Dr. Shirley Rose is the newly appointed principal of Phillis Wheatley High School. She has stepped into the lead position and within less than a month on the job has set her declaration into place.
“My vision is to set high expectations for children and at the same time set those high expectations for teachers teaching the children. Right now we are in the process of training students. My vision is truly seeing Phillis Wheatley being a part of the community, a very positive part,” said Rose.
Rose is passionate about being at Wheatley. She dismisses the naysayers who say Wheatley can’t be turned around, or the ones who exclaim what you doing over there! She said her number one strength is restoring.
“Like with Bush, it was an average school in Fort Bend. The mindset was At-Risk schools don’t make it. They are always on the bottom and average schools don’t make it. They didn’t expect us to make it and be recognized. That’s not it. I wanted to prove to the children they could do it. We did it through different tactics to make it happen. We had to bring pride into the school,” said Rose.
She continued, “One thing Wheatley has is pride. But I don’t think the children here have pride in the school. We have pride from the alumni and we have to bring that back as far as the students having pride. To me it’s an opportunity to show the city of Houston these children at Wheatley can and they will.”
Known for being a committed leader, an achiever of excellence and a motivator for education reform Rose was recruited from the Fort Bend ISD School District where she had turned a low-performing school into a recognized-school.
“Coming from Fort Bend, folks think Fort Bend is a suburban school district but it is very urbanized. Bush had many issues with gangs, Chilos Crips, Bloods, and you name it. It actually gave me the background I needed. Kids are kids, so coming to Wheatley, I have what I need. There is no tried and true method,” said Rose.
She continued, “You have to feel the campus, so I think what I bring here is that. I have been with the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ and the ‘haves’ are a whole lot easier. What happens at the at-risk campuses, even though no campus is exactly the same, you have to come in and feel your children. See where the teachers are with the children, and how the children feel about the teachers, and where the parents are all in this,” said Rose.
The main challenge that Rose sees at Wheatley is for the teachers to believe in the kids and not have a lower expectation of them because of given circumstances.
“My experience has proven to me that whenever we walk into an at-risk situation it’s not that the teachers do not care about the kids sometimes they enable kids because they are caring about them. Example, ‘oh I am so sorry that you got to bed at 3:00 a.m. because of XYZ, you can go on and sleep at first so you can be ready for the next’,” Rose explained.
She continued with an example of an approach to encourage students when they are dealing with issues and not to succumb to them.
“I can empathize with you. I understand. Do you need to get some water or do we need to go for a walk? Because what I have to teach you this morning is really important. We are going to work through your issues and I need you here with me. This is showing resilience”, Rose said.
She added, “To me this is the biggest barrier I am going up against. There are many students who have those issues but we have to talk with them about those issues and how to overcome those issues, but at the same time it’s education. We need for you to do your work,” she said.
By doling out these large doses of sincerity and concern, Rose has quickly gained the trust of students. On her first day at Wheatley she noticed a ninth grader acting-up in the hall and she pulled him aside.
“This kid looked like my son. I introduced myself. I feel it is very important the first time I talk with kids because they don’t know who I am,” she said.
The student who she called Adam was resistant to their introduction and responded with a “what-what” demeanor. A day later, Rose saw him again and greeted him by his name. He was surprised that she remembered his name. Rose said he wanted to know how she knew his name. “I told him, son you just told me,” said Rose.
A few days later Adam got into some trouble from acting squirrely according to Rose and was sent home. After his suspension, Rose was in the office when she heard a knock on the window. It was Adam. He asked could he come to the office and speak with her. She told him yes. “Adam told me that he had thought about what he had done while he was on suspension. He said he would do better because he wanted me to be proud of him. There was a connection made,” she said.
Rose is also making strides with the parents as well. She felt during one of the Parent Meet and Greet that she projected a sense of caring and personal rapport.
“I am kind of the old-school type of person. I come from country parents. Both of my parents are from Church Point, LA. My ways and how I was brought up is who I am. When the children come here, they are my babies. They are not going to hug-up in the hall. They are not going do this or that. This is what I show the parents. I am not going to do anything to your child that I would not do to my own,” said Rose.
She continued, “When the parents come here, I tell them this is about your baby and I want your baby to be proud of the school, where he or she graduated from, Phillis Wheatley because it is a great school,” Rose said.
The Phillis Wheatley alumni pride has been a long-standing tradition and Rose wants to trail that pride back into Wheatley’s classrooms. “Many students who live in the neighborhood have chosen to go elsewhere. My vision is to bring those students to Phillis Wheatley and have an alumni base that is huge and that they are excited about their school. We are all ‘Wildcats.”
The more children we have the better. We will have more numbers and more exceptional athletic programs, exceptional fine arts programs and we can fill the AP classes with students because we will have those students. We are all ‘Wildcats’ and proud of the neighborhood school that is here,” said Rose.
