Principal Lilley will stay

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View video of AHS students protesting on the multimedia page

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Paving the way for administrators to complete a plan for the 1,700-student school, the board voted unanimously to keep the principal who's led the campus since early 2004.

"I think we have every expectation that he's going to do a fantastic job," school board President Tricia Johnson said just after the vote. "He's producing good results there so far."

Mr. Lilley was in a daylong principals meeting and could not be reached for comment this morning. But officials were planning a news conference with him for this afternoon.

The decision came after about 30 students staged a protest in the bitter cold, pleading with school officials to spare their principal.

They stood in front of school system headquarters waving signs and chanting slogans like "Save our staff," and asked the school board to stop an initiative they say will drive the most dedicated teachers from their school.

But even with the news that Mr. Lilley will stay, the teen activists said Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell's plan to make employees reapply for their jobs won't attack the school's root problems.

"It's really not an administrator's fault or a teacher's fault that there are a lot of larger community issues that cause kids not to come to class," said Allie Toomey, an Annapolis High senior and organizer of the students' efforts.

Dr. Maxwell announced the "zero-basing" initiative last month in an attempt to stave off state takeover of the school that hasn't met state standards four years in a row.

He's requiring Annapolis teachers who return next year to work through the summer and sign three-year contracts.

They'll get a pay boost and bonuses in exchange for the extra time.

But the new job requirements have some longtime teachers saying farewell to a school they've worked at for years, unwilling to give up their summers to participate in mandatory workshops.

Students want Dr. Maxwell to give new programs at the school time to work.

After-school initiatives that offer students help in reading and math - the two subjects schools are required to meet state standards in - started in the fall and haven't had time to show results, they said.

They also urged Dr. Maxwell to target social ills that prevent low-income students from focusing on schoolwork instead of targeting the entire school.

"I just don't think he understands our school," said Chelsea Wilhelm, a senior.

So far, Dr. Maxwell hasn't signaled he's willing to reconsider his tack, saying last year's 67 percent graduation among black males was simply too low.

"He had the option available to zero base a department or two departments or whatever," said Bob Mosier, a spokesman for Dr. Maxwell. "But he felt very strongly that the graduation rate is everybody's responsibility."

School board members seem supportive of Dr. Maxwell's plan, despite what seems to be growing pressure from students to halt the initiative.

"I'm not sure where (the students) get that opinion," Ms. Johnson said. "The superintendent has one opinion, and there are others out there as well."

But "what he's effectively done is he's alienated the teachers and brought morale down," said Roxanne Earley, an Annapolis senior.

The students commandeered a pizzeria near their school yesterday to organize the demonstration without getting their teachers in trouble.

Armed with agendas and a list of school officials to contact, they urged each other to dress nicely and talked about board-room decorum while scarfing down slices.

They also dissuaded friends from an all-out walkout during school hours that some were touting for Friday.

But their primary message was clear.

"We're going to lose a lot of teachers, which is going to hurt our school," said Jillian Shpuntoff, an Annapolis High student.