Читать книгу The New Principal - Margaret Carter - Страница 15

When people think of your school, what is the first thing that comes to their minds? Is it the big fight that burst out last week and the police had to respond? Or are there pleasant memories of young people playing soccer in the open playground on a weekend morning?

A principal will function and focus on issues much differently at a chaotic school than at a school in a more stable environment. Keeping gang violence out of school requires a different skill set than keeping parents from overstepping their boundaries within the classroom. A word of caution for administrators in unsettled schools: Placing too much focus on negative, nonacademic behaviors will turn the school into a prison. In this type of environment, the goal is to warehouse students until they can be further incarcerated. Is this what you want your school to be?

To address this issue, you’ll need to consider making changes to the traditional way that students are identified for advanced programs. Make a special effort to identify students who might fall through the cracks between academics and athletics. These students may be successful in one of the special academic programs or an activity that does not involve sports ability to get involved.

There may be, and probably are, barriers to participating in extracurricular activities, such as transportation needed in order to stay after school or to come in early. Instead of holding on to traditional qualifications to participate, pave a way for these students to join. An educator’s mission is to develop students, not to capitalize on what is already there. This kind of guidance is what many children and their families are seeking from the adults at school.