Students and parents sign petition calling for removal of Wake high school principal
Nearly 1,500 parents and students have signed an online petition calling for Camille Hedrick to be removed as principal of Green Hope High School in Cary.
Hedrick started as principal of Green Hope in July and, according to an online petition, “she has an established pattern that is damaging to students and to the overall health of the school environment.” The petition, which had 1,475 signatures as of Friday afternoon, lists 18 complaints, including Hedrick’s decision to eliminate the school’s dance program.
Dance students and their parents showed up at the Feb. 18 Wake County school board meeting asking for help to save their program.
“A school is supposed to improve with time, not decline,” Kate Saltzman, a Green Hope senior, wrote on the petition. “My biggest problem with Green Hope right now is the removal of the arts classes. I don’t know Dr. Hedrick as a whole but I have seen what has been done at my school since she started here.”
Hedrick declined The News & Observer’s request for comment on the petition. Hedrick previously said she had to eliminate some classes because the school will have fewer students this fall, resulting in fewer teaching positions.
School system stands by principal
It’s unusual for parents and students to take such a public stance against their principal. But the Wake County school system issued a statement Thursday saying it stood by Hedrick’s leadership, noting that she was named N.C. PTA Principal of the Year in 2017.
“Dr. Camille Hedrick is a seasoned educator who has established a distinguished, four-decade record of success, including 15 years as a highly effective and award-winning administrator in the Wake County Public School System,” Wake said in the statement.
Green Hope is one of the district’s top-performing high schools.
It was supposed to be a homecoming when Hedrick became Green Hope’s principal. Her late husband, James Hedrick, was Green Hope’s principal from 2005 to 2014.
Camille Hedrick started her new job after having been principal for five years at Panther Creek High School, which is Green Hope’s arch-rival. Wake said Hedrick’s colleagues look to her as a “leader among leaders.”
“She has rightfully earned a reputation for strengthening her schools academically and otherwise, for connecting with and inspiring students, teachers and families, and for being deeply involved and engaged in her schools’ communities,” Wake said in the statement
Students complain about tardy table system
Hedrick made a number of changes at Green Hope. One change cited in the petition and referenced in a number of comments is the creation of the “tardy table system.”
Students who are late for a class are now required to go to a table near the front office to register as being tardy before they can report back to the classroom.
“The tardy table is completely unnecessary and only hurts students by making them miss much more class by standing in the line, than if they just went to class,” Lauren Summerville, a Green Hope student, wrote on the petition. “I walked in a minute late and got to class 20 minutes late just because of the long line I had to stand in, what’s the point of that?”
Another charge on the petition is that Hedrick allowed the MVP curriculum to be used in Math 3 even though the district gave schools permission to not use the program. Green Hope has been a hotbed of complaints against the MVP high school math curriculum, where hundreds of students walked out of class in protest in April.
Petition cites low morale
The petition was created last week by a Green Hope parent who declined to be interviewed by The News & Observer unless her name was not used. One of her charges is that Hedrick has caused low morale for staff and students.
“I am a junior and has always looked forward to my senior year, after she came along I no longer am excited for it,” Kelsie Hudgins, a Green Hope student, wrote on the petition. “I respect her as a person but her policies are not working.”
Wake says the decisions Hedrick makes on classes “are sometimes quite difficult” and “weigh heavily on our leaders and are sometimes less than popular.”
“But they are made with the best interest of the school’s academic viability as a whole,” Wake continued in the statement. “We fully trust that Dr. Hedrick draws upon her wealth of experience and wisdom as an educator in making such decisions and that she does not take these matters lightly. “
