Percy Brown Jr. Is the Principal of Mann Carey Elementary School: Southside Principal for a Southside School
Percy Brown Jr. began his school career as the minority student coordinator at Memorial High School on 2002
by Jonathan Gramling
Percy Brown Jr., the new principal for Lori Mann Carey Elementary School, is a perfect fit for the school. Brown grew up in the Bram Hill area of South Madison near Mt. Zion Baptist Church and the old South Madison Neighborhood Center. And he has spent the vast majority of his professional life working , starting with his work in the Dane County Neighborhood Intervention Program.
“That’s where I got my first opportunity working with young people,” Brown said. “That’s when I fell in love working with young people. What’s really interesting is that the building where we worked is exactly on the same ground that Lori Mann Carey Elementary School sits on. Just that is a full-circle moment. I had a bigger full-circle moment coming back to the neighborhood I grew up in. I’ve spent 27 years overall working with young people in the community, but year 21 as a bonafide educator working in the school system.”
And through NIP. Brown worked with youth who probably experienced the same challenges that many of the students at Mann Carey face.
“There was the prevention side where we were doing a lot of work to prevent kids from entering the criminal justice system,” Brown recalled. “But then there was a side where I was also working with kids who were already ajudicated delinquent or were already involved in the system. That gave me a range of experience. We also had the Madison Spartan AAU basketball program. That was a part of NIP. That also gave me the opportunity to coach the sport that I love so much.
Brown first came to work for the Madison Metropolitan School District in 2005 as the minority services coordinator — later renamed multicultural services coordinator — at Madison Memorial High School. And he was eventually lured away to Middleton High School to become their dean of students.
“I had additional days added to my contract to start doing diversity work,” Brown said. “And that was driven by academic data, that Black students were not performing and Latino students were underperforming to the level of their peers, primarily white students and Asian students. And so they gave me additional days to start doing that work and it took off. In two years after that, they created the director of equity and student achievement. I kind of leapfrogged from working with students to being a district level administrator. I skipped the traditional progression to the district office. Typically most people will have served as an assistant principal and a principal for years before they go to the district office. I leapfrogged only to find myself only to what some people thought as a step back. I didn’t see it that way. I kind of saw it as I learned a lot at the district level that I am now able to take back.”
In 2017, Brown started his own consulting business, which, in some ways, gave him a bird’s eye view of private and public education in America.
“I found work with multiple districts across that state,” Brown said. “I worked with districts across the country, from Vermont all the way to California. I’ve had multiple opportunities to keynote major conferences or lead breakout sessions at major conferences. A highlight for the work that I was doing at Middleton was I was a guest lecturer at Harvard and at Teacher’s College at Columbia University. I’ve had experiences and opportunities that I thought would never come my way. Although I was being brought in to support their work for wherever they had gaps or needs, I was also learning a lot from them. And so exposure to how different school systems work really broadened my understanding and knowledge of school systems. I was able to critique and articulate things that were working well and things that weren’t working well. It also gave me the opportunity to bring in ideas that may not have been considered because it was only happening in California or other communities in which I have been able to work as a consultant.”
And then it all fell to earth, so to speak, with the Trump administration’s war against diversity, equity and inclusion.
“It was life-changing,” Brown said. “Like I said, I spent well over a decade of building my knowledge and skills around diversity, equity and inclusion. And it wasn’t just in public education. I had done work with the Dane County Sheriff’s Department. I was doing work with Corporate America and mental health organizations like Orion. I built a skill set that was allowing me to have impact across multiple industries. And to see the rhetoric and the narrative change in the way that it did, while it was life-changing and while it was disheartening, it really forced me to lean on what I’ve always leaned on. And that is my faith, knowing that I have a purpose in life. It’s rooted in servant leadership. And while it looked scary and I didn’t know what was going to happen — I knew I was going to be out of a job — I kept my faith. I kept listening. I kept pursuing . And it was just in my faith that everything happened the way it was supposed to happen.”
Brown applied to be a principal with MMSD in March and then the waiting game began after he was certified.
“I did receive an offer from the district because I did apply for another job,” Brown said. “It was the director of Family, Youth and Community Engagement. I was offered that opportunity, but literally the day after I accepted that position, Madison reached out and asked me if I had any interest in the principalship at Lori Mann Carey. And when I read that email, I got so emotional. ‘Wow, the thing that was placed on my heart is actually here. I have an opportunity to become an elementary principal.’ It was so emotional because it literally is on the south side. I was born and raised on the south side. And having the opportunity to come back in to Madison, to come back to the south side and be able to serve the kids I was once. It’s just super special. I went through the process and they offered me the job. And the rest is history. And so I just believed that my coming to Lori Mann Carey is truly a calling.”
As a new principal at a relatively new school, Brown puts in long hours that may ease up a little after he gets his first year under his belt.
“I am probably sending people emails at three in the morning,” Brown said. “And I’m not leaving the building until 5-6 p.m., sometimes even later than that. Right now, I would say every day is probably 12-14 hours in addition to the very last thing that I am thinking about when I go to bed is the school and my students. And the very first thing that I am thinking about when I wake up in the morning is the school, my students and my staff. I am blessed to have a wife and daughter who are truly understanding of what is required out of a servant leader. They know that there are times where I’m giving my students and staff more of me than I am able to give to my own family at times. That’s a major sacrifice right there. And I can’t thank them enough for that. They recognize that it is a grind. It doesn’t bother me because I am committed to that school. I love everyone who is working in that school. I love every student who comes into that school. And so, in a lot of ways, the kids are an extension of my daughter Jordan. They are like my children because I am responsible for them.”
For Brown, it’s all about the students. And the first days of school in September were extra special.
“The first day, it was 4-k and kindergartners. I saw the littlest of the little ones coming into the school. That right there was exciting and a lot of joy. But that next day, I was going to have 4-k all the way through 5th grade, I was filled with anxiety. I don’t even know if I even slept that night. It wasn’t fear. It was just a lot of anticipation, hoping the first day goes well and there aren’t any major hiccups or issues. We’re in Week 3. I’m loving my kids. I’m getting hugs from my kids every day. I feel a reciprocity of love between me and the students.”
And Brown knows and believes that it is a team effort, something he learned during his basketball-playing youth.
“I’ve had the opportunity to start establishing relationships with staff,” Brown said. “The staff are great. They are definitely committed to the children and families of the Lori Mann Carey community. I would say that we are building the plane as we are flying it coming out of a very difficult year that they had with all of the changes. Given all of the things they have gone through, I can say that they are leaving that behind them and are excited about what lies ahead. I am excited about what lies ahead. I can’t wait to see what comes on the backside of our shared and collective work. I do believe that Lori Mann Carey Elementary School in a few years will be a high-performing elementary school. And my goal is to have Lori Mann Carey be the best elementary school in the state of Wisconsin, no disrespect to any of my fellow elementary schools in Madison. It’s just the Michael Jordan in me where I just have the competitive spirit. I’m just striving to be the best version of myself every day. And the only way that I can be the best version of myself is for every kid and staff member to come to school and be the best versions of themselves every day. And if that is where we are going, the sky is the limit of what we can accomplish for our students and staff.”
Mann Carey is one of eight elementary schools designated as a community school. And Brown is set to engage the community in helping the students be the best that they can be.
“I’m back in the community in which I grew up,” Brown said. “I have established relationships with Ruben Anthony and the Urban League, Pastor Gee and the Center for Black Excellence and Culture and Centro Hispano. There is so much infrastructure now on the south side that wasn’t there when I was growing up. And I have relationships with people who are already running those organizations and working within the organizations. I can’t wait to develop those partnerships where I think it is really going to allow our school to transform in ways that I think will be something really special.”
Principal Percy Brown Jr. is set to make the students of Lori Mann Carey Elementary competitive in academia and in the game of life. Look out Madison!