As a teacher of history, government and law at Forest Park High School in Baltimore, Darrin Brozene discovered that “if students connect with you, you can push them to excel.”
Especially when teaching government, he would tell them, “This is why you’re doing it. Here’s how it applies today.” In his view, building connections to our times has never been more important than it is right now.
He liked looking at the electoral map with his students at the Baltimore city school. He also liked coming up with thought experiments.
“For instance, I would encourage them to look at the criteria for a just war,” he says. “I allowed them to find and use evidence and collaborate with others to agree and disagree with their conclusions about what might justify a war.”
Darrin relished his job and was named teacher of the year at Forest Park in 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2016. He stayed there for 12 years, becoming a model teacher and lead teacher, mentoring early-career teachers and providing them with feedback around their strength areas and growth areas and working closely with the Baltimore City New Teacher Program, Teach for America and the New Teacher Center.
Today, as principal of Baltimore Design School, a highly specialized grade 6–12 school, he sometimes misses the classroom.
“I pop into some classes,” Darrin says, referring to the occasions he gets to fill in when a teacher is on leave. “I got into some government classes last year. It’s fun to engage, to help students see the impact they can have on society, a voice in politics.
“But there are lots of moving parts for a principal,” he adds. “Time management keeps you on your toes. There are so many demands on a principal today, it can be overwhelming.”
His resolute management style has paid off at Baltimore Design School, where the students specialize in architecture/construction design and management, graphic design/interactive media production or fashion design. His students are urban residents who do not come from advantaged backgrounds. They enter the middle school after taking a survey of their interests, and then submit portfolios if they want to continue through high school. Others go onto highly specialized programs elsewhere.
“I’m not particularly creative myself,” he laughs, “but the students here are very creative, all thinking outside the box. So are the teachers.”
Under Darrin’s leadership, Baltimore Design has made remarkable progress, being named the No. 1 high school in Baltimore by U.S. News and World Report, and No. 14 in Maryland.
Darrin Brozene’s journey to education wasn’t direct. He grew up in a closeknit family in the small town of Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, until his sophomore year of high school, and then on Kent Island on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. He says, “I was blessed to be a straight-A student with a knack for leadership,” encouraged by Mrs. Bednar at Twin Valley High School in the Keystone State and Mr. Engel at Kent Island High School in Maryland. Thanks to them, he became active in student government. His other fun activity was playing the saxophone.
At Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, Darrin majored in political science and considered going into law. After graduating and attending a few open houses, he decided the law wasn’t for him, and he instead went to work with his father in quality control at Duron Paint Co. Before long, he decided that wasn’t for him, either. He laughs out loud, “I was literally watching paint dry.”
In 2005, after his wife Kerri suggested he try teaching, he applied for the Baltimore City Teaching Residency, and soon went to teach at Forest Park. He earned his master of arts in teaching in 2009 at Johns Hopkins University.
“In all these years, I’ve been at only two schools,” he says. “The stars aligned” to bring him to Baltimore Design. He went there as an AP, but he became interim principal in 2020 and principal in 2022. He is a member of the Public School Administrators & Supervisors Association of Baltimore City, AFSA Local 25.
Contemplating the recent violence in American schools he says, “We’re very lucky here. Being in a small school like ours, only 500 students, helps. You can hold people accountable for how they’re treating each other, try to be sure everybody feels connected to someone. Middle school is a tough age and vigilance is key.”
All his life, Darrin has believed that “building connections” is paramount to success. After the pandemic, he explains, “Building connections became even more important, creating that environment of connections where you see how you can avoid some negative exchanges. There was a lot more tension when the students suddenly had to interact again. We had to reintroduce social and emotional learning, add advisory groups and partner with Holistic Life Foundation.”
Back home in the suburbs, Darrin plays board games and video games with his daughter Allie, 15, and his son Drew, 12. They enjoy movie night together every Friday. He also comes up with a daily trivia question and confesses that this is not for the family, but to bring to school and pose to his students the very next day.
