Antwan Wilson

After graduation, Wilson resolved to teach for at least five years. He spent a year teaching in Raleigh, North Carolina, and then three years teaching at a high school in Wichita. He also coached basketball and track. In 1999, Wilson accepted a job as an assistant principal at Lincoln High School in Lincoln, Nebraska, but left after a year to take a position as assistant principal at Wichita South High School. Wilson was appointed principal at Wichita's Pleasant Valley Middle School, the first time he taught in a school where most of the students came from poverty-stricken backgrounds and were under-performing. Wilson adopted the motto "Success for all. No excuses." during his time at Pleasant Valley, and implemented a number of programs for students, faculty, and parents to boost attendance, reduce discipline problems, and improve learning.[4]

In 2005, Wilson accepted a position as principal at Montbello High School in Denver, Colorado. The school, which opened in 1980 in a poverty- and violence-ridden area of the city, had the nickname "Mont-ghetto".[10] Students at Montbello had struggled to do well, and attendance, graduation rates, and state test scores were all low. Discipline problems were rife at the school, and teacher turnover was high.[4] Wilson initially implemented a program of strict discipline, in which students were not allowed to skip classes, hang out in hallways, or form large groups in hallways. Students who did not turn in assignments were required to spend part of their lunch time doing homework, and suspensions were largely replaced with in-school detention combined with intense academic work. Later, Wilson encouraged faculty to focus on teaching basic skills, improving critical thinking, and using a more interactive teaching approach. This included building community spirit at Montbello as well as extensive assessment. Testing was viewed as a means of identifying what skills and knowledge needed to be taught, rather than as a way of seeing which students were not achieving.[11] State test scores improved and suspensions decreased during Wilson's tenure at Montbello.[4]

In 2008,[10] Wilson was appointed High School Instructional Superintendent for the Denver Public Schools.[12] A year later,[4] he was promoted to Assistant Superintendent for Post-Secondary Readiness.[13] During his tenure as assistant superintendent, Wilson co-founded a program titled "Denver Summit Schools" that targeted the school district's 11 worst-performing schools. Each school received a theme (such an international studies or culinary arts), assistance with discipline and behavioral issues, and began offering Advanced Placement courses. Teachers received new instructional training and additional support. Enrollment at the schools soared, the dropout rate fell by 60 percent, and test scores rose (most significantly for racial minorities).[4]

While working in Oakland, Wilson implemented several administrative changes. He established a new teacher and leader evaluation system, and improved each school's autonomy regarding staffing and the adoption of teaching innovations.[16] Wilson centralized other operations, particularly in the area of finance. This allowed the district to close its books and complete a financial audit for the first time in a decade. This led to a significant improvement in the school district's credit rating, which led to savings on interest rates and freed money for new spending.[16] Wilson also began sending more money to each local school, and spending less on central administration.[15] Wilson also hired Lance Jackson, chief operating officer for SGI Construction Management, to act as the school district's interim facilities manager in order to fill a position which had been empty for several years.[3]

As he did as assistant superintendent in Denver, Wilson focused a good deal of attention on the worst-performing schools. He implemented a program at the five most troubled schools, replacing their principals, revamping the curriculum, and adding enrichment and extracurricular activities (such as art, choir, and speech and debate).[15] He also collaborated with a wide range of public education stakeholders to create "Oakland Promise", an initiative to triple in 10 years the number of Oakland public school students successfully entering college. The program won national attention.[16] Another of Wilson's emphases as superintendent was a commitment to social-emotional learning.[13]

Wilson also worked to integrate Oakland's charter schools more closely with the public school system. In 2015, Wilson began an initiative to have the charter schools and public schools adopt the same curriculum, teaching methods, staff development, and administrative procedures. The following year, Wilson attempted to require use of a single form for parents to use when applying for their child's enrollment at a public school or charter school.[15][lower-alpha 2] His goal was to eliminate cherry picking by charter schools, and make charter school admissions more transparent.[15]

Under Wilson, the Oakland school district also negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement with its teacher and education paraprofessional unions in 2016.[15][16] It was the first time since 2009 that the two sides had been able to reach an agreement.[16]

Wilson's tenure in Oakland was described as "rocky" by the press.[8] His low-performing school reconstitution initiative proved controversial.[3] The single-form initiative for charter and public school enrollment was strongly opposed by some teachers and parents, who saw it as an attempt to turn public schools into charter schools.[3][8][15] Some parents felt this would segregate African American students into the lowest-performing public schools,[16] and drain public schools of much-needed funds.[8] Several people claimed Wilson was "the face of new Jim Crow"[3][16] an "Uncle Tom",[3] and a stooge of "corporate oligarchy".[15] Parents of special needs students accused Wilson of attempting to mainstream their children without providing adequate personnel or funds to mainstream teachers, thereby harming their children's health and education.[3][16] Wilson's certification by the Broad Superintendents Academy generated controversy as well, for his critics felt that Wilson now advocated Eli Broad's plan to close all but the top-performing public schools and transform the education system into charter schools.[15][lower-alpha 3] Although some members of the Oakland school board,[15] the city's teachers' union, and some community groups criticized Wilson for moving too fast and ignoring community concerns.[3][8] Wilson's decision to hire Jackson as interim facilities director also was criticized for creating a conflict of interest, as SGI Construction Management also oversaw the school district's construction program.[3]

The use of racist epithets and the level of anger toward Wilson became so bad that African American clergy and local NAACP officials began appearing at school board meetings to help keep calm, encourage civility, and defend (to some degree) Wilson. The strength of the public attacks on Wilson declined afterward.[3]

Despite the criticisms, a large bloc of school board members gave Wilson their vocal and constant support during his tenure in the city.[15]

Wilson was strongly criticized for leaving the school district with a $30 million budget deficit. The deficit, made public just a month before his departure, was caused by rapid expansion in programs, cost overruns in existing programs, and a $10 million loss in state funding due to lower enrollment, among other factors.[20] Wilson defended the budget, arguing that he had balanced OUSD's budget every year in the past, and that asking for full funding of programs and making cuts later was a normal part of the budget process.[21]

In April 2017, local news media reported that several D.C. government and DCPS officials had won special permission to transfer their children to other schools without going through the admissions lottery. Any student seeking to enroll at a school outside their assigned school boundary must enter this lottery (although some exceptions for discretionary transfers exist), which ensures fairness in awarding positions. These special permissions had been granted by Wilson's predecessor, Kaya Henderson.[26] In the summer of 2017, Wilson established a new policy prohibiting the DCPS chancellor from granting non-lottery admissions without following the exceptions procedures.[27]

On February 16, 2018, Wilson admitted in an interview with WAMU, a local public radio station, that he asked then-Deputy Mayor for Education Jennifer Niles[lower-alpha 5] to exempt his daughter from the admissions lottery and immediately transfer her from Duke Ellington School of the Arts (where she was having personal and academic problems) to Woodrow Wilson High School. The request was granted.[27]

A wide range of public and private individuals called for Wilson's resignation. Wilson initially refused.[29] By Tuesday morning, February 20, seven of the 13 members of the D.C. Council had joined the call for Wilson's resignation. Mayor Muriel Bower placed Wilson on administrative leave and asked for his resignation.[30] Wilson resigned, effectively immediately, later that afternoon.[27]

Dr. Amanda Alexander, head of the DCPS Office of Elementary Schools, was appointed interim chancellor.[27]

Wilson's contract potentially provides for severance pay and an in-lieu salary payout.[27] Mayor Bowser said these financial arrangements will be negotiated by the school district and Wilson shortly.[30]