Oakland’s new middle school administrator
By Katy Murphy
Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 11:56 am in OUSD central office, leadership changes, people.
When I reported on the departures of Harriet MacLean and Fred Brill, the two OUSD administrators who supervised Oakland’s middle schools, I neglected to mention MacLean’s replacement: Gia Truong. (I also didn’t tell you that yet another ”network executive officer,” Donald Evans, left for a job in Compton. That’s four out of the eight nexos.)
Truong was the principal at Urban Promise Academy, a district middle school in the Fruitvale area, for the last four years. She must have been appointed after the initial list of incoming and outgoing principals was compiled, since the school didn’t appear on the list. I’ve asked for an update.
Here’s the announcement that went out to district staff in July:
Hello All,
I’d like to introduce OUSD’s new Network Executive Officer for Middle Schools, Gia Truong. Most of you will remember Gia from her tenure as Principal for Urban Promise Academy. In her new role, Gia will oversee Middle School Network 2, a group that includes Alliance Academy, Bret Harte, Elmhurst Community Prep, Explore College Prep, Frick, Madison, Melrose Leadership, Montera and Roots International.
This latest challenge continues a career in education that spans 13 years and a series of classroom and administrative positions in the Seattle, San Francisco and Oakland school districts. After receiving a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Asian-American Studies from San Francisco State University and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Brown University, Gia accepted a position at Seattle’s Nathan Hale High school. While at Nathan Hale, Gia provided all students access to the traditional honors curriculum and was one of a dozen teachers responsible for designing the school’s 9th and 10th grade academies.
After three years in the Pacific Northwest, Gia returned to the Bay Area as a teacher at San Francisco’s Leadership High School, where she later became an instructional coach. During her time at Leadership, Gia taught social studies, leadership and math and teamed with colleagues to design challenging curriculum units tailored to student abilities and interests. Among other duties, she also coached Humanities and Leadership teachers in curriculum, instruction and assessment.
Prior to the start of the 2003-04 school year, Gia joined OUSD as Assistant Principal for Urban Promise Academy and as a resident and the first Assistant Principal in the New Leader for New Schools program. In her initial year, she helped restructure the bell schedule to support teacher collaboration and professional development and worked to build a strong academic culture. Gia began the next year as the Principal at Urban Promise, which saw its API scores rise from 524 to 649 during her four years as head of the school. As principal, Gia focused on coordinating and leading professional development for her faculty and served as a New Leaders for New Schools Mentor Principal.Gia now joins Fred Brill as one of OUSD’s two Middle School Network Executive Officers. Please join me in welcoming Gia and wishing her the best in her new position.
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August 7th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
As a resident and mom in Oakland who will send her chld(ren) to our neighborhood OUSD school and also as a former colleague of Ms. Truong, I am thrilled to hear of this appointment. Gia is one of the most thoughtful, deliberate educators with whom I’ve worked–dedicated to creating an environments that expect much out of students while also supporting the work and the thinking it takes to get them there. Kudos to OUSD for managing to keep and promote such a gifted educator. This is good news for our middle schools.
August 8th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
My brother just graduated from UPA and it was a joke. He and his friend who was the top 8th grade student got all A’s at UPA. They were lost in Algebra.
I hope they get a new principal who will make sure ever 8th grade student gets a good teacher and Algebra book.
Ms. Elisa, are you sending your child to UPA?
August 11th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Jose, I understand your frustration.
It has been my experience that most of these new, young “administrators” are far from qualified, and walk in full of attitude, authoritative behavior, lack of personnel and employee communication etiquette, and lack of understanding about Federal and State laws that govern programs under their control.
Most come out with a preliminary Administrative Services credential and have no practical experience. Like teachers, in my opinion, they need at least a 5 year mentoring partnership with veteren, retired principals, to orient them to the profession to be even ‘ready’ to be able to carry out the functions of a principal role in an Urban setting, and unfortunately the State of CA, the County, and the Districts serving Urban schools do not provide such a program.
I do not know the particulars of this administrator you are upset with — however, I can realistically tell you that you need to take responsibility for your own destiny, including signing up for a communitiy college course (okay’d by your counselor) at night, online, or on weekends to get the knowledge in Algebra (and other subjects) you are seeking and then bounce that off what you are being taught in your classroom using inquiry-based approaches to your education and life.
Be the expert, question the authoriity of your school’s leadership and faculty, and offer your peers help like a leader. Please do not risk your future to the Dilemmas of public urban education and socio-economic disparities that you have little or no power to overcome. Education is power!
August 12th, 2008 at 10:04 am
What do NEXOs actually do? What do they attempt to accomplish and have they succeeded? Are they part of Expect Success?
With half of the NEXOs gone, will we notice the difference except that we will have the money in the budget that we were paying them. Our school’s NEXO is gone, but of the three times I communicated with him, the only time he responded positively was when I was stroking him and our new principal. When I actually brought up problems or issues, his only response is “She’s a good teacher.” And yes, the teacher in question was a good teacher; however she needed to ramp up for those children who were working above grade level and I was trying to get her some training - a previous 1st grade teacher, teaching 3rd grade, still using techniques and even projects she used in 1sr grade.
With a little help and guidance, she would have been an Excellent Teacher for all 3rd graders - sadly the NEXO did not help her, or me and a previously great teacher left for Berkeley Unified.
So back to the original question, what do NEXOs do?