GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

At a hearing for Satellite III's closure, audience members listen to an all-sibling quartet.

The fall of Satellite III began the day Kenyatta Reid resigned as principal.

That was the story told and retold Thursday night at a public hearing about the Department of Education’s plan to close the Clinton Hill middle school.

After six years as the school’s beloved principal, Reid was selected in 2010 to start a new middle school and, according to his supporters, the city replaced him with an incompetent placeholder. For the next 10 months, they said, professional development stalled, school culture crumbled, and any semblance of progress achieved under Reid began to vanish.

That critical 10-month period — and the poor marks that followed — would provide the evidence on which the city based its plan to close the school. Last year, just 19 percent of students were considered proficient in reading and 34 percent were proficient in math. The school got a D on its most recent city progress report. But before that, the school had never earned a failing grade and was safe under Reid’s leadership.

The interim principal during that period, Ronald Wells, came under fire from parents and teachers who said he was an absentee leader. Wells was removed as principal of Martin Luther King High School, which has since closed, in 2002 and has been an interim principal at several schools since then.

“I don’t want to give one man that much credit, but he was definitely a catalyst” for Satellite III’s slide, said Monique Smalls, a PTA member.

Even a trio of elected officials have come together to place the blame squarely on Wells for the school’s poor performance. (more…)