While working as principal of nearby Culver City High School for the past six years, Pamela Magee kept up with what was happening academically at Palisades Charter High School and even attended football games at the campus. ‘I had seen the community and student body, and I figured this would be a really great place to work,’ said Magee, who became Pali’s new principal and chief academic officer in July. Magee replaces Interim Principal Marcia Haskin and Interim Executive Director Michael Smith, who both served as heads of the school. In January, the board decided to consolidate Haskin’s and Smith’s positions, so the school would have only one leader. Since Principal Merle Price left in 1999 after working at PaliHi for seven years, the school has had eight leaders. Principals have included Don Savarese (1999-2001), Linda Hosford (2001-04), Gloria Martinez (2004-07), Haskin (2007-08 and 2009-11) and Martin Griffin (2008-09), and executive directors have included Jack Sutton (2003-06), Amy Dresser-Held (2006-10) and Smith (2010-11). Magee, 49, is enthusiastic about the position, saying she sees it as a great opportunity to learn about charter schools. She also looks forward to reporting directly to an on-campus board for the first time. Plus, ‘some of the challenges the school is facing, I think are areas that I can really bring something to the equation,’ said Magee, who will earn an annual salary of $160,000. At Culver High (in the Culver City Unified School District), Magee worked with a diverse population and successfully helped implement intervention programs. As a result, Culver High was re-designated as a California Distinguished High School this year because all student groups met achievement goals. Magee, who lives in Santa Monica with her husband Alex Anderson (a director in the movie and television industry), earned her bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Mississippi at Oxford, a master’s degree in English from the University of Mississippi at Hattiesburg, a master’s degree in educational administration from Cal State, Dominguez Hills, and a doctorate in educational leadership from UCLA. For the first 13 years of her career, she taught English at Forest Park High School in Forest Park, Georgia, and at Mira Costa High in Manhattan Beach. She served as the assistant principal and activities director at Mira Costa and as an assistant principal at Oak Park High School in Ventura County. She decided to pursue a career in education as an undergraduate after tutoring inner-city youth during a summer internship. ‘It was such a rewarding experience,’ said Magee, who has worked in education for 24 years now. ‘I realized there is a real need for people who care about students and who care about the future of our society.’ In all of her roles as an educator, ‘it’s always about being able to give something back to students and to a community,’ she said. This school year, Magee’s main goal is to raise PaliHi’s Academic Performance Index (API) score of 818 and to continue closing the achievement gap. In 2010, Pali’s African American students and Hispanic/Latino students scored below white and Asian students with API scores of 709 and 760, respectively. Asian students scored 905, while whites scored 889. API is a state standard that measures every public school’s progress from year to year, and is based on test results from the Standardized Testing and Reporting program (STAR) and the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE). ‘When looking at PaliHi’s scores, we do well, but we can do better,’ Magee said, noting that she hopes Pali will become a California Distinguished High School. To accomplish this, she says the school needs effective intervention programs. This school year, the administration will be required to evaluate the school’s programs in order for the school to receive accreditation from the Western Association of School and Colleges (WASC). Every six years, schools must apply for accreditation to demonstrate that they are improving and offering high-quality learning opportunities for students. ‘It’s really good timing for me because I am coming in at a point when the school is doing lots of self-reflection,’ said Magee, who led Culver City High through its WASC accreditation process. ‘We will be doing surveys and looking closely at the curriculum and programs in place. I am excited about it, knowing it is exactly what I need to do as a new principal.’ She explained that all of the stakeholders will be involved in the process and make recommendations for improvements. Right now, the school has Village Nation and Fuerza Unida to support African American and Hispanic/Latino students, respectively. The after-school Dolphin Club, started this past school year, will continue in some format this fall, Magee said. PaliHi also operates Temescal Academy, the alternative school, located below the football stadium. This summer, the administration is piloting a distance-learning program with 100 students. The students are taking online classes offered by the company, Aventa, to recover credit for classes they failed. ‘We are talking with other schools that have successful [distance learning] models to see how they are able to offer acceleration or independent-study classes,’ Magee said, noting that the goal is to expand course offerings. In addition to evaluating the programs, Magee said she plans to spend as much time as possible in the classroom working with teachers. ‘For me, one of the most important things that an administrator can do is make sure that you have teachers in the right place, that you have really strong teachers and that you are supporting teachers who need it.’ As soon as school starts on September 7, Magee will help the teachers implement a new peer-mentoring program, where they visit each other’s classrooms and share best practices. ‘I am really looking forward to working with our teachers and identifying their strengths, and giving them opportunities to bring that strength and knowledge, not just to their classrooms, but to the broader programs at the school,’ she said. Magee said that she will also be readily available to parents and the community. Her staff will continue to hold meetings with the community about issues such as parking, traffic and noise, continuing a policy started by former Operations Manager Maisha-Cole Perri several years ago. ‘One of us in the administration will definitely be maintaining a close contact with the community on an ongoing basis to make sure that we keep people informed when events are going on at the high school and listening to the concerns, so that we can address them directly,’ Magee said.
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