Nneka M. Warren, principal of a turnaround school in Baltimore, is the exceptional daughter of an exceptional mother. When Warren reflects on her upbringing in Norwalk, Connecticut, she vividly recalls going to classes with her mother, Cynthia Barnett, and watching her teach.
Today, Warren sings the praises of Dr. Barnett, born on the island of St. Vincent, who was a teacher, guidance counselor and college professor and is still going strong as the founder and CEO of Intergeneration STEM Events: Amazing Girls Science, which builds a love of science among generations of women.
“I was blessed,” Warren says. She explains that she grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood, was a born mathematician and was the only Black girl in her gifted and talented classes.
“It’s important to get the girls early, before the math phobias sink in,” she says. She has been dedicated to that principle throughout her career and notes that all three of her own children — Shareff, Destiny and Logan — liked math in school.
When Warren started at Clark Atlanta University, she was an accounting major. But education was in her blood, and she eventually switched to early childhood education. When she transferred to Morgan State University in Baltimore, she majored in elementary education.
Her first job was at Sarrett Heights Elementary School in Baltimore City Public Schools, where she taught third and fourth grades. She also taught at Montebello Elementary School, Robert Poole Middle School and Stadium School, where she was promoted to academic dean.
Soon after, she was named assistant principal at Booker T. Washington Middle School and became a member of AFSA, Baltimore Local 25. She was, and has remained, a gung-ho administrator and total enthusiast.
Unlike many former teachers, she says, “I didn’t miss the classroom at all because as a math person I was always in the classroom helping out. I loved math and wanted to help kids.”
That was the beginning of her administrative career. She was next named assistant principal at Arlington Elementary and Middle School and then, in 2018, interim principal at low-performing Pimlico Elementary and Middle School. She was charged with turning the school around and immediately tried to make the most of a chaotic environment she will never forget.
“The school was a mess,” she says. “A lot of violence around there. It was hard, and the staff didn’t want me getting in the way. They barely spoke to me, but I was there for a reason, and it was about the kids.”
Soon after, she was promoted to principal, and Pimlico became a Baltimore Curriculum Charter School. “It was the best thing that ever happened,” she says, noting that the staff voted overwhelmingly for the change.
The advantages were greater curriculum choice, better funding, more freedom to do what they believed was right and the implementation of strong restorative justice practices. “We were once the No. 1 murder ZIP code,” she says. “Now, I’ve been here almost eight years and am proud of the change in climate and academics. Even our grounds are nicer now. It’s night and day.”
Today, the staff is much more cohesive. Warren gives them all the support she can and recognizes them with surprise lunches or treats, Pimlico swag — polo shirts, T-shirts, mugs and jackets — and personal messages during Teacher Recogntion Week.
Her world changed with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when “everything became challenging.”
She lost her eldest child, Shareff, that year and says, “Honestly, I don’t think I would have survived my son’s death if we hadn’t stayed open.” She adds, “My CEO gave me tremendous support during my grief.”
The parents also needed tremendous support. She helped develop a robust outreach program that included regular check-ins with families, ensuring they had the resources needed for student success.
The school transitioned to remote and hybrid learning and strengthened community partnerships, particularly with Sinai Hospital, developing a program to explore health care careers — the only middle grades health care program in Baltimore City.
“Much greater empathy for principals is needed,” Warren says. “We’re budget directors, therapists for the staff and family. We’re certainly not doing only what you see on paper.”
She adds, “At Pimlico, our kids need a lot. Some of our kids go through horrible things at home. They get all of their love in school.”
Even though “the school is now so good, and everyone’s heard of it,” Warren doesn’t have much time to let her hair down. Destiny is grown up and a multitalented industrial artist “who can do anything.” But Logan, only 13 and a big sports fan, is still at home and currently recuperating from a knee injury he suffered at football camp.
Nevertheless, Warren and her husband, Mitchell, do get to travel — most recently to Puerto Rico, where she celebrated her 50th birthday. Given how demanding the life of a principal is, she tries to set aside time for self-care, including massages. Her favorite exercise is dancing: “I’ll always be the first one to get up on the dance floor.”
“And I’ll get up at 4 a.m. and get into my home gym,” she says. “It sets my day.”
Every day presents a new surprise, a new challenge and, in Warren’s view, a new possibility for success.
