KIPP in Touch

We’re extremely proud to have talented and diverse school leaders empowering students and families. Recently, we’ve embarked on a campaign to introduce and celebrate our new school leaders. Check out the first two below and follow KIPP DC on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as we highlight the rest of this amazing group of leaders!

Rashaand Sass, KIPP DC Key Academy

Rashaand Sass casts a distinct figure as he walks the halls of KIPP DC KEY Academy. Personable, with an almost child-like exuberance to his gait, students stop him at nearly every turn to say what’s up, slap his hand or show him their classwork. He’s quickly become a fixture of the KEY Academy as he balances enthusiastic interactions with a certain gravitas. A gravitas not lost on Mr. Sass as the first African-American male to assume the role of school leader in at KIPP DC. Read more about Mr. Sass.

Miriam Darby, KIPP DC Heights Academy

Spend even a few moments with KIPP DC Heights Academy school leader Miriam Darby, and her passion for empowering students and commitment to excellence and equity is readily apparent. She lights up describing the joy of seeing students master a rounding lesson, effusively praises the dedication of her teachers and staff, and embraces the challenge of leading Heights’ school community. Read more about Ms. Darby.

Stay tuned for next month’s KIPP in Touch when we’ll introduce our other new school leaders Ashley Peel of Grow Academy, Caroline Frye of Lead Academy, Kenya Wilson of WILL Academy, Lauren Catalano of Somerset College Preparatory, and Shantel Sappleton of LEAP Academy.

We wanted shed light on some of the new investments made across the network to maximize your impact on students and families.

Improving Student Learning by Supporting Teachers & Staff

• We continue to make progress on our diversity, equity, and inclusion work by implementing school equity plans with a focus on validating, affirming, and bridging for our students. At the network level, we are reviewing our organizational practices and culture for their inclusivity and alignment to our anti-racist aspirations.
• We’ve added four additional instructional coaches to ensure teachers are growing professionally. We now have 16 instructional coaches supporting great teaching across our network and complementing development staff receives from their school leadership teams.
• Our Vision for Teaching Excellence was implemented to align and strengthen our professional development programs. Work will continue here as we launch our Vision for Teaching Excellence Advisory Group.
• More than a dozen roles have been added across the network to support students with IEPs, ensuring all students are set up to thrive.

Acting on Parent & Staff Feedback

• We worked with our food vendors and have improved the quality and quantity of food in middle and high schools. We’ll continue to monitor this area throughout the school year.
• Investing in enrichment and extracurricular programming, especially with community-based organizations, is a focus this fall across schools.
• We continue to address absenteeism and attendance by adding attendance coordinators at each campus and using new intervention methods to ensure students are at school daily.

Maintaining & Upgrading Learning Spaces

• We are soon breaking ground $40M+ in construction work at the Benning and Somerset Campuses.
• This summer we spent $2M+ on landscaping, painting, and various preventive maintenance projects at all our campuses and annually plan to continue improving and maintaining our campuses.

We appreciate the feedback you gave us on past TNTP and other all-staff surveys that guided these investments. Your feedback will continue to help us create an even more vibrant KIPP DC.

-Dane Anderson, Chief Operating Officer