Principal Interview (Freebie)

In recent weeks, I have spent my time in Humboldt Park interviewing principals of local public schools about how gentrification in the community has taken its toll on educational institutions, as well as how they feel about the Community as a Campus initiative. I’ve also attended some meetings featuring local educators talking about the CAAC initiative or issues plaguing local schools such as dropouts and insufficient attendance rates. With these interviews and ethnographic sit-ins, I am working toward a final research project that I will presumably present at a meeting of the community’s various Principals in August.

Conducting these interviews and being present at these meetings has given me a fascinating foray into a community at a crossroads — one that has been forced to be resilient against the rising tide of rent and property tax increases and displacement while already facing urban ills like poverty, gang activity, and bureaucratic dysfunction in the Chicago Public Schools system. Due to this civic complexity, I often show up to these interviews and meetings with a barrage of questions, and due to the business of these pedagogue’s schedules, I’m forced to consolidate my curiosity into questions that are probing, yet time-sensitive.

So far, my presence has been met with utter support. One particularly memorable day came when I was set to interview Karime Asaf, the Principal at local Bernhard Moos Elementary School after attending a meeting of Principals. Interested in my research, she invited me to drive over to Moos and observe a play group organized by locals who Ms. Asaf insinuated were new residents hoping to assimilate into the community peacefully. We eventually went over and I spoke to a young mother who spoke frankly about her role as a gentrifier and her desire to be a good community member. We have since set up a time to discuss her feelings about her role in the neighborhood.

Oftentimes the Principals are thrilled to have an outlet to discuss the effect of gentrification on their institutions. In interviewing Marcey Sorensen, Principal of Roberto Clemente Community Academy just today, I noticed she seemed to be reveling in the ability to talk about these issues in a candid manner with a somewhat neutral party.

One of my favorite aspects of this process has been getting to know the various educators and vice-versa. I’ve built meaningful, albeit small relationships with some of the principals such as Frederick Williams of Frederic Chopin Elementary. It’s genuinely refreshing to be able to craft rapports with people whose work I admire and am simultaneously fascinated by.  

It’s also been great to hone my skills as an interviewer as well. I’ve noticed that my ability to pry deeper and deeper into these complex issues has increased over time — case in point, my first interview was 15 minutes and my last was 45. Though I consider myself a relatively affable person, it is another skill to be able to make people feel comfortable enough to reveal interesting and meaningful information to you in a research setting.

This process has entailed becoming comfortable with silences, and allowing people to take moments to think about what they’re trying to say. I’ve also become less satisfied with basic answers to surface level questions (ex. “Is gentrification hurting this school?” “Yes…”). With the help of my supervisor Michael Rodriguez, I’ve learned how to dig deeper and how fruitful the answers that come from this can be.

For future interviews, I mainly plan to reach out to the five or so people I’ve spoken to and go into their respective institutions for follow-ups. In the time since initially interviewing them, various questions that I find helpful to my research have sprung up in my brain. I’ve also been in contact with principals like Marcey Sorensen for data regarding student attendance, demographics, and enrollment rate. This has been a consuming project to say the least, but rewarding at each step of the way.