Skyline High Principal Sulura Jackson named 2010-11 Principal of the Year by MASSP
The Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals named Sulura Jackson, principal of Ann Arbor’s Skyline High School, as the 2010-11 High School Principal of the Year.
Jackson’s work to further education in Ann Arbor and maintain the “Skyline Difference” was more than enough to give her the award, according to MASSP Superintendent J. Todd Roberts.
“I am most impressed with Sulura Jackson and her performance with the Ann Arbor Public Schools," he said. “She is an exceptional leader who challenges herself and her staff to continuously improve. She is most deserving of the Principal of the Year Award.”
Skyline Principal Sulura Jackson
Jackson began serving as principal of Skyline in 2005, working with district officials to plan for the opening of the school, which came in 2008.
MASSP officials said Jackson has worked diligently to improve relationships among teachers, parents and students at the school.
Sara Duvall, lead teacher for media and technology at Skyline who nominated Jackson for the award, said Jackson’s work to grow the Parent-Teacher Support Organization has been one of her many accomplishments.
“Skyline’s vibrant PTSO was promoted and developed by Ms. Jackson’s effective communication with parents from long before the school opened its doors,” Duvall said in a statement. “She is simply the most accomplished and dedicated principal with whom any of us have had the privilege to work.”
Jackson will represent Michigan at the 2011 MetLife/National Association of Secondary School Principal of the Year program in Washington D.C. MetLife sponsors the award along with the MASSP.
Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.
Comments
Rachel
Sat, May 14, 2011 : 3:25 p.m.
Skyline High school as a HUGE bullying problem especially in regard towards LGBT students. Some have been spit on, called names and even received death threats from other students. After numerous complaints from these students (some of them I know personally) and their parents, Mrs Jackson failed to do anything. Her lack of communication is abysmal and she fosters a hateful environment.
a2edu
Sat, Feb 5, 2011 : 3:19 p.m.
All over Ann Arbor and Farmington (Ms. Jackson's previous school district), hundreds and perhaps thousands of families faculty, administrators are collectively rolling their eyes at this award announcement. The vast majority (I'm sensing 90 plus percent) have found from experience that Ms. Jackson is perhaps the worst administrators in recent memory on so many levels. I have a question. Did anyone from the MASSP even bother to ask other (or at least seek a more comprehensive sampling) administrators, faculty and staff from Farmington or AAPS about Ms. Jackson? The answer is quite obviously no. Aside from a small and rabid ring of cronies that nominated her, I have run across no one who has anything positive to say about Ms. Jackson's leadership (or lack thereof). Don't believe me? Just do your homework . . . . ask people (teachers, administrators, families) who have had working contact with Ms. Jackson. One thing I will say, however, is that the public relations and marketing machine that pushed for Ms. Jackson's nomination should be hired immediately to work on boosting the State's image. They indeed made the impossible possible.
kalamityjane
Tue, Feb 1, 2011 : 11:10 p.m.
As well, Dr. Benjamin Edmondson must not have been a candidate as he is an AVID communicator and has personal relationships with all his students and parents!
kalamityjane
Tue, Feb 1, 2011 : 11:09 p.m.
I'm sorry but I'm with Stonecutter. It may sound critical or harsh but as a parent of a Skyline student I can attest that Ms. Jackson is NOT easily reachable nor communicative with parents. She has her own meetings that she schedules for students in danger of failing at the end of each year, however, if you try to reach her personally her secretarty returns your calls and directs you to speak with the counselors, teachers or department principal. That is not reaching out and communicating with parents if you ask me.
Yuxuibbs
Wed, Feb 2, 2011 : 12:52 a.m.
Tell your student to talk to her during school maybe lunch or something. That's what I did because I knew it would take much longer for me to figure out a meeting day.
stonecutter1
Tue, Feb 1, 2011 : 3:38 a.m.
Must have been a short list of candidates!
say it plain
Tue, Feb 1, 2011 : 2:16 a.m.
That's wonderful, congratulations to Skyline and Principal Jackson! Communication and drive to keep the culture friendly and caring--for teachers, staff, parents, and students--is exactly what being a good principal should be about. I hope that the groundwork is in place for the "Skyline difference" to continue as the school starts graduating classes. That she was chosen for this award is a good sign. I like the choice of descriptors here...that she "challenges herself and her staff to continuously improve"; feeling like things are 'good enough' or that phew, now we can just coast, is something that can create the negative vibes people often complain about in the public schools. And it is *not* merely about improving test scores, it is about improving *relationships*, feelings of belonging in an institution, feelings of being together in a process of development and growth. Here, now, the school is developing and growing. But always the kids coming through will be, the teachers coming through will be, the staff coming through will be, and everyone can learn from each other if communication is happening.
Tony Livingston
Tue, Feb 1, 2011 : 12:08 a.m.
Congratulations. Communicating with parents is a task that is sorely missing in many of the other Ann Arbor high schools. It is reassuring to hear that this principal has made it a priority and has developed some effective methodology.