Albuquerque Public Schools
Jack Vermillion: The Face of S.Y. Jackson Elementary School
Vermillion's leadership philosophy and personal touch have made him a pillar of the community and a mentor to many young principals.
He’s won an armful of plaques and awards, been featured in Reader’s Digest when it was among the best-recognized publications in America and by almost any estimation is one of the most respected principals in Albuquerque Public Schools.
He wants you to call him Jack.
Just Jack.
“As long as I’ve been a principal, whenever I send anything out to the community, I always sign as `Jack,’” says Jack Vermillion, the longtime principal at S.Y. Jackson Elementary School. “I don’t want to be `Mr. Vermillion, the principal.’ I just want to be, `Hey, I’m Jack. I’m right here with you guys. I’m working together with you. And I think that’s really built up a trust.”
Jack is a name brand at APS, having served at S.Y. Jackson for 23 years. He’s had other stops along the way: MacArthur, Acoma, Dennis Chavez, Mary Ann Binford, Chelwood. The latter is where he instituted an anti-bullying program that once attracted the notice of national media (he’s also been interviewed in his career by NBC News).
For innovations like that, he’s become a near Yoda-like figure through the years among young principals, several of whom were mentored by him as they began their careers in administration.
Just as important, he’s become a pillar of dependability in his corner of the Northeast Heights, with his unassuming but uber-successful brand of leadership helping make S.Y. Jackson, a Blue Ribbon School in 2020, among the most sought-after transfer destinations in APS.
“Jack is calm and consistent,” says APS Assistant Superintendent Troy Hughes.
Vermillion also is all-Albuquerque, having graduated from Del Norte High School in 1979 and the University of New Mexico. But he says he didn’t plan on a career in teaching or education. He took a course after being harangued by a friend who’d told him he’d be a good teacher.
“Next thing I knew, I was in education,” he says. “Same thing with the principal. I really had no desire to be a principal.”
And yet, that’s what he became, and that’s what he’ll be when he retires. He says his exit strategy has him leaving S.Y. Jackson and APS in May 2026. That sound you just heard is disappointment, echoing throughout a big slice of the Northeast Heights.
For now, though, he’s still going full bore. Jack and Jackson have been intertwined so long he’s hired all but two of its current staff members. He notes that fact, like all things, quietly, calmly, almost without ego. He’s as comfortable talking about his colleagues as he is himself.
His personal mantra and his school’s motto is “One Team, One Goal: Student Success” He says he got it from Gen. Colin Powell, who noted that despite differences and rivalries, the branches of the military pulled together when the stakes were the highest to work toward success.
“I came back and I talked to the staff,” he recalls. “I said, `You know what? We’re a bunch of different grade levels and then we’ve got the community, and we have the outside businesses. We’ve got all this and we’re all very different. But we’re all one team and there’s one goal. And that’s the kids.”
With that as prologue, Vermillion sat down to discuss his philosophies on leadership, school management and education.
Q&A With Jack Vermillion
What do you look for when you hire somebody?
It's easy. I can tell you within the first five minutes if I will hire someone. … I look for people who are upbeat, positive people. And I look for people who want to work with other people. If I hire a teacher, that (person) can be the greatest teacher ever, and (if) they don't want to interact with their grade level, share ideas with other people, I really don't want them on my staff.
But if I take somebody who's good, even maybe even a little above average, and you put 'em with a grade level where they collaborate and they work together and they share ideas and you encourage them, those people just become really good teachers. So my No. 1 thing is, are they people who are happy and upbeat people and people who can work with other people? Then I, then we, can make them into very good teachers from there.”
By almost any standard, you’ve been really successful. Your reputation in the district precedes you. What do you consider success? Is it because the kid likes going to school? Is it scores?
… I measure success by having families that are happy. And by having kids who want to run up and hug you, want to say hi to you. (Kids who) get excited when you walk in their classroom. … To think that you've influenced hundreds of kids, thousands of kids, over the years, that to me is successful.
If your name were Smith, you’d probably be a little more anonymous. But Vermillion catches the eye. With young principals, what kind of advice do you give?
When I leave here Friday afternoon, I don't check emails ‘til I walk in Monday morning because I don't want my weekend ruined by some upset parent or some kind of concern. And I think it's really important for you to find where your life is outside of school and where your life is at school. So I really talk to them about that. …
“But the other thing I really talk to them about … I get 70, 80 emails a day. Most principals get a lot of emails every day. So in the morning, we do announcements, all that. I take my computer, I go visit a classroom, and work on emails. Fifteen minutes later, (I) get up, go to another classroom, work on more emails. So I'm getting my emails done, but I'm also getting in to see different teachers. I'll walk into a classroom, the kids look up, and go right back to work, 'cause it's just the norm, you know? And the same thing happens when evaluations come around. The teachers aren't freaked out because I'm in there so much and I know what's going on. But I always tell principals, if you just sit in your office and try to get through all your emails, three, four hours of your day, you're gonna be sitting in your office. But if you purposely take your computer (and) work on them in classrooms, you're still getting it done. But you're getting to see the kids and be involved, too. And to me, being around kids is really what it's all about. And if you enjoy kids, it's a great career. If you don't enjoy kids …”
Do you think the trust the community has is in the school, or is it in you? You’ve been the throughline for many people at S.Y. Jackson.
“I do see myself as the face of the school. … I never understand this, but many principals will not do tours of the school. We will have probably 20, 25 parents call and say, `I want to do a tour of the school’ – incoming kindergarteners, whatever. `Sure. Pick a time. Let's do it.’ … I hear all the time: `I called (other schools), and none of them do tours. And I'm like, why? I think over all the years I've been here, there may have been one parent that I walked around the school that didn't say, `I want to come here.’ .... The reality is it takes 15 minutes out of my day to walk a parent around. As a result, we get a lot of transfers. About one-fourth of our school is out-of-district transfers.
“At the end of fifth grade, when we're doing our promotion ceremony, I always have parents come (and they say), `I remember back (to) that day – you walked me around the school.’ It’s just good public relations.”
How do you avoid complacency?
“One of the things I try to think about a lot is that our ELA scores are probably 85% proficient. So, you could say, `Hey, we're doing great. We don't need to deal with anything else.’ … But the reality is, I always tell my staff that if one of the 15% is my kid, I want to know what you're going to do to help my kid. Because it’s cool that 85% of your kids are proficient, but what are you going to do for my kid?
That 15 percent has names and faces and families.
“And that's the thing that I think kind of motivates me … I try to personalize and think, if that's my kid and I'm the parent dealing with it, what are you gonna do? And I try to keep that mindset with my staff. It's easy to say `We're good enough, we're doing fine. We're doing better than maybe many other schools in the city.’
“But what about those kids (who aren’t proficient)? Those are individual kids and those are individual faces. And you can't just turn your back on those kids and say, `What we're doing is good enough.’ We’re trying to figure out how to reach those kids. What do you do for those kids? And I think that's a real motivator for me. And, I just love my job. I mean, I love what I do.”