Mark Rizkallah, current Executive Director of Summit Public Schools K2, announced in an email on Monday, May 16th, that he would be resigning from his position. Executive Director (ED) is the position which is traditionally referred to as Principal in other schools. In the same email, he announced his successor: Megan Lee. Principal Lee, previously known by students as Dean Lee, is currently a Dean of Culture & Instruction at K2.
Although Dean Lee has only been at K2 for one year, she has already had a huge impact on the school. She has advocated for the restructuring of Block 5 classes from “Summit Reads or Solves” where students were expected to either read books or practice math through Khan Academy, to “Enrichment Courses” where students could choose from a predetermined list of classes similar to elective classes found in other high schools. This change has been hugely popular with students as they can now have choice in how they spend the last block of the day.
Students have been very outspoken on the change in leadership. “I think … [when] Riz had his leave of absence and [Dean Lee] was Executive Director for a time was a bad example and left me with low hopes for next year,” expressed Manny R., a junior at K2. “I hope she feels less pressure… to be as strict as she was/has been with the school”
This year, the administration had to deal with many issues including student fights, COVID-19 case waves, understaffing, water distribution, and standardized testing difficulties. The administration’s response to these issues has had mixed reviews from students. Some students feel that they didn’t have enough input in decisions made during these issues.
Gianna S., Summit K2 Student Government President, said in an interview, “[Communication between us and this year’s administration] was really poor. During virtual school, I would always talk to Cynthia and Mr. Riz but this year I did not do anything with admin.” Although, she maintained optimism for next year, “I’m looking forward to [Lee being Executive Director] kind of, … maybe there could be new things.”
photo credit: Megan Lee (left) via linkedin.com, and Mark Rizkallah (right) via linkedin.com
article updated: Tuesday, June 7th, 2022
