Tracey Williams accepts vice principal position at Verona High
Blazing a new path
Blazing a new path
Area High School. And Williams has the experience that Verona was looking for. “My ESL background is a strength that I bring,” Williams said. “The entire
student population is 1,450 with about 120-130 students being primarily Spanish speakers. What I really loved about Verona is it is rich in resources for an ELL
population. They have the GEDO2 program, which is the GED program in Spanish for students. They have Spanish for Spanish speakers. So they offer just a
strong wealth of classes for ESL students, which I haven’t seen in a lot of places. I would say it is a little richer than MMSD. I’ve been impressed with the services
they have available. And I know at the elementary level, they are looking at doing a bilingual school. They are addressing the concern and as it grows, they are
adding resources. I think it is really nice.”
Williams will be leading staff and instructor teams that are responsible for the academic well-being of approximately 450 students. Her primary areas of
focus on a day-to-day basis will be attendance and discipline. “We’re really big on maintaining the attendance,” Williams said. “When we notice three
absences, I’m on it. I’ll pull the student in and talk to them and contact their parents. And if it progresses, we may have to issue a truancy ticket. We really stay
hands on with the attendance so we can stop it before it gets too big. I deal with behavior, things that happen unfortunately from time to time.”
Williams worries that she will lose the individual relationships that she enjoys because she is now responsible for 450 students and doesn’t want to just have
relationships with students through her disciplinarian duties. She plans to attend a lot of student events this year wearing the brown and orange of the Verona
Wildcats when she isn’t wearing the red and white of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
And as Williams engages the people around her at Verona, it doesn’t seem it will be very difficult for her to forge those positive relationships with students
because for Williams, it has always been about the students, all of them.
student population is 1,450 with about 120-130 students being primarily Spanish speakers. What I really loved about Verona is it is rich in resources for an ELL
population. They have the GEDO2 program, which is the GED program in Spanish for students. They have Spanish for Spanish speakers. So they offer just a
strong wealth of classes for ESL students, which I haven’t seen in a lot of places. I would say it is a little richer than MMSD. I’ve been impressed with the services
they have available. And I know at the elementary level, they are looking at doing a bilingual school. They are addressing the concern and as it grows, they are
adding resources. I think it is really nice.”
Williams will be leading staff and instructor teams that are responsible for the academic well-being of approximately 450 students. Her primary areas of
focus on a day-to-day basis will be attendance and discipline. “We’re really big on maintaining the attendance,” Williams said. “When we notice three
absences, I’m on it. I’ll pull the student in and talk to them and contact their parents. And if it progresses, we may have to issue a truancy ticket. We really stay
hands on with the attendance so we can stop it before it gets too big. I deal with behavior, things that happen unfortunately from time to time.”
Williams worries that she will lose the individual relationships that she enjoys because she is now responsible for 450 students and doesn’t want to just have
relationships with students through her disciplinarian duties. She plans to attend a lot of student events this year wearing the brown and orange of the Verona
Wildcats when she isn’t wearing the red and white of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
And as Williams engages the people around her at Verona, it doesn’t seem it will be very difficult for her to forge those positive relationships with students
because for Williams, it has always been about the students, all of them.
By Jonathan Gramling
For the past 14 years, Tracey Williams has worked closely with students in schools on Madison’s
east side. After transferring from East High School, Williams took over the alternative program located at
Packer’s Community Center seven years ago. Williams and a part-time social worker worked with
approximately 200 at-risk students per year. She enjoyed the three hands-on sessions of 15 students she
taught each day. And at night, she studied to get her principal and director of instruction certification
from St. Mary’s College in Winona, Minn.
“The nice thing about the program is it is through St. Mary’s, but it is with DPI as well,” Williams
said. “It’s more of a performance-based licensing program. So you really have to show what you are
learning. It’s a newer, pilot program. It was really good.”
When the Madison school district went outside the district to hire two new assistant high school
principals, Williams went out of district too and landed a job as one of two new assistant principals at
Verona Area High School. She becomes the first African American administrator in the Verona school
district.
As we sit down for an interview in her office at Verona High School, Williams is greeted several
times by other staff. She has also received many cards and phone calls from school staff. Williams feels
welcome already. And she is ready to meet the challenges of being one of two new assistant principals
who will be led by a new principal. The staff definitely reflects the coming school year’s theme,
“Change is Possibilities.”
For the past 14 years, Tracey Williams has worked closely with students in schools on Madison’s
east side. After transferring from East High School, Williams took over the alternative program located at
Packer’s Community Center seven years ago. Williams and a part-time social worker worked with
approximately 200 at-risk students per year. She enjoyed the three hands-on sessions of 15 students she
taught each day. And at night, she studied to get her principal and director of instruction certification
from St. Mary’s College in Winona, Minn.
“The nice thing about the program is it is through St. Mary’s, but it is with DPI as well,” Williams
said. “It’s more of a performance-based licensing program. So you really have to show what you are
learning. It’s a newer, pilot program. It was really good.”
When the Madison school district went outside the district to hire two new assistant high school
principals, Williams went out of district too and landed a job as one of two new assistant principals at
Verona Area High School. She becomes the first African American administrator in the Verona school
district.
As we sit down for an interview in her office at Verona High School, Williams is greeted several
times by other staff. She has also received many cards and phone calls from school staff. Williams feels
welcome already. And she is ready to meet the challenges of being one of two new assistant principals
who will be led by a new principal. The staff definitely reflects the coming school year’s theme,
“Change is Possibilities.”
| Tracey Williams became the first African American to hold an administrative position at Verona Area High School when she accepted the position of associate principal this fall. |