As the principal of Kipp DC, a charter high school in Southeast, Borden is at the center of the media firestorm surrounding charter schools’ role in education reform. Borden’s phone has been ringing even more intensely since the release of the documentary “Waiting for Superman,” which featured Kipp as a better alternative to failing traditional public schools. What sparked your interest in working for Kipp?
I taught in Baltimore City for six years, and I remember thinking that I knew so many excellent teachers, but it felt like we were working in a fishbowl and caught up in so many things that don’t work in a traditional system. When I found out about Kipp, I was excited to see a model that said, we’re going to take all these hardworking people and put them in one building and get the families involved.
You feature “Waiting for Superman” on the school’s Web site. How has the film affected interest in Kipp?
What I’ve seen — even with colleagues and friends in my social network — is more awareness about how they can help or what they can do to help Kipp in general. The film and word-of-mouth has piqued an interest, so we have prospective parents who call and ask more often about admission. I do think the film has affected enrollment, as the high school grows and more people found out about this alternative.
The success of charter schools has been hotly debated. What makes Kipp work?
Honestly, it’s the hard work of our teachers. It’s amazing to have not just wealth of experience in our building, but also we can reach back to teachers in [Kipp] middle schools. We can make sure we’re always challenging our students, and I think our students see that everywhere they go there’s someone invested in them and who cares about them being successful.
Lisa Gartner
