Almost a year and a half into Franklin’s new administration — that began with the arrival of Principal Dr. Zulema Naegele and Vice Principal Amy Gervais in 2023 — data obtained by the Franklin Post reveals dissatisfaction among teachers and a sharp decline in trust in school leadership.
This data is part of the yearly Successful Schools Survey, conducted by the district through their collaboration with Panorama Education — a software company that partners with K-12 schools across the country to conduct and analyze similar surveys. The survey is offered at every school in the district; students, parents, instructional staff, and administrators all receive the opportunity to take respective versions of the survey containing questions that deal with issues such as academic engagement, cultural competence, and school safety.
61 out of Franklin’s 139 instructional staff members completed the survey. Among the most striking findings of the 2023-24 Successful School Survey of Franklin’s instructional staff was a 32-point drop in the “Staff-Leadership Relationships” category, which measures trust, interaction, and perceived support between teachers and the administration. Only 38% of staff rated this area favorably — compared to the district average of 66%.
Instructional staff responses highlight several areas of concern. For instance, 41% of respondents reported that there was “almost no trust” between faculty and school leaders, and overall favorability in trust dropped to 10% — a 50-point drop from the 2022-23 survey taken under the previous administration.
Support from leadership was another area of contention. Just 31% of instructional staff feel their administrators are “quite supportive” or “extremely supportive” when they face challenges at work, while 20% describe them as “not at all supportive.” Motivation also appears to be at a low point; 36% of respondents reported working with admin felt “not at all motivating,” and only 16% found their leaders “quite motivating” or “extremely motivating.” Perceived friendliness of school leaders and instructional staff dropped 23 points; perceived care dropped 33 points; and perceived respect dropped 36 points.
Confidence that the administration has the “best interests of the school in mind” was among the sharp drops in favorability for the new administration. This comes as murmurs of a vote of no confidence have emerged from frustrated teachers. Ellen Whatmore, a union representative for the Portland Association of Teachers and an English teacher at Franklin, verified that the topic has been raised but says that the union currently has no intention of proceeding with an official vote.
Other notable results regarding teachers’ work environment included the “Focus on Adult” category — which deals with social, emotional, and cultural competence — with an overall favorability score of 46%. This is down 24 points from the previous year and well below the district average of 66%. In response to the question: “My principal models social and emotional competence in the way he/she interacts with staff at our school community,” only 33% of staff rated the principal favorably. Notably, 18% of respondents feel the principal “never” models social-emotional competence, and another 11% say she models it “hardly ever.”
In an interview with the Post, Naegele acknowledged the feedback, explaining, “It’s all good feedback for us, and it’s things that we want to … continue to work on.” She says staff-leadership relationships are difficult in a new administration, saying, “My first year, you know, was it challenging? Yes. And I imagine it was also challenging for staff as well — getting to know me and getting to know our admin team.”
The Post offered anonymous and quoted interviews to every listed teacher and administrator at Franklin. An anonymous teacher at Franklin explains, “I have been through so much in PPS: devastating student and staff deaths, a strike, a pandemic, budget cuts. … Never before have I felt this demoralized and hopeless. This job is really, really hard even when you have an administration that you believe truly cares about the community and acts in their best interests. When you don’t, the job is nearly impossible.”
That teacher, who claims to have worked at Franklin for the past four administrations, cites declining favorability as a result of the administration’s actions, including removing access to all-staff email, the changes to choice English classes, and threats of negative evaluations if teachers did not comply with the district-purchased curriculum. Echoing this, Whatmore also cites the recent changes to English choice classes and pressure to comply with district-approved curriculum as a reason for growing distrust.
However, Whatmore believes the biggest change between the previous administration and the current one is the lack of teacher input and administrative transparency in decision-making. Whatmore says that former Principal Chris Frazier was known for frequently saying, “‘The wisdom is in the room,’ when we were facing a challenge that needed solutions.” She continues, “But now, [while] we [still] hear those words, our input is rarely sought.”
Naegele acknowledges the changes, saying, “I am a different person from the person who was principal before me. … [B]uilding long-lasting, positive relationships amongst teachers, students, and even within my own administration takes time.”
However, other educators cited a “culture of permissiveness” and “lack of accountability” from the previous administration as reasons why trust has eroded between staff and admin. An anonymous educator explains, “Any attempts by our current admin to change anything or have any sense of accountability is met with knee-jerk vitriol. … I believe our admin is doing the best they can. … There is such a lack of grace [from staff] and it’s depressing to see.”
Another anonymous tenured member of the Franklin instructional staff explains, “The data around perceptions of faculty and staff relationships with school leaders does not reflect my experience. … [T]he real story is the perception of female leaders of color in our school and in our broader society.” It is worth noting that Franklin’s previous principal was a man of color and three of the last four Franklin principals were women of color. The teacher believes that “this response is more illustrative of the sexist and racist attitudes of many staff members.”
The anonymous educator agrees, explaining, “I feel like anything [administration] says or does is met with hostility from a loud minority of staff no matter what. I think that this is heightened by the fact that most of our administrators are women, and our principal is a woman of color, and many of these loud voices are white men.” Naegele says she hadn’t considered racial and gender bias in the survey, but explains, “I can’t control how somebody may perceive that I do something one way or another, or I didn’t do it like a man, or I didn’t do it like a white lady.”
Out of the 61 educators who completed the survey, 78% of the respondents were white. The Franklin Post was unable to obtain the overall instructional staff ethnicity data. According to the district, the survey was open to Franklin staff from May 6-31, 2024, with opportunities for educators to complete it on their own or during allotted professional time.
While school-by-school data for Successful Schools Surveys of students is released by the district, instructional staff reports are typically only publicly released as a generalized district-wide report. As a result, the Post was unable to obtain the past year’s instructional staff reports broken down by individual schools. District-wide reports can be found on the district website.
Franklin’s overall scores vary in consistency with the district’s averages. PPS Chief Accountability and Equity Officer Dr. Renard Adams, who is responsible for overseeing the Successful Schools Surveys, explains, “Last year we had the teacher strike, and we know from both talking to our teachers and talking to our building leaders that there were tensions in the buildings.” Adams believes that this — among other tensions last year, including the week of classes added back during winter break — may have impacted survey results. However, Franklin’s results still fall far below district averages.
Amid the challenges highlighted in the report, one area of improvement stands out: Teachers are reporting feeling better about coming to work each day compared to the previous year. 51% of respondents feel “excited to come to work” either “always” or “most of the time,” reflecting a 12-point increase from last year’s results. Additionally, educators’ feelings of frustration have shown some improvement. While 39% of teachers admitted to feeling frustrated with their work “most of the time” or “always,” this is still a 12-point improvement from the prior year. Adams attributes this to the increased planning and grading time provided by the new teacher contract.
The 2024-25 Successful Schools Survey has already opened for Franklin’s instructional staff. Naegele wants to see growth in the report, saying, “I would hope that the perception would be that there’s an increase in more positive relationships.”
The 2023-24 report serves as a call to action for the well-being of the Franklin community; students, educators, and administrators all depend on bridging teacher-administration divides. As Franklin continues to grapple with these tensions, the upcoming results of the 2024-25 survey will serve as a crucial indicator of the impact of the Franklin administration’s efforts to foster positive change.
