Though he is a self-proclaimed ‘‘career changer,” Omar Gobourne’s path seems to be pretty circular, with its start and end, thus far, in education. As the new principal of Thomas Johnson Middle School, Gobourne, 42, hopes to create a community of students, parents and staff committed to high achievement.
While he will take the helm at the Lanham school, Gobourne is looking to learn from the adults in his community and use them as role models for the students to help create an environment where ‘‘all students can learn.”
This concept is one he picked up through New Leaders for New Schools, a private nonprofit organization that trains educators to become principals in urban public schools.
Gobourne said he learned through this program the possibility of mentoring students and teaching them to work hard to be successful.
Before moving into the public school system, Gobourne worked with charter schools, and in 2004 helped found E.L. Haynes Charter School in Washington, D.C. He used this time to expand his experience and learn about publicly funded schools that are not required to adhere to all rules that apply to public schools, giving them more freedom to make independent decisions.
As an educational consultant for charter schools in need of improvement, Gobourne reviewed schools to assess where they needed help and worked on ‘‘anything that would help school leaders build plans and help teachers to instruct better ... and help the principals lead better.”
This mentality followed Gobourne as he began to think about principal jobs. Kathy Kurtz, the former principal at Thomas Pullen School in Landover where he worked for several years, encouraged him to become a principal because of her leadership style. He said she built teams, worked on the strengths of the school and pushed students to help them grow, all concepts Gobourne is working on at Thomas Johnson.
Kurtz said Gobourne’s background in drama allowed the students to see how the arts could support academics and the real-life connections between the two. Gobourne said that through arts and creative thinking, students will have different experiences which will allow them to learn better.
Gobourne took the job at Thomas Johnson, which uses instructional systems provided by the America’s Choice organization, to help the school ‘‘become great.” He targets improved test scores as a measure that will help the school meet annual yearly progress targets mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Program.
The school needs to ‘‘aim high,” Gobourne said, but explained that this will require teachers to become better instructors. He said that in order to do this ‘‘sometimes it’s just a matter of being with [the students] and relating to them,” and determining what are their learning styles.
By building a community, Gobourne said, everyone will come to value the school. With a strong team, everyone will want to contribute and the school will be able to ‘‘use everyone’s brain and muscle power,” he said. There is pride ‘‘but we need to boast about it.” He cited the creation of a garden in the school’s courtyard as one type of unifying event.
Gobourne laid out a ‘‘tough love” plan, in which students will bear consequences for not adhering to expectations such as school uniform, but stressed that he will always care about the students and ‘‘love every single one of my kids.”
With all of his principles in mind, the new principal will start this fall prepared to create a student body faculty and parents that works hard, gets smart and builds good character, he said.
