Candace Hugee, High School Principal

Hi, Candace! Can you share what you do? 

I am first a teacher and an educator. I’m also the principal of the Urban Assembly School for Collaborative Health Care. We are located in Brooklyn. I’ve been at this school for four years. Prior to being at this school, I had started another high school in Sheepshead Bay [Brooklyn], and I was there for four years. In total, I’ve been in education for fifteen years. 

Wow. Did you start as a classroom teacher? 

So I started as a school aide. I’ve been a school aide, a paraprofessional, a teacher, an assistant principal, and now a principal. And I’ve been a school secretary. So I’ve held pretty much every position in a school. (laughs) 

You actually have! (laughs) Can you share more on what brought you to education? Influences that helped you to chart your course? 

I really thought I would be a sportscaster. I double-majored in communications and history, and I minored in dance. I always went to city schools. I graduated high school at 16, and went to college early at a school in the CUNY [City University of New York] system, at Hunter College. I had always worked at camps — day camps, summer camps, after-school programs. I just thought the kids were dope. We had a lot of similarities. I look like them and they look like me. So I was around kids a lot through those jobs.

After I had graduated from college, I did an internship at ABC, and worked a bit at ESPN. I enjoyed the sports journalism world, but it was very misogynistic, full of white men, and I didn't see an opportunity to get where I wanted to be in the near future. I was watching endless games, writing the narratives for the sportscasters to read on on-air broadcasts, and they would just read my notes. They wouldn’t watch many or sometimes any of the games. On top of the fact that it wasn’t really fun, I got stuck watching all of the hockey games. I’m black. (laughs) So that was a catalyst to start thinking of what would be next for me, professionally.

At the same time I was interning, I was working as a school aide just because I needed an extra check, and the benefits. I wasn’t thinking of education as a career choice, but I realized by that point that I liked being in schools, so being a school aide was a great opportunity. So I applied for New York City Teaching Fellows, and was accepted. That put me on the path to becoming a principal. 

I should note that I had attended a middle school called Philippa Schuyler, led by a dynamic principal named Ms. Mildred Boyce who I can confidently say changed my life and the lives of so many others who graduated from that school. The way she cared about us and the way that she held expectations made a huge impact on me in terms of what an educator could be. She’s a real matriarchal figure in so many of our lives. 

You’re talking about influences and so I’m curious who else has been pivotal in your life? How have you paid those lessons forward? 

I teach at a high school because I prefer older kids, but also because I feel that my own high school failed me. I went to a really huge high school. If I didn’t have any drive, if I didn’t have my parents, I could have easily slipped through the cracks. No one would have noticed. I was just a number. Because of that experience and people I’ve met, like Ms. Boyce, I’m now leading a high school. I think the lessons I took from Ms. Boyce, and from watching the other teachers who are more experienced than me, essentially underscored the importance of really knowing your students. Any school I’ve led, I never wanted a student to feel or be treated as though they were just a number. Social-emotional learning is kind of a buzzword now in education, but it counts a lot to me. Academic success is important, but students have to feel as if they belong and that you care. And you’d be surprised. The student who is driving you insane can often be the one who really wants to make you proud. When I think of my own experience as a student, I knew the adults in my life expected me to do my best, and I try to impart that on my students, which I think is why I’ve had pretty successful schools. 

What do you think makes you uniquely suited to be in the space you’re in, and not only to be in those spaces, but to thrive and have successful schools? 

I think it’s because I listen. Over time, I had to create boundaries with my students because I would listen too much. But in taking over the school I have, it was a disaster when I got there. The girls — and the school is about seventy-five percent girls — were fighting nonstop. Although my superintendent didn’t initially agree with my approach, I spent several of my first months there just listening to the kids, listening to the teachers. I went into it setting very clear expectations for everyone I spoke to that I may not give you the answer you want, or give you a quick “fix”. But we’ll talk through the issue in order to figure out what you need to be successful. So I’ve gotten to learn so much about the kids and my staff, and I share things with them, too. I see myself in them, and whether they see themselves in me or not, they always know they have an advocate. 

What is the significance of being a black woman working in your school? 

I think it makes all the difference. I don’t know what is worth more — being black and female, or shared lived experiences. From the onset, I think it lowers students’ defenses because they know I understand where they’re coming from. To be able to talk about a life that was lived similar to their own, whether I’m talking about the age I had my daughter, or my school experiences, I think that counts for a lot. I think my identity also helps with the parents, and staying in tune with them. And it’s the little things. For example, I’m 35 years old and even though I still don’t know what these kids are listening to, they know I’m open to learning what’s going on and letting them teach me. I think being a black female means I can attract staff who look like me. I’ve had people tell me that they received all these offers to work in different schools, but that they want to come work for me because they want to work for a black principal who really believes in the work. 

Do you do any leadership development where you identify some younger folks to groom, and what does that look like? 

When I first got to my school, unfortunately, I had to get rid of a lot of the older teachers who were just unwilling to get on board with my vision for change in the school. The teachers who came in to backfill those vacancies were young, as in 23 or 24 years old. They’re really energetic, so I try and channel that excitement away from trying to be the kids’ friends, and instead focusing on getting good at their craft. I try to work with them around pedagogy. For younger teachers, many are looking to make connections. They want to do this after-school club and that club. I encourage that enthusiasm, but I do try and work hard on developing their content knowledge and teaching skills while still giving them the ability to do the activities that excite them. 

And at the system level, how do you feel black educators are brought into and developed for leadership roles?

I really struggled my first two years. I felt like I was just hired to run the school I’m currently at because I was smart and a black woman, and the school is predominantly black girls. They were like, “OK, great, she’ll fix this.” I didn’t have any context for what I was getting into and nobody tried to give me any. They just threw me into Narnia. (laughs) As it turned out, the school had a deficit of hundreds of thousands of dollars. So it was a lot. I really resented the way district leadership treated me, and I don’t think it was malicious or intentional -- the system is overburdened. But I was just given no attention. 

In my third year, I was mentored through the Assistant Principal Leadership Institute through the district's Office of Leadership. I didn’t want anyone to go through what I went through so I tried to talk to my peers to prepare them for what they would face. That was kind of my way of pushing back against the system. Everyone wants to talk about DEI, but nobody wants to get real about some of these issues that weren’t going to be covered in our leadership classes. I wanted them to know,  you need to be able to advocate for yourself.

I would say now the system thinks they’re addressing issues of inequity by putting us all through these implicit bias trainings and talking about race, but it’s not authentic. It shouldn’t be that we’re only having these conversations at designated times in these facilitated spaces. We should be able to discuss DEI issues in all settings, regarding all aspects of our school system, our students, and its leadership structure. 

Is there anything we haven’t touched on where you want to get into it? 

I think what I really want to get out there, I’m starting a social media blog. It’s called Your Favorite Principal. I need to get it up and going but I’m excited about that. 

Also, I can’t leave this conversation without saying that this profession — education — needs people. The system desperately needs teachers. Quality teachers. There are so many teaching preparatory programs cranking out people who are routed directly into teaching positions. I think we need to bring the integrity of the profession back to front and center. We need people who are going to really take this as their life’s work, and see their work as investments in generations to come. I’d love to one day work on a national initiative to draw people into teaching because it is a great career, and there are great perks. But I would love for those teachers to look like the kids in the communities where they work. 

Wonderful. That’s a great note to end on. Thank you, Candace!