On East Hanover Street in Trenton, New Jersey, parents idle their cars at the curb as kids hustle through the front doors of Capital City High School. The white brick building sits just blocks from the State House dome, pressed up against the rhythms of downtown traffic and storefronts opening for the day. Inside, the mood shifts. Some parents clutch envelopes of paperwork, some students lower their eyes, and a nervous quiet settles over the morning rush.
The woman standing in that doorway is Vice Principal Penny Britt. A Black administrator leading a largely Latino student body, Britt greets students with affirmations in English and Spanish. “Good morning, Beautiful. Good morning, Queen.” To those who speak Spanish, she switches seamlessly: “Hola, señor. ¿Cómo está tu día?” She tries to ease the tension that too often follows young people and their families into the building. For her, the job is as much about creating a refuge as it is about running classrooms.
That need for refuge is sharpened by the city around her. In a city just over eight square miles, Trenton’s schools are straining under budget whiplash and immigration crackdowns that spill into classrooms. At Capital City High School, 62% of the 541 students are Hispanic and 32% are Black, with only a handful of students identifying as Asian, multiracial, or white—just four students in all. Nearly two-thirds of families are navigating immigration fears on top of poverty and school underfunding…