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Signs posted along the hallways of Montrose Elementary School in Eastern Henrico County tout that the school is fully accredited by the state.
But when Ted Durniak became its principal in 2013, Montrose was one of the two worst performing elementary schools in Henrico.
Within five years after he took over, the school had earned its state accreditation by raising students’ standardized testing scores to the level required by the state.
Baker Elementary School experienced a similar turnaround under Durniak’s leadership from 2005 to 2013.
Both Baker and Montrose Elementary schools are Title 1 schools, a federal designation for schools in which children from low-income families make up at least 40% of enrollment. The majority of Henrico County’s 20 Title 1 schools are on the Eastern side of the county, where more residents experience poverty.
The Fairfield District has eight Title 1 schools, Varina has seven and Brookland has four. There is only one Title 1 school in the West End – Ridge Elementary, which is in the Three Chopt District. The Tuckahoe District does not have any Title 1 schools.
Schools in Eastern Henrico are harder to staff, and applicants are more likely to be fresh out of school.
Durniak spent his career in Title 1 schools – from New York City to Norfolk to Henrico County.
“A lot of people have stereotypical impressions of what they think a Title 1 school is,” Durniak said. “I like destroying all those stereotypes.”
A few years after Durniak took the reins Baker Elementary, the school was recognized by the Virginia Department of Education as one of the best performing Title 1 schools in the commonwealth and won several awards during his time there.
After the success at Baker, school system administrators asked Durniak to move to struggling Montrose. Just five years after the move, Montrose earned its accreditation and received the "Continuous School Improvement" award from the VDOE.
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Often when people visit Montrose, they remark that the building is quiet and the kids are polite, showing their assumptions about Title 1 schools.
But before Durniak took over in 2013, there was chaos, he said. Staff morale was low.
The first changes Durniak made were to make the building look like a place where kids could feel excited to learn, he said. The building originally looked like a dungeon with dark blue walls, so Durniak asked school division leadership for a new paint job, new lights, new ceiling tiles and repairs to the floors and rails.
The next step was getting to know the community, parents and teachers, and then rebuilding the culture.
“When you have a school that's underperforming for the amount of time that it was, what ends up happening is that everybody feels defeated and like it can't be done,” Durniak said. “It takes a lot of time and energy to get people to start believing that yes, it is possible. We can get this done.”
The most important part – the “secret sauce” – to improving a school is to hire the right people, Durniak said. Then, it takes time to mentor and coach them.
A principal who ends up with good people in the building who are dedicated and willing to go above and beyond for the children will oversee a successful school, he said.
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As is common in Title 1 schools, new hires often are fresh out of college. Experienced teachers tend to be snatched up by the West End schools, where there are far fewer students experiencing poverty.
“I can teach you and coach you and mentor you about your classroom management skills, your instructional skills. But if you really don't have a love for this population, I can’t teach that,” Durniak said. “That's why I'm always looking for that sort of X-factor, that you really want to be here, that this is the population you want to be working with, because it is a challenging environment.”
Durniak is most proud of the young teachers he’s mentored who have chosen to stay in Title 1 schools in Eastern Henrico and carry on the enthusiasm.
The success at Montrose and Baker isn’t unique. Principals all over Eastern Henrico have helped their schools earn state accreditation.
During the 2017- 2018 school year, 13 Henrico were not fully accredited, eight were partially accredited, and five were denied accreditation, according to the VDOE.
In the 2019-2020 school year, there were eight schools designated as "accredited with conditions," according to the VDOE. (The way accreditation was calculated changed, with categories for "denied" or "partial" accreditation eliminated.)
The accreditation process has been halted during the past two years as a result of the pandemic, but it will resume again this fall.
“There's a lot of principals who are getting things done, and we do get support from Central Office,” he said. “I'm not special. I'm just one of many principals on the East End who are doing this work, doing it quietly, doing it successfully.”
This is Durniak's last year as a principal. He'll retire in July — but he doesn't plan to stop working. He hopes to help coach and mentor young school administrators in schools that are struggling academically.
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Anna Bryson is the Henrico Citizen's education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar. Sign up here for her free weekly education newsletter.
