I believe the first time I heard her name was during my interview for the principal position last June. Ever since that day, it feels like her name is mentioned on campus at least 2-3 times each day. Parents who have been connected to Carpenter for many years ask me if I’ve met her. Teachers who have worked at Carpenter for more than seven years refer to her with great admiration. My office staff smiles when sharing stories about her tenure.
Last week, I decided to give Mrs. Marks a call to establish some communication with her. I must admit that I was a bit nervous about calling her because she has such a huge reputation. I called her at home and introduced myself. She told me that she knew who I was and that she was recently at a soccer game for her granddaughter and met some current Carpenter parents who told her that I was a male version of Joan Marks because of the similarities in our personalities. I suggested we have lunch and she agreed.
During our lunch together she shared with me the highlights of her career in education and how she got started at Carpenter in the mid 1980’s. When Mrs. Marks became the principal at Carpenter there were approximately 450 students in the school and fewer than 50 of those students were from the neighborhood. Mrs. Marks went into the community and recruited parents to bring their children back to their neighborhood school. She started the first all-school picnic, the first parent dinner dance, and numerous other events that we still celebrate today. Mrs. Marks retired in 2000. Today at Carpenter we have 850 students and fewer than 25 of that number live outside of our school’s neighborhood.
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Mrs. Marks. Her impact on Carpenter’s history is remarkable. I hope that this is just the beginning of a long relationship we will have over the years. We share a lot of similar experiences (not to mention that our initials are the same as well). After meeting her, I am honored that anyone would consider me a male version of her. She has set the bar very high for any administrator working at Carpenter. I’ve got my work cut out for me!
-Joe Martinez