CLAREMONT — Although Jeff Palladino started his own school with a group of people in The Bronx during the early 2000s that he was extremely passionate about, when he heard about a job opening at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, he knew the opportunity was too good to pass up.
"Fannie Lou Hamer has a 20-year history of excellent progressive education and, at the time I came here, had a longtime, very successful, brilliant principal," he said. "I just saw a real opportunity to go learn from someone who just had lots of experience."
Palladino is now in his fifth year at the school, which is named after the famed American voting and civil rights activist, and he became its principal last school year.
He recently sat down with DNAinfo to talk about the school's education philosophy and why he is perfectly fine with students calling him by his first name.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
When you say progressive education, what does that mean to you?
Fannie Lou does school differently than most quote unquote "regular" schools do in New York City. We are a school that has small houses built into the larger school. We have portfolios, which are very important for kids to collect their work, to look at their work, to dive deep into the work that they’re doing in their classes. We use things like the habits of mind as a lens for the work we’re doing. Like, do students have a viewpoint on something? Are they using evidence to support their viewpoint?
You guys try to promote political and social engagement. Can you talk about how you do that?
We try to make learning real here, so when students are learning about history, they might be in an argument class that is about picking a side and picking a viewpoint of a political aspect of the community or of their personal lives. We want school to feel real to kids, and we want the things for them to be doing to have a real impact. Our students put on an annual peace block party every year, which started five years ago in response to community violence. It's a totally student-led event.
Are there any current events right now in particular that you’re really integrating into the curriculum or trying to get students engaged with?
[This past] Saturday, the African American Male Initiative, through Children’s Aid Society, [had] an expository speech and debate day here. Their issues are around community violence and police brutality and community policing. As we were preparing for it, students had been having debates. One of our students is a New York City Police Department explorer, and he brought his captain and the people from the explorers program to one of the debates that we were practicing in order to give the other side, give the side of the police officers, and so it's been a very powerful way of demonstrating community issues and social issues in an academic realm.
Students call teachers by their first names here. Can you talk about that decision?
That’s been going on here for 20 years. Respect is about how people treat each other. You can call me Mr. Palladino in a non-respectful way, or you can call me Jeff, and I’m certainly comfortable with students calling me my first name. I’ve been in education for 17 years, and I’ve only worked in schools that have done that. Teachers and staff here are comfortable with it. Again, relationships are about how you treat each other, not necessarily what you call each other.
What are some of your favorite things about working at the school?
The students are so great. Being around teenagers, despite my gray hair, it keeps you young. They’re energetic, and they’re just full of possibility in front of them, and it’s just great being in a school atmosphere. It’s just enjoyable.
You’re always learning. You’re always looking at a text with a kid and finding new meaning to it, or you’re learning new technologies alongside kids. You’re learning about the Bronx River by testing the water quality, and every year you do it, you get a different idea of how healthy the Bronx River is becoming. As a staff member at a school, you're on a learning journey with kids, and you’re learning every day, so that’s awesome.
In terms of getting students politically and socially engaged, is there any issue or issues in particular that you find really animates them?
The peace block party I think is that thing. Our students really put tremendous amounts of effort into creating this event that has a message of "there are other ways of solving problems."
I think the real impressive thing is that they keep doing it. This is the sixth year, and there are no students here currently who were students six years ago, but it’s still just as important. It really has become a rite of passage here at the school.
