board member Mozell Robinson. "Now that he's there, I want children to be successful at each of our schools."

Pankey said he anticipates that his contract at Hillside will run through 2005, and at that time, he may explore other avenues.

"I'll probably be here until we get a black president," he said.

© Copyright 2001 The Chronicle

Author: J. SHAWN DURHAM jsd@herald-sun.com; 419-6623

August 15, 2001

 

The school day was almost half over for new Hillside High School Principal Henry Pankey, and the day was incident-free.

Sure, most students had grunted when Pankey and his staff badgered them about tucking in their shirttails, taking off their baseball caps and coming to school with at least a three-ring binder full of notebook paper. But for the most part, things were running smoothly for the former Southern High School principal.

"My first day at Southern was rougher than this," beamed Pankey. "Southern was rough. After all the things you hear about Hillside, this is nothing."

Suddenly, as if on cue, five teenage boys wearing oversized clothes and caps with their shirttails slovenly hanging out strolled to the Hillside entrance - nearly three hours after the first bell. They expected to waltz into the school sans school supplies and a decent reason for being late. Pankey took umbrage.

"Where are you guys going?" he challenged. "Because you can't come to my school. Not this late! Not like this! It's the middle of third period! You all may as well go some place else."

Pankey walked away, then watched his assistant principals play good cops to his bad cop. Ten minutes later, after seeing the boys' heads nod a few times, he returned and offered to treat them to lunch if they served sodas to the students during lunchtime.

"Then we can see what we can do about getting you fellas a schedule," Pankey said.

The boys agreed. Just a few moments later, they were pouring up fountain drinks to schoolmates with a serious face about their duties. Score one for the Pankey method.

Pankey's first day at Hillside was the highlight of an otherwise business-as-usual opening day of classes. According to the Durham Public Schools, 27,728 students have enrolled this year, 3 percent more than the 26,889 students who had enrolled by last year's opening day.

Pankey said he is curious to see how Hillside's 1,000 or so students take to his tough-love approach at a school that has lagged in both test scores and attendance.

Pankey replaces Richard Hicks, who was transferred to the school system's department of community education on Morris Street. Hicks was demoted after an internal investigation found he passed 259 students who should have failed for missing classes. Many of Hillside's students, parents and faculty opposed the decision.

Some of the same parents who supported Hicks returned to Hillside with their children Tuesday. Pankey was there to greet them with a little conversation and a handshake, and he even won some of them over.

"I was a very strong supporter of Hicks," said Jerry Lennon, who dropped his daughter, Lamesha off. "I felt that Hicks was a good principal. He was 'Mr. Hillside.' But it was a timely decision [to hire Pankey]. He's a little younger than Hicks, and he's got a system. I have confidence in him."

Some of Hillside's faculty, like third-year teacher Hollis Watkins, were surprised how quickly some of the students responded to Pankey.

"I'm just impressed that some of these kids are actually tucking in their shirts," Watkins said as he gazed down the hall at a student considered a constant dress-code offender. "Just the fact that that young man has his shirt tucked in says a lot."

Not to say that Pankey was only concerned about appearing tough Tuesday. He shook hands with students, welcoming them to the school, and even sprinted to catch an elevator for a student with crutches.

"There is something that these kids need to understand, that they are perceived to be a lot of things that they are not just because of their appearance," Pankey said. "As long as we are consistent with the shirttails and caps and notebooks, [they] will get with the program. It all takes time."

To further motivate Hillside students, Pankey is working with corporate sponsors to fund giveaways. On Tuesday, a lucky student, selected by Pankey himself, won a stereo for "dressing to impress" on the first day of school.

"There will be more giveaways, too," said Danny Gilfort, assistant principal of guidance/discipline, as he carried the Panasonic stereo complete with remote control up the steps towards his office.

Gilfort is one of five Southern staff members who followed to Pankey to Hillside. He said the changes Pankey made during his three years at Southern are similar to the goals he has set for Hillside.

All Hillside's faculty received copies of Pankey's "Millennium Challenge," which spells out those goals, including 95 percent attendance with a full enrollment of 1,500 by 2005, a 75-plus overall efficiency in all tested areas and a state-of-the-art International Baccalaureate program in four years.

"[Pankey] knows what he's doing, and it's just going to take a little time for it all to work," Gilfort said. "I know Southern was worse than this on the first day, and he did a great job there."

Then again, it was just the first day.

"Right now, I don't want any confrontation," Pankey said. "I want them to get the message. Our staff has to be consistent in what we expect from them. But it's how we do it. We have to talk to them and not yell at them. "

He paused for a second before continuing.

"I'll wait until next week to turn into Joe Clark," he said with a grin, referring to the legendary, straight-laced Patterson, N.J., principal who inspired the film "Lean On Me." "They'll get with the program. It's all going to take some time."

Caption:
Photo: KEVIN SEIFERT, New Principal Henry Pankey tells a group of Hillside High juniors to tuck in their shirts and take off their caps before entering the school as classes get under way on Tuesday. The former Southern High chief is bringing his tough-love approach and a set of ambitious goals to Hillside, where test scores and attendance have lagged.

Photo: KEVIN SEIFERT, Assistant Principal Danny Gilfort, who came from Southern with Pankey, directs traffic in a Hillside hallway as students head for homeroom on Tuesday.

Copyright, 2001, The Durham Herald Company

 

Author: SAMANTHA PETERSON The Herald-Sun

November 5, 1999

 

When Southern High School Principal Henry Pankey learned he'd be receiving an award from the National Alliance of Black School Educators, he thought it would just be another plaque.

After researching last year's winners, however, Pankey discovered his first impression was wrong. Past recipients include actor Sidney Poitier and director/producer Debbie Allen.

"Then it hit me, it's not a plaque," Pankey said. "It's something else and it's major."

Pankey is one of 20 people nationwide set to receive a Hall of Fame award at the group's Nov. 12 convention in Nashville, Tenn. He'll be receiving the Ida B. Wells Risk Taker award, which recognizes those who have undergone personal and professional sacrifices for the educational advancement of black students.

"It's the highest honor an educator can get in my field," Pankey said. "It's overwhelming."

Wells was a black woman who made history in the 1800s as a teacher, newspaper editor and an advocate of anti-lynching laws.

"To have an award in her honor is a breathtaking experience for me," Pankey said. "I feel in awe to even be associated with her and her name."

When Pankey took over last year as principal, just under 36 percent of Southern students tested in six subjects as "proficient." He instituted drastic changes at the school, including a strict dress code to promote a safe and orderly environment.

On this year's ABCs of Public Education, the school jumped from the bottom-ranking "low performing" status to the highest category of "exemplary." Pankey began his career as an educator in New York City, where he turned around one of the most violent middle schools in the state to the one of the safest.

Each year, members of the group nominate people, educators or others, for the 14 categories of awards. In addition to the nomination, documents must accompany the application. Although the group doesn't specify what to include, pictures, newspaper articles, letters of support and biographical information often top the list, said Clara Rouse, co-chair of the Hall of Fame awards.

School board Vice Chairwoman Mozell Robinson said she's delighted for Pankey and the school community. The award not only reflects well on him, but on the entire district as well, she said.

"I think it is absolutely wonderful to receive the recognition and I can't think of any more deserving person who has made such achievements," Robinson said.

 

Copyright, 1999, The Durham Herald Company

Author: PAULA MANN The Herald-Sun

June 8, 2001

 

 As the parent of a recent Southern High School graduate, I want to thank Principal Henry Pankey for inspiring my daughter to "be the best she can be."

I understand the controversy regarding Pankey's transfer to Hillside. However, it is obvious to me that Pankey is setting yet another wonderful example for our children. Henry Pankey is a man of true character who welcomes a challenge and dedicates his talents toward achieving noble goals.

What better role model could we ask for our children? He has earned the respect of parents, teachers and students across racial divides. In and of itself, this is no small accomplishment!

I urge the students and teachers at Southern High School to continue the tradition of striving for excellence that your dedicated leader began.

Soon you will realize that Pankey did not want you to "dress for success" for him. He wanted you to do it for yourselves! Treasure Pankey's legacy by continuing his lessons. There is no better way to honor Pankey than to honor yourselves. Set examples. Prove to the world that one person can make a difference. Keep his lessons in your hearts always.

To the Hillside community, I can only say that you are in for a treat! Pankey will be the one to help you understand the difference between an education and a piece of paper that says you are educated. Seize the opportunity to strive for excellence. Your new principal is a gifted communicator, teacher, and mentor. See you at the top!

 

Copyright, 2001, The Durham Herald Company

Author: ROBERT MORRIS The Herald-Sun
 Letters to the Editor

November 25, 1998

 

As a frequent visitor to the campus of Southern High School I would along with a lot of other people applaud the efforts of Henry Pankey.

There is a definite change taking place at this school. One thing that has not changed, though, is the trash and garbage that accumulate on the campus. The football field and surrounding track area are lined and littered with trash. The visiting teams' bleacher area and fencing is littered with cans, bottles and overturned trash cans.

The parking lots at Southern High School are littered with beer bottles, soda cans and bottles, and other assorted trash. It is obvious that the trash is not picked up before the grass is cut -- it is left there for the lawn mowers and the wind to blow away. I hope Henry Pankey will find time this year to turn some of his attention and leadership abilities to the outside of Southern High School as well as the inside.

ROBERT MORRIS

Copyright, 1998, The Durham Herald Company

Author: ROBIN L. FLANIGAN The Herald-Sun
 December 27, 1998
 

Every Southern High School student who enrolls full time in a college or university would get a $1,000 scholarship if Principal Henry Pankey can sell the idea to deep-pocketed corporations and generous individuals.

``I believe that people would be willing to give us the money if they understood what we want to do,'' said Pankey, a hard-nosed leader who has returned order and discipline to the school since beginning work there this year.

The Diamonds in the Rough Scholarship Fund would benefit all graduates who show proof of registration in a postsecondary program, regardless of their grades or family's financial status.

That means no application process and no whittling for administrators, who hope the scholarship would hoist Southern's reputation, reward good students and persuade potential dropouts to stay in school.

The scholarships would be divided evenly among everyone eligible based on the amount of money the school is able to raise for each graduating class, starting with the class of 1999.

A bright yellow brochure and a letter explaining the coming fund-raising campaign will be sent to Southern staff and parents once second semester starts Jan. 4. The brochure asks for help in rallying the ``unswerving'' support of businesses, community organizations, religious institutions, elected officials and others.

To show his support, Pankey has promised to give $1,000 annually in the next three years -- the time left in his contract -- to the fund, as well as any compensation the former actor and comedian gets at speaking engagements.

Pankey presented his idea to students, staff members and parents Wednesday to get feedback and fund-raising volunteers.

Senior LaToya Harris, shocked to hear of the financial incentive, said the scholarship might let her go to a four-year college instead of a community college.

Harris, 17, lives with her retired grandparents, and since they have little money, she has always planned on a two-year program.

``I don't want to leave them home knowing they might be struggling to make ends meet,'' the student-body president said.

The school's goal is to have at least three-quarters of its 196-member senior class pursue some sort of postsecondary education. Nearly half the class already has applied to a four-year college or university, according to senior counselor Linda Carmichael.

Last year, 53 percent of Southern graduates attended four-year schools, and 26 percent went on to two-year programs.

Pankey's dream of raising at least $150,000 before graduation next spring is the latest in a string of ideas that have gained him widespread respect since replacing Sandra Niedzialek, who left after a year. After only two weeks on the job, Pankey was being credited with raising teacher morale and creating an atmosphere of mutual respect in classrooms.

He brought with him a host of new rules designed to make education a priority over discipline problems, which had plagued the school for some time.

The rules include obeying a dress code and bringing a notebook and pencil to each class.

But Pankey theorizes that students, particularly the school's youngest, might be more inclined to follow those requirements if money were involved.

``Ninth-graders don't understand the Pledge of Allegiance, they don't understand why they need a hardcover notebook, and they don't understand why they need to do two hours of homework a night instead of playing Nintendo. But they understand $1,000,'' he said.

School officials see the scholarship fund as another way to make Southern an exemplary school under the state's education reform plan, which holds individual schools accountable for making progress from year to year. The state has labeled the school -- with just under 36 percent of students last spring testing proficient in six subjects -- as low-performing.

Pankey slipped out of the conference room a moment to bring in a picture taken in 1965 of his younger brother standing in the front door of the one-room house they shared with their parents and three sisters in Laurinburg.

The family lived in the simple wooden structure until Pankey entered the first grade. The structure had been a barn until the mule occupying it died.

``I just don't want any child who graduates from Southern High School to live in these types of conditions,'' he said. ``The people who do don't understand going to college or raising standards. They really don't get it.''

``We can do this,'' he continued. ``We will do this.''

Caption:
Photo: Herald-Sun file photo, A NEW LOOK: Enforcing a dress code was only one of many changes made at Southern High School by Henry Pankey, the school's new principal. Pankey now hopes to offer a $1,000 scholarship to every Southern High graduate who enrolls full time in a college or university.
 

Copyright, 1998, The Durham Herald Company

Author: CARRIE WARBURTON The Herald-Sun
April 22, 1999
 

Henry Pankey has seen students killed at school by a fellow classmate.

In 1992, he witnessed a double slaying at a Brooklyn high school, three miles from a school where he was an assistant principal.

``It's a numbing experience,'' he said. ``Every time you close your eyes, you see it.''

Now principal of Southern High School, Pankey says few schools do enough to monitor who enters them, what students bring in and how they dress -- steps that could help prevent events like Tuesday's student massacre in Littleton, Colo.

``You can't play Russian roulette with other people's children,'' Pankey said.

Across the Durham school system Wednesday, educators and students talked about the shooting rampage that left 14 Littleton teen-agers and one teacher dead on Tuesday.

Kenny Smith, 18, said he felt safe at Northern High School.

``If you let yourself get defeated by this, it's giving in to it,'' he said. ``Life is about risk.''

But administrators were minimizing risk, paying extra attention to security Wednesday at Northern, Riverside and Southern high schools. The Herald-Sun could not reach other Durham high school principals for comment Wednesday.

``The potential to copycat does concern me,'' said Northern Principal Ike Thomas. ``The level of coverage from the media sends a message that doing this is a way to get a lot of attention.''

Although no special recognition was made Wednesday at Riverside, Principal George Griffin said he wouldn't be surprised if students approach him today for a moment of silence.

``It's going to take more days to sort this out for everyone,'' he said. ``We're in the `I can't believe it' mode, and tomorrow we might be in a `Let's acknowledge this' mode.''

It's easy to see warning signs in hindsight, Thomas said, but schools cannot prevent all tragedies. Despite Tuesday's shootings, schools remain safer than the streets, offices, or even one's home, he said.

``Statistically, it's far more likely to get killed by your spouse,'' he said.

In 1997, the N.C. General Assembly passed a law requiring schools to have policies to identify at-risk students who might exhibit disorderly behavior and to help rehabilitate them.

The Durham Public Schools developed a protocol to manage crime last October, teaming up with Durham officials and the police department to prevent violence.

``You can't predict something like this,'' said Capt. Dwight Pettiford of the Durham Police Department. ``Despite this recent occurrence, schools should not be singled out.''

But Pankey says educators can take action.

Under his watch, Southern High School has instituted several security measures. Shirts need to be tucked in at the waist and book bags and coats need to be kept in lockers there.

Such measures helped reduce crime 80 percent at the fifth most violent junior high in the country, Dr. Susan S. McKinney Junior High School in Brooklyn's Fort Green Section where Pankey was principal before taking the job at Southern last fall.

Last year, the number of assaults resulting in serious injuries in Durham public schools doubled from 13 incidents in 1997 to 30 occurrences in 1998.

Kids bring guns to school because they are a status symbol, for protection, or to hurt people, Pankey said. Principals are afraid to take staunch security measures, because they are afraid to be unpopular with parents and with the community, he said.

``Two-hundred thousand guns go to school every day in this country,'' Pankey said. ``We can protect students, but not if we live in denial.''

Pankey met with security and educators at Southern on Wednesday and emphasized normal behavior to ensure a safe, orderly day.

At Riverside, Griffin said the school received six to 10 calls from concerned parents wanting to know what the school was doing to ensure safety.

At Durham Academy, meanwhile, motivational speaker Kwame Yao Anku, 26, talked with 50 students at lunch.

Movies glamorize violence, he said, and students must resist the temptation to solve problems by lashing out at their peers.

``The school is you,'' he told the students. ``You need to ask yourself, `How can I make this a safer place?' ''

But it's unrealistic to expect all students to not make fun of their peers, Kenny Smith said.

But Anku said students do affect their environment.

``We have a collective responsibility for the tragedy that happened,'' Anku said. ``And a collective accountability to rectify what happened.''

At Northern, senior Sloan Hunike, 17, said students in her classes talked about the shootings Wednesday morning. In her German class, students had the option to write on the slayings.

``It's scary, because 15 or 20 years from now, I'll be sending my kids to public school,'' Smith said. ``And if things change each generation, what's going to happen to the next generation?''

The location of the shootings -- a suburban school with high academic scores -- only deepens its impact, Smith said.

``If this happened in New York City, it wouldn't be as big a deal,'' he said. ``These shootings are a tragedy, because they're happening in places you wouldn't consider to be violent.''

But it is exactly this assumption that cost 15 people their lives Tuesday, Pankey said.

``It can happen anywhere,'' he said. ``And the clock is ticking.''

 The Herald-Sun
January 26, 1999
 

Southern High School Principal Henry Pankey's no-nonsense style has earned him as many enemies as friends. Even some Southern parents, as was apparent from some letters to The Herald-Sun's Editorial page, were put off by the buttoned-down disciplinarian who refused to overlook even the slightest infractions.

But after six months of doing it the Pankey way, many of his critics are starting to come around. In fact, you can count on many of Pankey's critics to sing his praises -- and with good reason. After years of languishing in the Durham Public Schools' academic cellar, Southern is on the rise and moving toward respectability.

This academic year, Southern just might shed the low-performing status it earned from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction last spring when very few -- less than 36 percent -- of its students tested at or above grade level.

Word of Southern's remarkable transformation isn't just hearsay or wishful thinking. The evidence can be found in first semester test scores, where gains were made in nearly every discipline. In English 2, for example, 52.6 percent of students performed at grade level or better the first semester -- an astounding 34.8 percent improvement over the 17.8 percent who did so in the 1997-98 academic year.

In fact, the only subject where Southern lost ground was in physics, where the percentage of students who performed at or above grade level slipped a modest 4.3 percent.

Pankey supporters credit Southern's phenomenal turnaround to the principal's strict enforcement of the rules. Students must obey the school's dress code -- male and female students alike must keep shirt tails tucked. And more importantly, Pankey demands that students treat teachers and each other with respect. As a result, teachers say they are spending less time maintaining order in the classroom these days.

Pankey is an admirable throwback to the good old days when principals were in full control the schools in their care. And Southern High is a prime example of what can be accomplished when schools are run the Pankey way.

 

Copyright, 1999, The Durham Herald Company

Author: VINNY ABBRUSEATO  The Herald-Sun
Letters to the Editor
September 16, 1998
 

 

I commend Henry Pankey, the principal of Southern High School, for his dedication to excellence. My son is in his second year at Southern, and he enjoys school much more this year than last year.

At first we discussed the dress code and he was somewhat unhappy. I explained that Pankey was there to increase the level of education as well as the image of Southern. After the first week of classes, my son came to me and said I was right, that everyone looks good with his shirt tucked in.

He goes to school on Tuesday and Thursday dressed in a shirt and tie and feels good about it. He has also met twice with Pankey and has said to me: ``Dad, you were right, he does care about me, my education and all the students at Southern. I am proud to be a student at Southern.''

L. Cherry (``Learning, not dress code, should take precedence,'' Sept. 13) said parents should think like teen-agers. I cannot think like a teen-ager but would rather my son think like a young man preparing himself for the future. Most workplaces have a dress code, and Pankey is preparing these bright students for the future.

Thanks to Principal Pankey for doing a superb job at Southern. My family is behind him.

 

Copyright, 1998, The Durham Herald Company

Author: ROBIN L. REALE  The Herald-Sun
Letters to the Editor
August 31, 1998
 

 

``Who's that?''

Henry Pankey, Southern High School's new principal, barked the question as he pointed with his walkie-talkie to one of dozens of students fresh off the bus and on their way to class.

The boy who caught his attention stopped in his tracks and, looking nervous, plodded over to Pankey.

``Are you on the football team?''

The boy nodded slowly, shifting his eyes to see his friends go on without him.

``Thanks for dressing up,'' Pankey said, checking out the dress shirt and tie. He patted the student's back and sent him, visibly relieved, on his way.

It's the same every morning -- Pankey standing in the front lobby, greeting students, making sure they have notebooks and inspecting their clothing.

Shirts must be tucked in. Shoes must be tied. Belts must be worn with skirts or pants, and pants must be worn above the waist.

One student started shoving the back of his red shirt into his knee-length blue shorts as he passed Pankey.

``You've got to do a little bit better, man, but you're halfway there,'' Pankey said.

Teachers, parents and even many students applaud Pankey's strict enforcement of rules Southern didn't have last year.

After only two weeks this year, they say, morale no longer is low, there is mutual respect in the classroom and, for the first time in a while, education is taking priority over discipline problems.

Everyone seems confident Southern, as a result of the changes, will post higher-than-usual test scores on this year's standardized exams.

Superintendent Ann Denlinger already has pledged to make sure of that. Just under 36 percent of

Southern students tested last spring in six subjects rated ``proficient.''

Pankey, 46, a former actor and comedian, replaced Sandra Niedzialek, who left after a year. He left a principalship at Laurinburg's Scotland High School, his alma mater, to take the job.

His presence at 1,300-student Southern has changed the way algebra and geometry teacher Kent Marsten feels about coming to work.

Marsten had wearied of trying to control his classes when he needed to be explaining mathematical equations. But with 37 years of teaching behind him, he couldn't afford to leave the profession.

Four days after school started this year, he ran into Pankey in the mailroom.

``I told him I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven,'' Marsten said during a short teaching break. ``I've been getting things done in the classroom. There's been a change in attitude, and I haven't had to discipline anyone. It's just been glorious.''

Sgt. Rick Padgett, the Durham County deputy sheriff assigned to the school for several years, said the new guidelines were enough to persuade him to let his daughter remain a student there.

He considered transferring his daughter, now a sophomore, last spring -- until he heard a ``no-nonsense'' principal was coming.

``Now I see kids running to class because they don't want to be late,'' he said. ``And the halls are like a ghost town during class. The kids seem more mature and happier, and not so much on edge.''

Indeed, the number of girls in dresses and boys wearing Oxford-cloth shirts and ties during optional Dress For Success days twice a week has surprised several teachers accustomed to baggy clothes and bare midriffs.

Pankey, meanwhile, finds it hard to believe the description of Southern he received when applying for the position.

``A tough urban school? Give me a break, folks,'' he said with his arms spread out, his palms upward. ``What are they talking about?''

Straight out of Brooklyn

Pankey knows what tough is.

Before he returned to his native Laurinburg two years ago, he served as principal of Dr. Susan S. McKinney Junior High School 265 in Brooklyn's Fort Greene section.

McKinney was the city's fifth-most-violent junior high, surrounded by the 17th-largest public-housing complex in the country, when Pankey arrived as a first-year principal in 1992. Students were assaulting teachers and setting bulletin boards ablaze.

The area had the city's highest crime rate, highest number of infant mortalities and highest number of AIDS cases.

But after declaring McKinney a prep school -- which Pankey thought would give the impression that expectations were higher than those associated with public schools -- things started to change.

``It sounds crazy, but it worked,'' he recalled.

Pankey stopped allowing beepers and radios and started requiring uniforms. Students voted to wear a preppy blazer with an African-inspired vest or tie.

Eighty percent of the student population was black; 20 percent was Hispanic.

The school's rules included a daily notebook check, no use of the telephone, silent passing in the hallways and two hours of homework each night.

New York Newsday followed Pankey for seven months, taking 3,500 photographs in the process, and printed a six-page story about McKinney's transformation to one of the safest schools in the state.

The Village Voice, New York City's alternative weekly newspaper, also profiled Pankey's impact.

Now, some in Durham are saying that's not bad for a man who became a principal so he could make sure budget cuts didn't affect arts programs. After he was in the position, though, he realized principals didn't make those decisions.

More than just dress codes

But in various articles back then, just as in several interviews now, Pankey insisted people understand that creating a successful learning environment takes more than a dress code.

That's the reason behind his all-day walks through Southern's hallways and classrooms.

He plans to document whether teachers are using the state's standard course of study, which outlines information students should be learning. Later, he said, he'll monitor whether teachers are including that information on regular tests.

The school, consequently, should be able to predict within 10 percentage points how students will perform on final exams, Pankey said.

In addition, he's going to audit each department at different times throughout the year.

Random checks with metal detectors also are part of the plan to raise test scores and promote safety, as are security cameras and identification tags, once enough money is available.

Administrators already wear identification tags that bear their name and title -- and the slogan Pankey has used for more than a decade in conversations and graduation speeches: See you at the top!

Students said they were shocked when Pankey met them at the front door on the fifth day of school with a hand-held metal detector.

A newspaper article classifying the McKinney school's discipline code as one of Brooklyn's most stringent made a point to mention the absence of metal detectors. But Pankey said times are changing.

``There are 200,000 guns brought to school every day,'' he said, stopping in the hallway to look at a row of framed, candid pictures taken in past years. ``I can't afford a slip-up. Which one of those students are we going to play Russian roulette with?''

Rapport with students

Monica Allen didn't know what her high-school principal looked like until the second semester of her freshman year.

She heard his voice during the morning announcements, and he even said something to her once while she was near her locker. But she thought he was a teacher she'd never seen before.

Now a senior, the student-body vice president speaks frequently with Pankey and appreciates his presence between classes and in the cafeteria at lunch.

``It's like a real-live `Lean on Me,' and that's not bad,'' said the 17-year-old Allen, referring to the 1989 movie about a principal who resurrected a strife-torn inner-city high school in New Jersey. ``We get the idea he's human because he's not just sitting behind a desk trying to make all these unfair rules.''

But unlike the principal in the movie, Pankey doesn't arm himself with a baseball bat. Just a bullhorn.

``A cowboy's gotta have his stuff,'' he joked one morning as he swung the white loudspeaker over his shoulder.

As can be expected, though, not everyone is fond of the new dress code, especially when it interferes with popular fashion.

Freshman Paul Baines has been told repeatedly since school started to tuck in his shirt. He does, but he pulls it back out as soon as there are no authority figures around.

``It ain't right,'' the 15-year-old complained as he received another reprimand on the way to the lunch line. ``We should be able to dress the way we want to dress. I'll probably just transfer schools.''

Pankey explained to students during an assembly his reasons for prohibiting sagging pants and sneakers without laces. That style came from the jails, he told them, because inmates aren't allowed to wear belts or shoestrings. And students trying to get a good education, he added, should not be emulating prisoners.

Brandon Prunty, another ninth-grader, doesn't like altering his wardrobe, either. But he understands Pankey's reasoning, and the argument that untucked shirts can hide weapons easily.

``It just doesn't look right, but I'll do it,'' he shrugged. ``You either follow the rules or suffer the consequences.''

Rules and test scores

Those rules, Pankey said, are what many students tell him privately they want in place, even though they won't talk about it around their peers.

And, he adds, those rules have helped him earn a record of boosting test scores, bolstering attendance rates and chopping dropout and suspension rates.

In one year alone under his leadership, for example, Laurinburg students reduced crime by 80 percent and raised SAT scores an average of 17 points.

Even Pankey's most ardent student supporters, however, say they're not keen on the mandate disallowing bookbags in class.

Some enrolled in advanced-placement courses, which often require several textbooks each, don't appreciate lugging a thick stack from one room to another. Others fear expensive graphing calculators will get lost in the five-minute shuffle between classes, since there's not always time to stop at their lockers.

Pankey received a similar reaction at Scotland High School, prompting letters to the school newspaper from students critical of the changes he made.

In an interview, the newspaper asked Pankey whether he expected such a response. The principal answered that resistance to change is normal.

Southern senior LaToya Harris used a bookbag her first three years of high school, and never took advantage of a locker before now. While acknowledging it's not the most convenient system, she figures it's good practice for the unpredictable turns the future likely will bring.

``This is teaching us how to adapt to changes,'' the student-body president said. ``Life isn't always convenient, and if you can't figure out what to do for that five minutes, you're going to have a tough time in the real world.''

Involving parents more

Students aren't the only ones having to deal with change at Southern.

Pankey is trying to get more parents involved in their children's education by asking for their signature on homework. And he expects to hold joint faculty and parent-teacher-student association meetings at least every other month, so teachers can outline their expectations and answer questions.

He went over his own expectations before school started at three meet-the-principal forums that some have characterized as revivalist.

``With Southern's status as a low-performing school, he talked about how the kids can't achieve unless there's a cooperative effort between parents and teachers,'' said PTSA President Gerry Larson, whose son is a senior. ``Caring and respect for the school had really slipped, and it was kind of like everyone needed that electrical shock to get back on track.''

Pankey, also an adjunct professor of speech communications at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn for 17 years, throws in impressions to lighten up serious topics.

He used to concentrate on Richard Pryor, Richard Nixon and a few others. But nowadays, he focuses more on Bill Clinton, Jerry Springer and public figures today's teen-agers recognize better.

Pankey had to learn how to imitate sounds out of necessity when he was younger. He had a severe speech problem that a tutor helped him overcome during his four years of college.

That is just one of many stories Pankey tells that have him wondering aloud how he's ended up where he is.

He grew up in the small Pankeytown community of Laurinburg, surrounded by relatives. His family got electricity when he was in the first grade and running water when he was a college sophomore.

While pursuing a degree in drama at the N.C. School of the Performing Arts in Winston-Salem, he earned a scholarship to study at England's Stockwell College. So he exchanged his usual summer jobs working in tobacco fields or picking cotton to go overseas.

``Just imagine, I was this black guy from a farm studying classical theater in England,'' Pankey said, laughing. ``I cut a workshop Sir Laurence Olivier was teaching because I had no idea who he was. I thought his name was Mr. Oliver.

``It's kind of hard to think about going from that to being one of the most publicized principals in New York City's history.''

As a result of his work at McKinney, the Council of Supervisors and Administrators in 1994 awarded Pankey an ``Effective Leadership Equals Effective Schools'' award, the highest honor a New York City principal can receive.

Seeking corporate sponsors

Pankey said he knows the students he sees daily can achieve just as much, as long as they concentrate on getting a good education.

It all begins, he thinks, with a dress code that sets the tone for learning to take place.

But the principal said he needs corporate sponsors for the Dress For Success program to work, since students will be more apt to participate if incentives are part of the deal. At previous schools, sponsors included soft-drink manufacturers, video stores and department stores.

At the same time, Pankey will continue sending students to the office if they go to school without a notebook. Administrators then call the student's parents to tell them what school supplies are required.

He's gotten grief for that from students who question the protocol they have to go through for not bringing enough paper.

``People should ask the opposite question,'' he said, shaking his head. ``What's going to happen to their education if they don't bring it?''

 

Copyright, 1998, The Durham Herald Company

Author: ROBIN L. FLANIGAN  The Herald-Sun
January 22, 1999
 

 

They got off to a rough start.

Southern High School Principal Henry Pankey saw no humor in senior Nick Pettiford's antics during a first-day assembly or the way he threw his backpack across the hall to a friend when he was called to the office.

Seventeen-year-old Nick despised being required to tuck in his shirt every day and follow a laundry list of new rules Pankey brought with him when he took over the school last fall.

Two weeks into the school year, Nick was home, suspended for arguing and swearing at administrators over what he thought were inane expectations.

``He was saying how this was his school and he was going to make an example of anyone who crossed his path the wrong way,'' Nick said of the school's latest leader. ``He wasn't going to show slack to anybody. If you don't follow the rules, you suffer the consequences.

``I didn't like him.''

After Nick resumed classes three days later, Pankey summoned him to the office again. This time, though, things were different between them.

``He didn't talk to me as principal to student, or adult to child,'' Nick recalled. ``He talked to me as a man, like we were on the same level. He explained that in life you either abide by the rules and succeed or don't abide by the rules and don't succeed. I sat down later and thought about it, and he was right. If the students continue to run the school, we won't achieve anything.''

Pankey is Southern's third principal in four years. Rampant discipline problems forced teachers to spend most of their time maintaining order in the classroom, and immediate past principal Sandra Niedzialek left after only one year on the job.

The state Department of Public Instruction declared the school, at 800 Clayton Road, low-performing after just under 36 percent of students there tested on grade level in six subjects last spring.

This school year's first-semester scores, however, suggest Southern could shed that label. It could even be deemed exemplary for exceeding expectations by more than 10 percent.

Pankey plans to take that success a step further by applying for a $95,000 grant that would launch the Comer School Development Program and in part strengthen relationships among administrators, teachers, students and parents.

In turn, the theory goes, test scores will rise even higher.

Based on the philosophy of Yale University psychiatrist James Comer, the program emphasizes that children bond emotionally with teachers when they feel comfortable and valued at school, which in turn contributes to their overall development and makes it easier for them to learn.

In what is called the Comer process, staff members openly discuss problems without assigning blame, reach decisions by consensus and work together with community leaders, parents, superintendents and health-care workers.

Pankey, a former principal in his hometown of Laurinburg, N.C., said the principles he uses daily as a Comer supporter helped bring about the change in Nick Pettiford's attitude.

``I work for the state of North Carolina and the Durham school system, and there are rules and regulations in place that I have a responsibility to enforce, but I'm also a human being,'' Pankey explained. ``I'm a father. I'm a husband.

``Nick met the enforcer of rules and regulations first, but I am not a thug and he's not a subordinate,'' he continued. ``It's a mutually beneficial partnership and he can be an asset to making the school a better place.''

Internationally renowned

Comer and his colleagues at the Yale Child Study Center developed the internationally renowned program in 1968 when they intervened at two struggling inner-city elementary schools in New Haven, Conn.

More than 720 schools in the United States and in countries such as Trinidad now use Comer's methods, including Durham's own Neal Middle School.

Glenn Elementary School adopted the Comer philosophy about five years ago, but a large teacher turnover has halted schoolwide change. Principal Eve Gentry said she is applying for a grant this year similar to the one Southern is considering.

Pankey presented the grant proposal to faculty members this week, urging them not to feel overwhelmed. The school already has parts of the program in place, he said, such as parents who donate their time and a committee that makes and monitors policy.

Several teachers interviewed said have watched a foundation of respect build this year that they believe will support a comprehensive evaluation of how the school operates.

However, with change comes conflict, and several things must change before Southern can boast that all students are achieving at their maximum potential, Pankey said.

In the grant proposal, the rate of discipline referrals and suspensions among black males is described as ``alarming.'' Statistics were not included and school officials could not provide them Thursday. Consequently, though, achievement among the school's black males is low and they drop out and are retained more often than any other group.

Southern's student body is 56 percent black. Thirty-three of its 89 dropouts last year were black males, according to school system data.

``A lot of young black men will approach authority figures as a challenge,'' Pankey said. ``You earn respect when you don't back down from a challenge, and there are a lot of challenges in the streets where you can't afford to back down.

``Most of it is what they call a `front,' and many times it's used to mask other stuff and that's what makes it so difficult,'' he went on. ``But we need to break down that wall. As professionals, we need to have a deeper understanding of students, and students need to understand the motivations we have as professionals.''

That goes for everyone in the building regardless of race or ethnic background, Pankey insisted. And while he won't ignore statistics suggesting the school's black males need more attention, he also refuses to characterize the Comer grant strictly as a race issue.

``What we have to do at our school is far too serious for us to get into a dialogue solely on race,'' Pankey said. ``Race has to be addressed, but we have students from many different backgrounds and we need to improve student achievement across the board.''

Changing the culture

It will take years to master the Comer method and change the culture of Southern High School, where staff members and students from 37 countries spend their days together.

As a start, flags representing each country were hung this week in the front lobby to acknowledge all the people on campus and where they come from.

Math teacher Allison Bowers grew up four miles from the school and is a Southern graduate. Working in her old neighborhood, she thinks she feels more comfortable with the students than some teachers who are new to the area.

She recalled a former job at Jordan High School and how students there, many of whom had moved from out of state, made fun of her accent.

``I used to say, `Wait, I'm the one from here.' I didn't feel that I related to my students as well as I do now that I'm back at Southern,'' she said.

She and others hope the Comer program might help newly relocated teachers and students interact on a more personal level with each other and with longtime residents.

``This could provide us with a structure for getting onto a common playing field,'' Bowers added.

Neal Middle School

Four years ago, the state Department of Public Instruction asked Neal Middle School Principal Floyd Mitchell to work on a project. The state wanted one elementary, middle and high school to put together a plan for validating Comer's program.

Mitchell produced a 128-page document that traced Neal's history, contained interviews with teachers and students, and listed ways the school could incorporate the program's guiding principles into every classroom.

His job was finished, but Mitchell wanted to put his plan to the test.

``I'm a true Comerian,'' he said during an interview in his office, where Comer materials are stacked on the floor, fanned on a table and stuffed in desk drawers.

When compared with their districts as a whole, Comer schools often have fewer absences and suspensions, higher gains on standardized exams and more students with high self-esteem.

In fact, their success recently won the praise of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who commended the Yale psychiatrist for designing a program to help children learn better long before charter schools and magnet schools were household words.

Mitchell identified 38 sixth-graders in late 1995 and followed them until they moved on to high school last summer. Assisted by a teacher and a consultant, he tracked their test scores and grades and broke them down by race and gender, and interviewed them twice a year.

While a written analysis of the results is not finished, it reveals that the students made significant strides in test scores overall and that the gains became more impressive as time wore on. Statistics were not available Thursday comparing scores for the cohort group with other students.

And there were other things to appreciate.

``When we started, the students were worried about assaults and fights,'' Mitchell said. ``When we interviewed them last year, their biggest concern was pizza in the cafeteria. I'm serious.''

While only 38 students were tracked, teachers applied Comer's philosophy throughout the school.

Roe Wiles, who teaches language arts and social studies, said she has become more flexible in grading in recent years.

``It's no longer as important whether struggling or recalcitrant students get a 92 or a 72, it's important that they exert effort and get credit for that effort regardless of what the product is,'' she said.

Asking for trust

Meanwhile, 122 of Southern's staff members endorsed the grant proposal Thursday, while six voted against it.

``I guess in many ways I'm asking you to trust me,'' Pankey told teachers at Wednesday's staff meeting. ``We need money, and we can't be afraid to do something different, to change. And it will take a long time to change.

``I know it can be frightening, but we have to move on.''

COMER PROGRAM

The Comer School Development Program operates on the belief that children learn more when schools understand the developmental changes they go through.

Three groups make sure students are in good physical and emotional health, develop morals and social skills, understand different forms of language and perform at their highest level:

* School Planning and Management Team. Educators, parents and community representatives coordinate activities and programs designed to improve academic achievement, feelings of self-worth and overall development.

* Student and Staff Support Team. Social workers, counselors, special-education teachers and others with child-development and mental-health backgrounds manage behavioral and emotional problems, respond to referrals and offer a variety of services, including teacher consultations, observations and counseling.

* Parent Team. Members are parents who regularly attend and support school activities.

 

Copyright, 1999, The Durham Herald Company

Author: GEORGE BOOTH II   The Herald-Sun
Letters to the Editor

June 9, 2001
 

 I am proud to say that I am a part of the class of 2002 of Southern High School. However, I totally disagree with our principal, Henry Pankey, being moved to Hillside High School.

Pankey has taken Southern to great heights, especially with the scholarship fund. Test scores have increased, and a lot of students have decided that getting an education is important. Now that Pankey is gone, what will Southern be like? Will we go back to the old ways of bomb threats and not learning anything because of disruptive students? Another question also being asked: Who will take Pankey's place?

I came to Southern in the 1998-1999 school year. I was honestly scared to death. But Pankey just made us feel right at home. A lot of students will not feel safe this upcoming school year.

This is where the violence part comes in. We didn't have to worry about people delivering guns to school. But now we have to. I honestly believe that Southern's dropout rate will increase tremendously because we (Southern) do not have the backbone to hold us up.

I did not understand the meaning of the May 30 story, "Denlinger picks Hillside principal." Durham Public Schools cannot and will not be run as a dictatorship. However, as parents and students, we will have to turn to God and hope for the best.

 

Copyright, 2001, The Durham Herald Company

Author: SAMANTHA PETERSON The Herald-Sun
August 6, 1999

 

Call it intuition, call it confidence in his school.

In March, Southern High School principal Henry Pankey ordered plaques that read "Exemplary status, 1998-99" for all school personnel - four months before the school would earn such a designation.

He learned Thursday that he finally gets to give them out to his staff.

Southern made the district's largest gain in the state's latest school-by-school report card - jumping from the district's only low-performing school last year to attaining "exemplary" status this year.

"It's an overwhelming, emotional experience," Pankey said. "It's a feeling that I've rarely felt in my life."

When Pankey took over last year as principal, just under 36 percent of Southern students tested in six subjects as "proficient."

He instituted drastic changes, including a strict dress code to promote a safe and orderly environment. The banner of "School goals, 98-99" hanging in Southern's main hallway reminds students of this. Goal No. 2 - a safe and orderly environment.

Goal No. 1? Exemplary status.

"To me it was a no-brainer," Pankey said. "If we had not done it, I would have been in traumatic shock."

Ever since the end-of-course test results were released in May, Pankey spent much of his time trying to predict how Southern would rank in the statewide ABCs program. Over and over again, he made his calculations as best he could.

And each time, the results showed Southern making enough growth to reach exemplary status.

Because he couldn't be entirely sure how the state would rate the school's progress, he was reluctant to draw definite conclusions.

But the whole school is celebrating now. At a Thursday morning breakfast, Pankey announced the good news to his staff.

"I jumped on the phone and started calling everyone," said Anne Ringer, chairwoman of the math department. "I just knew we could do it."

When Pankey first mentioned his determination to reach exemplary status, Ringer said, she doubted how much harder the teachers could work.

But the amount of work the teachers have put into the school has remained constant, she said.

It's the attitude of the school and community that's changed.

"People are finally finding out what I've known for 17 years," math teacher Barry Oakley said. "We have a dedicated bunch of teachers out here and it's nice to have others recognize that."

Teachers say they're already looking forward to increased school pride.

"The kids are going to have a different attitude when they come back," Ringer said. "Definitely."

 

Copyright, 1999, The Durham Herald Company

Author: J. MUHAMMAD  The Herald-Sun
Letters to the Editor

 

 

Quite frankly, I love the new rules that the new principal at Southern High School has enforced. I am appalled the way some of today's students are allowed to go to school (midriffs, sagging pants, see-through tops, must I go on?).

Parents (and I include myself first) must do a better job in how we allow our children to dress for school. I really don't understand what all the uproar is about. Why are we getting upset because of a dress code that should not have been an issue? Don't sweat the small stuff.

I applaud Henry Pankey. I think he is doing a wonderful job. I hope he continues to bring Southern High up to the highest standard. I would also like to see all other Durham public schools take a few pages from Mr. Pankey's Book of Rules.

 

Copyright, 1998, The Durham Herald Company

Author: ROBIN L. FLANIGAN  The Herald-Sun
January 22, 1999

 

Students at Durham's only low-performing school posted dramatic increases in test scores last semester, jumping nearly 35 percentage points in one subject and more than 10 percentage points in four others.

``In my life, I have not seen this much improvement in one semester,'' said Principal Henry Pankey.

According to Southern's end-of-course test results released Thursday, the number of English 2 students on grade level jumped from 17.8 percent during the first semester in 1997-98 to 52.6 percent during the first semester of this school year.

The number proficient in physical science rose from 34.8 percent to 58.3 percent, the second-highest gain at the school, which was rated low performing last year by the state Department of Public Instruction.

The rating meant Southern students failed to make adequate improvement from one year to the next. Just under 36 percent of its students in the spring tested on grade level in six subjects.

Van Garrison, chairwoman of the English department, pointed to new leadership, pressure from the state and student determination as reasons for the large gains in English 2.

``Students have more pride and it's like this means more to them than before, like they have something to prove,'' she said. ``It's not that we haven't tried in the past, but for some reason they've bought into it this year. For the first time, the great majority of the students took this test seriously.''

An embarrassed Garrison accepted a marble clock at Wednesday's staff meeting, but repeated several times that every teacher in the English department should be commended. She added that all teachers in the building worked to incorporate writing into their classes, whether they were automotive technology or math.

Math teacher Barry Oakley, whose department saw gains of 16.6 percentage points in Algebra 1, credits new rules, such as requiring students to enter class on time with a hardcover notebook and pencil.

``This principal wants everyone to be real serious,'' Oakley said.

Lincoln Larson, a senior, said many of his peers worked harder than usual once they realized Pankey and system officials were placing so much emphasis on the test results.

``You always want to do well for your own good,'' the 17-year-old said, ``but when the school's reputation is in jeopardy as well, it sheds a whole new light on the subject.''

 

Copyright, 1999, The Durham Herald Company

April 25, 1998

 

 

Henry J. Pankey, a high school principal from Laurinburg, has been hired to head Southern High School.

Pankey will replace Sandra Niedzialek, who announced last fall she was stepping down at the end of this school year.

Niedzialek didn't elaborate on her plans, but said they would be in the field of education.

Pankey has been principal at Scotland High School since 1996, and is an adjunct professor of speech communications at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, N.Y.

He graduated from the N.C. School of the Performing Arts in Winston-Salem, earned his master's degree in speech and drama from the University of Maryland and earned a graduate diploma of supervision and administration from Brooklyn College.

The Durham Public Schools also has named Carrington Middle School Principal Nancy Hester as executive director of professional growth and development. She has been with the system for 21 years.

Hester graduated from Campbell College and earned her master's degree from N.C. Central University.

She received the system's Wachovia Principal of the Year Award for 1995-96, serves as a consultant for other middle schools in the Triangle and serves on the State Superintendent Advisory Board.

She will start her new job after the school year ends in June.

 

Copyright, 1998, The Durham Herald Company

Author: SAMANTHA PETERSON The Herald-Sun
 January 6, 2000

 

 

 

 

Southern High School, which jumped from being a low-performing school to an exemplary one last year, will host U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley's seventh annual State of American Education address next month.

"It's a very historical event," Principal Henry Pankey said. "For those of us in education, this is a highlight in our education careers."

The national event, announced Wednesday, will be held at noon on Feb. 22 in Southern's gym.

In the speech, Riley will discuss progress made in education since delivering his first address in 1994. He has traditionally used the address to announce major policy initiatives on reading, improving teacher quality and reforming failing schools.

Riley, who was governor of South Carolina from 1978 to 1986, has known Gov. Jim Hunt for many years. Hunt asked Riley a few years ago to consider coming to North Carolina for one of his annual addresses, said Linda McCoulloch, Hunt's senior education adviser.

Riley chose the state because it has made big improvements in education, said his press secretary, Erica Lepping. Riley has visited schools in the state before - he averages about one school visit a week around the country - but had not spent much time in the Triangle, Lepping said.

The search narrowed to Durham because of its diversity, progress in improving student achievement and support from administrators among other factors, Lepping said. Riley's staff visited several schools and was very impressed by Southern. Not only did the school have enough room to hold the national event, but it is also a school that has come a long way, Lepping said.

Southern made the largest gain in the state's school-by-school report card in August - jumping from being the district's only low-performing school in 1998 to attaining exemplary status last year.

On the ABCs, a school is low performing if less than 50 percent of its students perform below grade level and it fails to meet growth goals set out for it by the state. An exemplary school exceeds the state growth standards set out for it.

When Pankey took over in 1998, fewer than 36 percent of Southern students tested in six subjects as "proficient."

Pankey has instituted several changes, including a strict dress code to help ensure a safe and orderly environment.

In previous years, Riley has given the annual address at California State University, Long Beach; Nathan Eckstein Middle School in Seattle; the Carter Center in Atlanta with former President Jimmy Carter; Maplewood-Richmond Heights Senior High School in St. Louis; Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Arlington, Va.; and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

 

Copyright, 2000, The Durham Herald Company

By John Railey JOURNAL COLUMNIST
January 27, 2008

 

Well into his King Day speech Monday afternoon, Henry Pankey lobbed verbal bombs that had the crowd at Winston-Salem’s Benton Convention Center cheering - at least the older members of the crowd.

“Rosa Parks didn’t do what she did for guys to wear sagging pants,” Pankey, who is black, said as part of his call for black youth to take responsibility.

Pankey, a renowned educator who’s taking a turn as an assistant principal at Parkland High School, balanced his hard words with a good measure of words of love and encouragement. He blends unconditional love with tough love. It’s a formula needed for many teenagers - black, brown and white.

“You love unconditionally, but you have rules and regulations,” Pankey told me in an interview after his speech. “Love is correction, and love is not allowing you to engage in behavior that is not in your best interest. Love is difficult; love is passionate. When you really love kids, it can be a painful experience, and it can also be very rewarding.”

Pankey is 56, a husband and father of three children. He grew up poor in Laurinburg, in a neighborhood packed with so many of his relatives that it’s called “Pankey Town.” He first came here to study drama, on a scholarship, at the N.C. School of the Arts. After graduating, while trying to make it as a comedian and impressionist, he worked as a substitute teacher in New York. That eventually led to an assistant principal’s job.

He never left education.

And he never quit being a ham. He put on shows for students, and at colleges and nightclubs on his own time.

He later became a principal, and helped turn around some tough schools in New York. He came to Durham, where he did the same for Southern High School. He wrote an autobiography about his work, Standing in the Shadows of Greatness. He began speaking nationwide.

And in 2006, in between jobs in Durham and New York, he took the job at Parkland. He commutes here from Durham.

Steve Hairston, the president of the local chapter of the NAACP, said he’s seen Pankey “deal with kids in trouble and kids who are doing a good job. They (all) seem to understand that he has their best interest at heart.”

School Superintendent Don Martin said Pankey’s “message to teachers is if you respect kids, then they’ll respect you back.”

Pankey acknowledges that Parkland has plenty of challenges. The school is working to reduce its dropout rate and raise its test scores.

“We have some problems that have to be resolved, but kids look to adults to help them solve problems,” Pankey said. “We have kids who come to school every day, who do the right thing every day, who want to be taken care of. But isn’t that the same at every school? There are pockets of excellence.”

Among his other efforts to improve Parkland, Pankey started a Dress for Success program, like the ones he helped start in New York City. Students who dress up are eligible for prizes.

“I’ve broken up fights for the last 30 years … but I’ve never broken up a fight between kids who dressed for success,” Pankey said.

That makes sense. So do many of Pankey’s other points, such as his assertion that the adult world hands youth its problems, including drugs and guns.

And his points about love and encouragement are spot on as well. Toward the end of his King Day speech, he listed several advances blacks have made in recent years, including taking leadership posts in business and government.

He depicted a future that’s wide open for black youth.

“It’s bigger than Barack Obama,” he said.

And maybe even bigger than Henry Pankey and his own audacious dreams.

 

 

Copyright, 2008, The Winston-Salem Journal