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Pinkston Students Stand Behind Principal
In the midst of accusations that Dr.
J. Leonard Wright, Principal of Pinkston High School is involved in alleged
missing student funds, a group of seniors at the school say Dr. Wright is
innocent, and that they have proof that no funds are missing. Dr. Wright was
placed on administrative leave on March 3, around 3:40 pm for something
termed ‘allegations of potential misconduct’, although there were no
specifics given of what this involved. The allegation regarding missing
student funds arose after he was placed on leave. Wright learned of this
latest allegation when someone phoned him to tell him it was on the evening
news. The students met with African American News & Issues to share their
perspectives on the attacks against their principal. Not only did the
students indicate that under Dr. Wright’s leadership, the school now rates
fourth in the district, but it was also suggested that some administrators
and parents wanted to replace Dr. Wright with a Hispanic principal, as
Pinkston is located in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood Andrew Simpson,
Senior Class President, says he believes that there seems to be a conspiracy
around about trying to remove Dr. Wright in order to replace him with a
Hispanic, because the Hispanic community around Pinkston is growing and
pretty soon there may be more Hispanics attending the school than African
Americans, therefore the Hispanic parents want a Hispanic principal, “I
believe they are doing whatever they can to ensure that Dr. Wright doesn’t
come back. I don’t see why he is still on administrative leave.
We have proof that the money is there. I don’t believe that anyone would
call for an investigation himself if he did something wrong? A parent was
talking to an assistant principal and that is when the whole issue of having
no money came up. As far as the money issue goes, he has not taken any of
our money. We have documentation showing that the money is still in the
account, and if any money is missing, it has to do with something on the
students’ part, as far as taking out candy and selling it but never turning
in money, yet they still have the product out.” Simpson also says that Dr.
Wright has gone so far to help students out, even helping them to go to
college and describes him as being hardworking and honest, “When I think of
Dr. Wright, he possesses a lot of the qualities that I am striving to reach.
He has his doctorate degree and he is a hard working man who is very
dedicated to what he does. He is an administrator who wants all of us to
succeed. Yes he is stern because he wants the best for us. He wants us to be
able to get out of West Dallas and go off and make something of ourselves.
Too many times, students from our area, they might leave for a while, maybe
a year at the most, but they end up right back here doing nothing. Dr.
Wright is just trying to make sure that when we do come back, we are not
just hanging around the streets and so I do not have a problem with him
being stern. A lot of us need it and we know we need it. He came here in my
Freshman year and he has increased academics. Before he came academics were
not doing that well. This year, we are ranked 4th in our district. Joshua
Gatson, a student athlete indicated that he has nothing but respect for Dr.
Wright. “I hear about what they are trying to do to him and it’s not right.
We need a Black leader in our community and I feel that he is a good
candidate. Personally, he has been a good counselor for me as well.” Jamie
Campbell calls Dr. Wright the perfect principal to have at Pinkston. “When I
hear ‘Dr. Wright’, I think of a brave, considerate, nice, outgoing person.
Dr. Wright is a good man. He is good for me and others. He is stern and
that’s a good thing because we never had no one to push us that extra step
to make us do right and to want to do right. He has really changed my life
and the lives of others. About the money issue, I don’t even know how they
tied that together, that has nothing to do with anything because there is no
money missing. It’s that the sponsors couldn’t tell how much was for what.
There is no reason that Dr. Wright should be on administrative leave.”
Denise Roberson feels Dr. Wright was always supportive of the students
academically as well as the sports program. “I think Dr. Wright is a very
good man. He makes us look good. If he sees you with baggy pants, he will
tell you to pull them up. If your shirt-tail is out, he will tell you to
tuck it in. Even if the young ladies have on skirts that are too short or
blouses showing too much, he will tell them that they need to improve on
their dress. Some may not like the fact that he tells us this, but he does
it because he cares about how we look and he wants up to be prepared when we
go off into the real world.”
Dennis Roberson states that Dr. Wright is a role model for him. “When I hear
the name Dr. Wright, I think of leadership, responsibility,
straight-forwardness and direct, meaning he doesn’t beat around the bush. He
lets you know what he is thinking and whether or not you are doing what you
are suppose to be doing, or if you are fooling around. The other thing I
think of is caring. Dr, Wright has helped a lot of people, whether or not
they want to admit it. I have heard that he has helped kids go to college,
kids that were not even his kids. He has shown to me the responsibilities of
a Black man, because as Black men, people look at us like, “he’s not going
to do anything with his life”. The system is set up to put him in jail. But
Dr. Wright puts a different picture in my head. I want to own my own
business one day and I see Dr. Wright as a role model because you can’t own
a business and let people run over you, and you can’t run a school with
teachers trying to run over you and if that’s the case Pinkston would not
sit where it is sitting now with test scores as high as they are. He has
also helped me. There have been a couple of times when I would be doing a
project for the YMCA for Youth and Government and he was due to meet with
some teachers but took time to help me with questions I had about the school
district. I really commend him on that because I don’t know of any other
principal with all of their duties that would stop and help me, as a
student. I also believe that before Dr. Wright came to Pinkston, some of the
teachers were very lazy. He has changed Pinkston in a way that everyone is
walking on ice. Before he came the school dress code was not enforced.
Before he came the halls would be filled with students who did not want to
go to class. This is not the case now. He has improved how the school looks,
especially the bathrooms.
I look up to Dr. Wright because he is a good man. He has stepped out on the
ledge for Pinkston and I really appreciate what he has done for me and for
the school. Simpson says there have been some of the students who have been
bad mouthing Dr. Wright, and these students are the ones that don’t care
about anything. “They could care less about the school, they don’t care
about sports or any other activity, they are the ones who were violating the
dress code and on truancy. Their parents go right along with them, and the
parents don’t even try to find out the truth. These parents never come to
PTA meetings or come to check on their children. But the minute something
negative is going on, they (the parents) come to the school”
Lee Alcorn, president of the Coalition For the Advancement of Civil Rights,
says he is very concerned about how Dr. Wright is being treated,
specifically in the midst of a pending investigation the Dallas Morning News
placed a photo of Wright in their paper with headlines suggesting that money
is missing. “My concern is that the same type of allegations have been made
at other DISD school, however the photos of the principals were not in the
paper. This suggest to the public that Dr. Wright is guilty of something
Another aspect is that the school superintendent, Dr. Moses made comments in
the article of the performance, or lack of performance of Dr. Wright, and it
was discovered that he had a discussion with one of the school board member
that they were expecting to replace Dr. Wright. The comments were
inappropriate in that an investigation is pending and the school
superintendent made a public comment, and this is totally unfair. This has
not happened with any other schools. We will take a proactive approach to
ensure that Dr. Wright is treated fairly by the school board. We feel there
is a desire to have Dr. Wright replaced with a Hispanic because of the
growth of the community there.” Alcorn and other sources indicated that
Wright had called for an investigation into the student activity funding
prior to being placed on administrative leave. Students and community
supporters say a guilty man would not call for any type of investigation.
Dr. Wright spoke briefly with African American News & Issues regarding his
leadership skills and says he wants people to know that he is a competent,
committed and capable educator. “I think the majority of people that you
would talk to, if you would ask them about my leadership, I think they would
say that my leadership has made a difference. I have certainly heard it
many, many times. I am aggressive in terms of getting things done and I use
a no nonsense approach. It’s a lot of work being a principal of an urban
school.
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