Paul Hirsch
FairFax Community of Schools Administrator (COSA) and Former Principal of STEM Academy of Hollywood
When Paul first became principal at STEM Academy of Hollywood, he entered a school where the graduation rate was 64%. By the time Paul left his position eight years later, that rate jumped to 99%, and now graduates of STEM Academy are attending schools such as Princeton, Yale, Brown, UCLA, USC, Stanford, Smith College, and more. Paul transformed the school, improving its educational offerings as well as its community life. Around 90% of the students at STEM Academy will go on to be first-generation college students. As a Title 1 school, STEM Academy served a population of students who virtually all qualified for free or reduced lunch and who lived in circumstances of poverty. The school is democratically run, so teachers, students, and parents come together to make decisions around the direction of the school. Paul loved this, given his background teaching the principles of democracy as a social studies teacher. At STEM Academy, Paul’s work focused on medicine and engineering tracks. His dream is to help students enter the healthcare field and become doctors.
As a principal, one of Paul’s main roles was to support teachers and to help them help students. In his new role as the Fairfax Community of Schools Administrator (COSA), he’s helping principals help teachers help students. Paul is now serving 16 schools that range from early education through high school, which includes around 10,000 families and 400 teachers. Paul can use his previous experience as a teacher and a principal to help with his new job. Throughout his career, Paul has made a positive difference in the lives of hundreds of students and, in his new job, will expand the impact to thousands more students.
As a student himself, Paul was inspired by a 4th grade tutor, Jim H., who helped him become a stronger writer and student. Jim taught Paul the five-paragraph structure, which not only helped Paul with writing, but also with organizing his thoughts. Because of his experience with Jim, Paul is passionate about helping students organize their thoughts and build their voice. Paul is truly inspirational in all of the different, creative ways he helps students. One outstanding example that Paul implemented early in his time at STEM Academy was in motivating students to focus on their academics by providing them with a fun and exciting reward. A lifelong skateboarder himself, Paul created a skate park on campus for the students. He tied eligibility to skate with an after school tutoring program, thereby creating a safe space for kids to have fun while ensuring that they kept up with their work. He threw an opening event with 1,000 people; with the help of sponsors like Vans and Quicksilver, he was able to donate shoes and stickers to the kids. He built awareness for the community project and, through the park, created a safe space for kids to skateboard.
Paul’s goals/top priorities as Fairfax COSA:
Navigating through virtual learning. The students are living in isolation and missing a lot of the peer-to-peer contact and connection pre-COVID. Before Paul can start looking at goals in terms of content delivery, he really wants to create a sense of connectedness among the students. This also entails helping teachers with technology and online learning, as some are very ready and others are not as ready.
Make sure that conversations continue around social justice, racial justice, and systemic racism. Paul is serving over 1,000 African-American students and over 8,000 students of color. As we are in the midst of the biggest social justice movement in a generation, he doesn’t want the conversation to stop as school starts; he wants the students and faculty to continue these conversations and tackle aspects of systemic racism that permeate some of their institutions.
Find more funding and business partners. These schools are dramatically underfunded, so one of Paul’s goals is to come up with new resources. In the LA area, Paul says that there are a lot of successful businesses and potential partners that he would like to identify and partner with to bring resources back into the schools.
Finding ways to support and connect the community. With COVID-19, Paul is working on virtual town halls and issuing virtual newsletters. Paul has connected with professors at UCLA who will bring in training around implicit bias, systemic racism, and addressing those issues with the staff. Some partners like CBS studios, who are close to the school, have a lot of potential resources -- they have donated funds to create a mentoring program for the students of color and are bringing in professionals of color who will be mentoring some of their students. Paul is using the opportunity with new technologies to have Zoom webinars that can host up to 1,000 people in order to make inroads and connections. With all of this, he is hoping to bring the community together and leverage partnerships.
Who inspires Paul?
Barack Obama. When Paul first became principal, Barack Obama had just been elected as President of the United States. While Paul admires Obama’s intelligence, kindness, and compassion, Paul was inspired most by his sense of calm. Paul says, “In the face of almost an economic collapse, dealing with two wars, and an array of challenges, [Obama] would always stay calm.” So, when Paul had a challenge arise on the playground, for example, he could certainly summon some of Obama’s calmness.
Teachers. Paul has met a lot of teachers, and they all inspire him. One teacher in particular, Esther D., truly inspires Paul with her organization, teaching strategies, technological adeptness, and ability to leverage all the online tools. These abilities, Paul says, have really helped her become a powerful leader.
Some of the students whose lives Paul has impacted:
Kimberly R. was one of Paul’s students when he taught in middle school and later high school. She was very helpful to Paul with organizing the class and supporting some of his work as a new teacher. When she went on to high school as a student, Paul moved on to high school as a teacher. Kimberly’s parents didn’t finish high school, so she would be a first-generation college student. Kimberly became student body president, was in the medical pathway, got accepted into UC Berkeley, and did an internship at a local health clinic in San Francisco. She was recently accepted to SUNY medical school. Paul’s dream came true alongside Kimberly’s, as she is on the path to become a doctor.
One student in eighth grade became pregnant and had a son. She had to find the time to manage all of her homework and school responsibilities in addition to taking care of her son and her mother who had medical challenges. Paul and the school provided services such as extra diapers and clothes. Then, as the student got older, they found a paid internship at a hospital so she could work and receive some income while getting credit for school as well as building her resume. This student got accepted into UCLA and is now pursuing a career in medicine as well.
About the students:
At STEM Academy, there were 550 high-school students. 86% of the students are Latinx, as well as populations of Thai, Filipino, and Armenian families. The gender split was pretty even, however with more boys in engineering and more girls in medicine (a trend they are working to reverse).
In the Fairfax community of schools, there is a wide range of students. There are two early education centers (Pre-K, TK [transitional kindergarten], and kindergarten students), eight elementary schools (K-5), two middle schools (6-8), and two high schools (9-12 with 1,700 students each). One of the high schools, Fairfax High School, is known to be the most diverse school in the district (around 50 different languages are spoken among students and staff). It is located on Fairfax and Melrose, home to several of the school’s business partners as well as the center for a lot of political activity with protests around George Floyd’s murder. Throughout the schools, there is a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds as well as a digital divide, meaning some students have laptops and connectivity while others don’t.
A quote from Paul: “Working in education is very hard work. I think people would be very surprised; it can be 18-hour days, just enough time to eat and sleep and the rest is work. We keep coming back to it because living a life of service has really been the best therapy anyone could ask for. I face all types of challenges, like all of us do. I have anxieties and stressors weighing in on me, but the fact that I’ve made my life about service to others has really been calming. No matter how tired I am, I feel very satisfied. It really carries a lot of weight with me; I’m grateful to serve and to be in this position.”
To donate to this cause, visit: https://www.cityoffairfaxschools.org/apps/pages/donate
—
Written by Emily AlbertFirst photograph taken by Emily Albert; all other photographs courtesy of Paul Hirsch