Kiwana Yates, principal of Richmond's George Washington Carver Elementary School (Photo by Jay Paul)
A wave of loud voices and laughter greets me as I step into George Washington Carver Elementary School on West Leigh Street.
I ask Kiwana Yates about all the chatter, and she leads me to the cafeteria, where 8- and 9-year-olds socialize at their lunch tables, fidget in lines and beam big smiles at their principal.
With a slight chuckle, Principal Yates says that people who believe quiet schools equate to learning are mistaken. If students are quiet in the cafeteria, that means they’re being disruptive and not learning in the classroom, she says.
That pragmatism, combined with the school’s laser focus on learning, led to Carver being named a National Blue Ribbon School in late September. The award, presented to just seven schools in Virginia and 329 schools in the country, recognizes overall academic excellence or the school’s progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.
Almost all of Carver’s 500 students are African-American, and 96 percent live in the Gilpin Court public housing community. All students qualify for free lunch. For Yates, the Blue Ribbon recognition is particularly rewarding because it demonstrates how Carver has met and exceeded state benchmarks in English, math, history and science for the past three years.
“What’s the magic formula?” I ask Yates as we sit in her office that’s just big enough for her desk and chair and two seats for visitors. A wall behind Yates’ desk holds several articles about Carver’s achievements.
“There is no magic formula,” replies Yates, 36. While acknowledging improved test scores, Yates says people sometimes misconstrue the numbers. For example, having 98 percent of students meet a benchmark of 75 in English means just that, she says. Not all students meet that 75 mark, and the goal is to have more students score above 75.
Yates’ supporters believe that as long as she remains at Carver, the school will continue to reap rewards. “Smart, competitive and willing to share what she knows” is how her first boss describes her.
Cheryl Burke was principal at Chimborazo Elementary School in Church Hill for 19 years. She hired Yates, who was then Kiwana Evans, right after she graduated from Virginia Union University.
“She was very child-centered and positive,” Burke recalls. “You could tell that she was a born teacher. She knew the facts and data, as well as the personal and relationship aspects of the job. She was affectionate, but also let students know that she was the teacher and they were the students. The students loved her. I told someone that she can teach a cat how to read.”
Yates started teaching lower-level classes at Chimborazo and soon moved to upper-level classes. After marrying her college sweetheart, Darnell, she accepted a teaching position in Washington, D.C., but returned to Chimborazo after discovering she was pregnant with her son, Darnell II, now 8.
Burke suggested that Yates consider becoming a school administrator. Yates, who has two master’s degrees from Virginia State University and a doctoral degree in education from Argosy University, followed Burke’s advice and served for two years as an assistant principal at Carver before becoming its principal.
Yates with third-grade students at Carver (Photo by Jay Paul)
Raymond Hylton, a history professor at VUU, was Yates’ academic adviser at the historically black university that is within walking distance of Carver.
Yates was a student who never gave excuses and was always willing to help inspire her classmates, he recalls. “She was almost a mentor to other students and showed a natural aptitude for teaching and leadership.”
Besides teaching, family means everything to Yates.
When she was growing up in a Brooklyn, New York, housing project, her parents continually stressed the importance of education. Her father, Ernest Branch, urged her to compete against herself rather than others. Her mother, Patricia Evans Branch, was always her biggest cheerleader. When Yates became valedictorian of her Benjamin Banneker Academy high school class, her father’s only response was, “I told you so.”
Yates said that all subjects — math, science, reading — intrigued her because her teachers knew how to make each subject separate, distinct and fun.
Listening to Yates and seeing how excited she becomes when talking about her students, I can tell that lessons from her past remain deeply embedded in her approach to teaching and learning.
“I tell students all day long, ‘You are the best, you can do it,’ ” she says. “When you get that positive reinforcement, it goes a long way in letting them know we care.”
