Strong support

We are writing as community volunteers who have worked with Dr. Bertie Simmons and her staff and students at Furr High School for 10 years.

We have watched the transformation of that school both as outside observers and inside participants. We have worked with teachers, gotten to know the students, and attended community events the school has hosted. We have witnessed Dr. Simmons caring for all of the students at Furr. We have watched her help their families pay for the funerals of students who have died. We have witnessed her truly listening to students as they have confided in her — and anyone with a teenager knows how hard it can be to gain enough of their confidence and trust for them to open up and share their truths.

But their confidence, trust and affection she has won. She has won it through her actions, not just her words. She knows the students and mixes with them. She engages with them not only as an administrator but also as a friend. She encourages them, and pushes them, and struggles to keep them in school, out of trouble and headed toward a brighter future. And her track record shows it. We could go on and on and on about her accomplishments and programs, but space will not allow, and a sense of urgency pushes us forward.

We cannot think of any legitimate reason to pull one of the most successful principals in the country out of the school she loves and that loves her. Cassandra Dahnke and Tomas Spath, co-founders, The Institute for Civility in Government