Many teachers at Riverside Brookfield High School do not trust or think highly of Principal Hector Freytas and the instructional leadership at the school, the results of a state-mandated survey showed.

In the category of “teacher-principal trust,” he received a rating of very weak from teachers on the 5 Essentials survey that was conducted last year as part of the annual Illinois School Report Card.

The 5 Essentials Survey is an online survey of students, teachers and parents that was developed by an arm of the University of Chicago. It focuses on five areas that are deemed vital for school improvement: effective leaders, collaborative teachers, supportive environment, ambitious instruction and involved families. RBHS received a designation of very weak in the effective leaders category and a designation of neutral in the other four categories.

School board president Deanna Zalas cautioned about putting too much weight on any given category.

“We need to look at all the aspects but I’m not sure that taken by itself it’s a significant data point,” she said.

Only 60.5% of the school’s teachers responded to the survey. The relatively low response rate could have affected the ratings and it contrasts with the state’s average response rate by teachers at 75.6%. 

Of those responding, 78% rated Freytas as a poor manager, with 42% of them strongly disagreeing with the statement that the principal is an effective manager who makes the school run smoothly. 

Another 62% of participants either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement: “I trust the principal at his or her word,” with more than half saying they disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement “the principal takes a personal interest in the professional development of teachers.”

Freytas received better marks on making decisions for the best interests of kids with 59% of teachers either agreeing or strongly agreeing that Freytas makes decisions makes decisions based on what is best for students and not because of personal or political interests. 

The school’s score on instructional leadership was even lower, netting a score of just one rating system, with about two-thirds of teachers saying that the school’s leadership doesn’t know what is going in on their classrooms and does not communicate a clear vision for the school.

Freytas, however, told the Landmark that he sees his low ratings from teachers as an opportunity for improvement.

“It’s an opportunity to be better, you know I strive to be better every single day, every week, every month, every year,” said Freytas, who is known for his positive outlook on life. “So first and foremost, I just saw it as an opportunity to be better.”

Freytas said that in this new semester he will visit classrooms on a weekly basis in attempt to build stronger relationships with teachers and focus on instruction. While the primary evaluators of teachers are the new division heads, Freytas said that he plans to do more classroom visits and observations this semester.

“I’m going to be conducting a weekly, kind of walk through, I need to be in the classrooms more where I build those relationships,” Freytas said. “We have our formal evaluation process, but I need to do more of it.”

Freytas said that he wants to get to know his staff better.

“There are some teachers that I know better than others and I need to know all my staff,” Freytas said. “I need to be intentional about getting into the classroom, doing those visits, and following up with the teaches that I don’t evaluate on a regular basis.”

There has been a perception among some that Freytas, who attends many school events and is relentlessly positive and encouraging to students, is more of a cheerleader for the school than an instructional leader.

“I’m loud and proud so I could see people saying ‘hey that’s one of his strong avenues’ but I do more than that,” Freytas said. “I’m involved in everything we do, in every decision we make as a school but, again, I take ownership for results and my job is to be better.”

Freytas said that the school has been revamping its professional development work to take more advantage of in house expertise.

“I’m hoping that those are powerful and I’m hoping that those kind of begin to move the needle on instructional leadership,” Freytas said.

Beyond the numbers

Other administrators at RBHS preferred not to focus too much on the survey results and instead pointed to other accolades the school has received such as its exemplary rating on the 2023 school report card.

“It’s an anonymous survey that’s taken at one point in time,” said District 208 Superintendent Kevin Skinkis. “I’m not sure if everybody takes it. It’s a good data point for Dr. Freytas and his team to continue to work on.” 

Skinkis said that he has a high degree of confidence in Freytas and assistant principal for curriculum and instruction Kylie Lindquist.

Lindquist said that the 5 Essentials survey results are something to take note of and work on but not the final word.

“That says something, we look at the data, we’ve been engaging teachers around the data, engaging as an administrative team around the data and really looking at what are these survey results saying,” Lindquist said. “For me it’s a moment in time, a snapshot of a moment in time. I think when you look at 5 Essentials survey results versus some of the accolades that we’ve gotten this year: first time as an exemplary school, AP access award, Gold Honor Roll status, there’s a disconnect so you really have to dig in and figure out what does this mean, what is this saying and you can’t get too hung up on what the actual number is.”

The survey was completed in the early portion of 2023 before RBHS switched to a new division structure of instructional leadership shifting away from the past structure of instructional coaches. Now there are four divisions: Humanities, STEM, Career and Technical Education, and Special Education instead of instructional coaches for every department.

“This is kind of our response to the data and previous data points as well,” Freytas said.

Lindquist said that she believes the new structure is working well.

The head of the teachers union at RBHS, Spanish teacher Jessica Maurtizen, did not respond by deadline to an interview request.