South Pointe parents, alumni push for reappointment of principal Marty Conner
Dozens of red-wearing community members attended a Rock Hill Schools trustees’ meeting Tuesday afternoon to protest the reassignment of former South Pointe High School principal Marty Conner.
The gathering comes after news that Conner, South Pointe’s principal since 2018 and the school’s second principal since it opened in 2005, will not return in the same role in 2021-22.
Conner was instead reassigned as the “administrator of Alternative Learning Programs” for the Rock Hill school district — a job that includes overseeing Raven Academy, Renaissance Academy, the T3 Elementary Center and the new Day Treatment Center.
Eight speakers — parents, recent alumni and staff — all spoke on Conner’s merits on Tuesday. They demanded answers and a reversal of the staffing decision by the RHSD school board.
“Ever since I was informed of the possibility of Dr. Conner being removed as principal of South Pointe High School, my mind has been consumed with questions,” Kimberly Mahoney said at Tuesday’s meeting. “Number one, why did the Superintendent (Bill Cook) make such an impetuous decision?”
Mahoney is a mother of six children, five of whom attended or are attending South Pointe, she said. Two of those children, Jaylen and Jordan, are Division I football players now on full college scholarships.
They both regularly get phone calls from Conner to check in on them, Mahoney said.
“Dr. Conner is a dedicated educator, and he genuinely makes each of his students’ best interests his priority,” she said.
The staffing change involving Conner was one of about 20 across the district this summer, The Herald previously reported. Conner has not spoken publicly about the change.
Cook notified South Pointe families of this change in leadership by letter in the first week of July. In it, he praised Conner for his work as an advocate for “all types of learners” and for “building lasting relationships with parents, students and (the) community” in his 20-plus-year career in education.
But it is still unclear what prompted the staffing change. Several speakers on Tuesday — including York County Councilman William “Bump” Roddey; S.C. Rep. John King, D-Rock Hill; and Winthrop professor Laura Ullrich (all parents or uncles of current South Pointe students) — indicated that the idea that Conner’s move was a desired “promotion” is a farce.
Students who graduated this past summer felt that way, too.
“I don’t think it was his decision at all,” Gabrielle Heyward, who graduated from South Pointe in June, told reporters after the meeting. “When you see what you’re doing is good for students, you don’t want to leave that. And I know that somewhere, deep down in my heart, I know he doesn’t want to leave the place that he has changed for the past three years.”
Heyward added: “Our goal is to reposition Dr. Conner back to his rightful place as principal of South Pointe High School.”
When the school board went into executive session, staff and students gathered outside the school district building and chanted in unison. Among those chants: “Keep Dr. Conner!”
The selection process for a new South Pointe principal began July 1.
‘It’s not too late to change this’
Class of 2021 graduate and former student body vice president CJ Owens remembers how “everything changed” his sophomore year.
It was because Conner arrived, he said.
Owens admitted that he and many students thought that Conner was too strict when he first took his post in 2018. The feeling was widespread and impassioned at the time — one that prompted the circulation of a petition asking to “impeach” Conner for creating a “hostile environment” at South Pointe. The petition garnered more than 1,500 signatures.
But in retrospect, Owens said he appreciated Conner for his strength and willingness to enforce the “rules that were already there.”
Owens particularly appreciated how his principal responded to the petition: Conner talked to his new students directly.
“Throughout the past three years at South Pointe, Dr. Conner undoubtedly listened to us, made sure we felt heard, especially when it came to our educational environment,” Owens told the board, adding that he was pivotal in advocating for students who wanted an in-person graduation in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. “In the short time Dr. Marty Conner was at South Pointe, we started having more activities, including DJs at football games, movie nights ... South Pointe student involvement was finally amplified because of him.”
Other speakers on Tuesday echoed Owens’ sentiment — that they loved that Conner advocated for a disciplined educational environment. The former Norfolk State University football player had a way with connecting with his students that made his teaching methods effective, teachers, parents and former students said.
“Many often perceive South Pointe High as the ‘sports’ school, or the ‘hood’ school,” South Pointe science teacher Jocelyn Gordon said. “However, under Dr. Conner’s leadership, the school’s perception has evolved.”
Kiwanna Brackett, who spoke with her husband, Reginald, in front of the trustees, said Conner’s engaged leadership encouraged their children to become leaders at South Pointe. She also said student fights and expulsions had dropped since Conner’s arrival.
“In three years, we went from 36 kids to only six being expelled,” Brackett said to a rise of applause. “He implemented behavior intervention programs, which helped to create a safe environment for our students and a safe environment to focus on teaching.
“I’m disheartened and fearful for the next three years that my son will be here. What will it look like?”
Other concerned parents, including Laura Ullrich, expressed worry about the effects of having three principals in five years for the district’s students.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but it just doesn’t smell right,” Ullrich said. “I’m here to advocate for my child, for the other children of Rock Hill, for the teachers, for Dr. Conner himself, as well as for the school district. I love my community deeply, and I’m saddened to see a decision that could potentially open the district up to increased risk and (will) undoubtedly harm more students than it helps.
“And I hope you, the board, uses your supervision power to encourage a reconsideration. It’s not too late to change this.”
This story was originally published July 27, 2021 at 2:25 PM.
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