Principal Gilfort discusses goals for the 2018-2019 school year
The Round Table's Editor-in-Chief Morgan Gibson spoke with Northern's principal Dan Gilfort on his goals for the school year and a time frame for the new Northern building.
Morgan Gibson: What are some of your goals for this academic year?
Dan Gilfort: To exceed growth, same as we did last year. That basically means that all of our students at a projected score when they come in, based off of their previous year’s work, and last year, as a school, we exceeded that growth level. That is always a good thing when students do more than what is projected of them. In addition I want to increase our proficiency in our three tested EOC’s, I want to increase our graduation rate, I want to decrease our dropout and suspension rate, improve our ACT scores as a school as well as increase the number of CTE completers. Lastly, we can hopefully move to a level B school instead of a level C, which is where we have been for a while.
MG: If you could have one thing to focus on this year what would it be and why
DG: To continue the work we are doing with Capturing Kids Hearts, transforming our school culture to a place where students can feel like they can be themselves and be safe and academically thrive.
MG: Do you have an update on the new NHS?
DG: Durham Public Schools is currently looking for acreage for the school to be built on. And hopefully they will have that picked and finished before the end of the first semester in terms of where it is going to be. We will go through a new design team with the members of the different departments in the Spring and hopefully break ground in the late Summer.
MG: Is the rumor that Juniors might soon be allowed to go off campus for lunch true? Why have you changed your mind?
DG: I am strongly considering it simply because I have found out that we are one of two high schools that currently does not allow it. Riverside, Hillside, Jordan all allow juniors to go off. I did not have that knowledge previous years.
MG: School spirit has increased greatly in the last three years at Northern, how do you believe this impacts school moral?
DG: We have had a very good start to the school year. I think we have had two small fights in the first month, that is not normal. Again I think it goes back to the school’s culture of peace, where everyone feels that they can be themselves, they feel safe. They can come here and thrive academically and be involved and it is ok to be involved, whether it is the chess club or the student leadership group or the newspaper, it is ok for them regardless of who they are and where they really come from. One of the things I said earlier is that we take our head squires and make them knights, regardless of their house of origin. I like that, I like to think that we take everyone, regardless of who comes or how they come to us, we turn them into “knights” before they leave.
MG: At your first ever Northern staff meeting, you have been quoted saying “I am the first black principal of Northern High School, I am being watched.” Do you still believe this statement to be true?
DG: I think we have proved ourselves in terms of what we are trying to do as an administrative team around the school. Race is a subject that always goes away, I am always the African American principal I am never just a principal. But I do not feel that same sort of daunting pressure that I felt my first year here.