It took about a month for Vincent Murray to clear out an office containing 23 years of accumulated papers and memories. When the suddenly former principal took his briefcase and left his giant set of keys on the desk for his successor and on June 30, he was ready for the next step in his APS career.
The Atlanta Public Schools system has been full of changes this past year: the addition of a new superintendent Meria Carstarphen, the removal and/or reassignment of 22 principals within the system and the shuffle of staff from school to school has made the 2014-2015 a school year of tremendous change.
In late February APS administration individually met with the principals that were being reassigned. On Feb. 25 Murray put an end to the rumors and publicly addressed the staff of Grady, giving his thoughts on the principal removal.
“I am not going to be one of those people who is drama driven and I don’t expect you to be either,” Murray said.
But Murray’s reassignment has created drama nonetheless. As several Grady parents have expressed concern that Murray’s reassignment might not give him the opportunity to share the wisdom of his 23 years of experience as a principal.
Erroll Davis, former superintendent, told the Southerner via email that he advocated for Murray to be installed as a principal mentor to help ease the transitions of all the new principals to their new schools. Davis wrote that he believes Murray is “being asked to help principals who need help on a temporary onsite basis.”
After taking two weeks of vacation, Murray returned to work, unsure what his role would be. Since the start of the school year, Murray has served APS as an “interim assistant principal” at Bolton Academy Elementary School.
In his new position, Murray said he receives a new schedule every day with the same tasks, which include hall monitoring of fourth- and fifth-graders in the morning, cafeteria duty at noon and carpool duty at the end of the school day. When he isn’t performing these tasks he said that he conducts classroom observations.
The role hasn’t thus far given him the chance to mentor principals.
“I’m not only disappointed for the Grady community who wanted Dr. Murray to be treated well after being re-assigned, but [also] disappointed for the district, who has lost a great resource and everything else Dr. Murray has to offer,” Grady parent Janet Kishbaugh said.
Murray said his new job is different from his old one because his daily routine is so clearly spelled out and because it doesn’t allow him to exercise much discretion.
Murray noted one other difference: “I no longer have an office,” he said..“My office is in the hall. Not complaining. I don’t want things to get worse.”
