Before classes began in the fall at Warren Easton Charter High School about a decade ago, administrator Kendall McManus-Thomas consulted a stack of three-inch black and white binders, filled with every single student’s transcripts and records.
He used the data to identify each student’s challenges and to work with his school colleagues to bridge any gaps — developing “a plan for every kid,” he said.
“I would bring in the counselors, I would bring in the teachers, I’d bring in the parents,” he said, describing the goals he’d set for his students. “I’d say, ‘Look, okay, they’re on this plan. We need to do this, this, and this.’”
These granular steps are a must for schoolwide progress, he believes: “Everyone grows, everyone gets better,” he said.
McManus-Thomas, known as “Dr. Mac,” is an Easton alum from the class of 2007 who spent the past two years increasing scores at Ben Franklin High School, regularly called the best public school in Louisiana and ranking among the top schools in the nation.
Then he got an offer he could not refuse: a return to Easton, as principal.
McManus-Thomas returns to Easton as a pathbreaker who came up in pre-Katrina schools, experienced the disaster and all of its chaos as a displaced high school student and went on to become the first Black man to head up Franklin High School.
He is an official member of the Katrina generation — and his work style reflects both the test-score reliance of the charter era and the generational love and motivation found within the doors of the city’s finest pre-Katrina schools.
Starting out in New Orleans East, then moving to a “different world”
McManus-Thomas, 36, grew up in New Orleans East, raised by teenage parents who met at Edward Livingston Middle School in the East. (His mother, Ticondria McManus, was born and raised in the Lower 9th Ward; his father, Isaac Thomas, was born in Mississippi but grew up in the East.)
On his very first day of classes at Easton in 2003, tragedy struck. His father was shot dead after opening the front door in the Chenault Creek Apartments near Interstate 10 and Bullard Avenue.
The Easton community, including former principal Philmon “Mr. Ed” Edwards Jr., wrapped its arms around McManus-Thomas before and after the funeral.
“I remember coming back, returning to so much love and support,” he said.
As a leader today, he incorporates that valued community and emotional support and blends it with his experience as an Easton track coach, he said, which taught him the importance of pushing students to their limits while learning their natural pace and listening to their needs.
But as he tells it, his path toward teaching all started two decades ago, just after he had started his sophomore year and was heading into his second year as drum major at Easton.
He and his grandmother evacuated to Lafayette ahead of Hurricane Katrina. When 80% of the city flooded, she enrolled him in school there. At Lafayette High School, a well-resourced school, he found — to his surprise — that he was not reading or writing on grade level.
That set his path.
He recognized Lafayette’s resources and he worked hard there to rise above grade level. But in other ways, he realized, Lafayette paled when compared to Easton.
“There wasn’t as much culture, as much affirmation, as much building up of students individually,” he said. “That’s where I got the bug to be a teacher, experiencing two different cultures, two different worlds. I just envisioned a world where we can do both. And after Katrina, I wanted to come back and do both.”
Building on Easton’s legacy, and his students’ strengths
His new job at Easton comes with many challenges — including following in the mighty footsteps of Alexina Medley, who ran the school for 12 years post-Katrina, and her successor Mervin Jackson. But McManus-Thomas said he’s excited to take it on. He predicts that Easton, known as the oldest public high school in Louisiana, will build further on its legacy, to become one of the nation’s leading schools.
After graduating from Xavier University New Orleans, McManus returned to Easton in 2012 as a student teacher. He then became a chemistry teacher known for rigorous academics, and later worked as a dean, an assistant principal, and the executive director of academics.
But academics is not everything, said McManus-Thomas, who has long prioritized getting to know his students, and “seeing” them as people. He deliberately checks in with students, helping them process life outside the classroom so that they can be more focused when they’re inside of it, he said.
“My kids know I love them,” he said, describing how he might sense a difference in a student’s energy as he greets or fist bumps them in the morning. “How are you?” he’ll ask. Sometimes he’ll get his answer then. If not, he’ll say, “Okay. You’re not ready to tell me now, but I’m here when you are.”
He constantly tells students — who may be navigating significant challenges like a parent’s divorce, food insecurity, unstable housing, or community violence — that they can rely on the Easton school community to help them both survive and excel.
“We’re going to support you, and we’re going to uplift you, and you’re going to be successful,” he said.
Blocking out the struggles of life can be difficult. But he feels hopeful because young people in the city are also advanced in other key ways, he said.
“Our kids in New Orleans, they are creative. And they have a keen sense of feeling. They have emotional intelligence. The Crucible is nowhere near as complex as the people you have to read in life,” he said, referencing Arthur Miller’s famous play about social dynamics.
When he imagines 3019 Canal St. this year, from who will teach in his classrooms to who will walk his hallways, he sees success.
“What I’m looking to do at Easton is craft our curriculum and craft our approach so that we tap into our students’ natural intelligences,” he said, “which is why we’re gonna be one of the leading schools in the nation.”
