Embattled Madison High principal resigns
The Houston Independent School District’s board has accepted the resignation of the principal of James Madison High School, who had been the subject of a student walkout last fall.
Trustees voted 8-0 Thursday night to accept the resignation of Carlotta Brown, under terms discussed in a closed session. Trustee Myrna Guidry, whose district includes the school, abstained from voting. Houston ISD officials did not release any information about the resignation. Brown, who began her stint as Madison’s principal in early 2019, could not be reached for comment Friday.
Brown had been in the news several times in the last three years, including most recently last November when she and others temporarily were reassigned following a student walkout.
The students called for the removal of Brown, as well as coaches alleged to have made sexually explicit comments on an audio recording that circulated via social media.
The district last month appointed Kasey Bailey, most recently a school support officer, as the interim principal of Madison for the remainder of the school year.
She previously had served as principal of Lawson Middle
School.
“HISD will seek community input as we choose who will be the next principal of Madison High School,” district officials said in a Jan. 11 statement. “Because this is a personnel matter, HISD can not comment further.”
The district plans to select an interview committee during the spring semester as part of its search for a permanent principal, Assistant Superintendent Yolanda Rodríguez wrote in a letter to parents.
Brown garnered media attention in 2015 when Peck Elementary, where she served as principal at the time, received $100,000 in recognition of the school’s service to homeless students during a live presentation on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
“My mantra is to always help somebody and bless somebody,” Brown said at the time, “because someday your blessings will come back to you.”
The U.S. Department of Education previously had named Peck a National Blue Ribbon School under Brown’s leadership.
Four years later, Brown took over as principal of Madison, from which she had graduated in 1979, according to her bio on the campus’ website.
Brown and the school made national headlines that year when she put out a dress code for parents. Per the policy, the school would turn away parents who wore bonnets, pajamas, hair rollers or leggings, among other clothing items, to the campus.
The rules sparked debate about race, gender and class.
A year later, Brown was among administrators reassigned by HISD during an investigation into allegations that staff members “were not appropriately dressed and behaved in a manner that lacked decorum” during an on-campus faculty holiday party.