PRINCIPALS FOR A DAY: Pastor Neil (seated left) with Duarte volunteers helping the local school system.

‘Principal For a Day’ (The Easy Way)

By Neil Earle

When the Duarte Chamber alerted me that the Duarte Unified School District was hosting another of their “Principal for a Day” events on November 2 it appealed to my latent instincts as an elementary school teacher back in Labrador, Canada in 1967. A stint as substitute teacher for the La Canada High School district in the 1990s had kept those buried interests alive. Interacting with Duarte High School students (DHS) from Levon Yotnapharian’s broadcasting class at DCTV for 15 years fed my interest in youth as well. One of my DCTV highlights was TV interviewing with the DHS Academic Decathlon state and national winners in 2008 – major kudos for our town and schools we should never forget.

Five Crucial Qualities

So on that crisp November 2 morning I and 20 other interested citizens headed to DHS’s Professional Learning Center to hear Board Chairman Ken Bell brief us on the qualities of an effective principal. These include,

1. Great Communication Skills. Principals have to be adept at answering calls from worried parents to scheduling food truck deliveries to helping with discipline problems as they arise. Advising of schedule changes and staff procedures is a constant stressor.

2. A great Principal, said Mr. Bell, is a Difference Maker. They are guided by standards of accountability and keeping ahead of the demands upon schools to update and upgrade learning technologies and seeing solutions not just problems. This is not easy as our society looks more and more to its schools to be what Professor Paul Rutherford calls the “civilizing knit” between the values of different generation. Our Duarte Senior’s softball team (the 66ers) get encouraging glimpses of that when Mt. Olive High School teens join us for softball practices occasionally. Kevin Norris, their upbeat principal, keeps stirring even the non-athletes to cheer, keep score, or join the handshake line at the end. The challenges facing schools are formidable, from bullying to overseas students passing through temporarily, to maintaining good relations with the public. A good teacher, someone once said, has to have the wisdom of Solomon, the watchfulness of an eagle and the stamina of a thoroughbred. And how!

3. Good principals know all about MBWA which is Management by Walking Around, an old gem but one easily forgotten when phone calls and internet memos can make a principal’s office seem like the flight deck of the Enterprise. “An aware principal is the best security available,” Ken Bell emphasized. Overall, from what I’ve seen, DUSD has been blessed in the quality of their leaders.

4. School principals have to have the self-discipline not to shirk the big problems, whether removing ineffective teachers or giving sound input on new hires. SDR – Stamina definitely required.

5. Finally (in a subject with virtually no end), good principals really care about their students. Their ultimate goal is never to give up on a difficult student, as challenging as that can sometimes be. Mr. Bell concluded that” “kids from strong healthy families are easier to work with but kids from other families are more important to work with.”

Walking the Walk

After dividing up into our assigned school visitations we were transported to Duarte’s schools by DHS staff. Right on time my team member for Beardslee Elementary, Roopalee Patel, branch manager at Duarte’s Credit Union, and I were ushered into the office of Beardslee’s principal, Mrs. Jennifer Romero. We were already briefed that Jennifer was a Duarte product through and through having graduated from DHS before studying at APU. Jennifer proceeded with a “hands on” version of MBWA. Roopalee and I were amazed at how she seemed to know every student and parent we passed, with a word for each. We were taken to the kindergarten class where about 25 heads swiveled excitedly our way as we walked in. Within seconds the teacher returned to exploring what artifacts the Pilgrim Father could cram into their “Bible Box” on the Mayflower. Thanksgiving theme, you see.

Beardslee is rightly proud of the fact that some of the parents who drop off their children stay for laptop-based self-instructing English classes using Rosetta Stone technique. This briefs them on computer use as well as the new language. As we proceeded on the walkabout we had explained to us how the goal is to give autistic children 1 on 1 instruction as much as possible. We saw some of the classes in action led by obviously caring teachers and parent volunteers.

One elementary class was hosing us how they learned science principles by shooting candy corn from “catapults” made of pencils and plastic spoons. The delight with which they prosecuted this “show and tell” in front of their visitors was contagious. Nor was a trip to the all-important cafeteria ignored since it is there where so many students learn social skills, conversational English and the basics of good nutrition. This last from signs sprinkled strategically throughout the food line. Leaning, learning, ever learning. Duarte schools have had to learn the knack of “more with less” employing that rare trait that leads to success – resourcefulness.

“Heroes in the Classroom”

At our feedback session over a delicious lunch, Eric Boyd, Executive Director of the Santa Anita YMCA, reported on the pleasant location of Royal Oaks School up against the Foothills. “I went to school in South Central, so you can imagine the contrast.” He also spoke positively of a discipline situation in action and “how much things have changed without losing effectiveness.”

All in all it was quite an impressive event. Most principals joined us for the feedback lunch afterwards and that made the interaction realistic and encouraging. After visiting Andres Duarte Elementary, Vic Benavides of the City of Hope, expressed the feelings of most of us, that if America’s young people were exposed to the kind of technology delivered with caring concern that we saw on November 2, the shocking incarceration levels might be greatly lowered across the nation. This starts with healthy motivation in the classroom. “Too many young people have fallen through the cracks, “ Vic added, "Which is why it is good to see Duarte pioneering ways and approaches that show how this can be turned around.”

Thanks to DUSD and the Duarte Chamber for sponsoring this eye-opening event and reminding us again of the social and human challenges that society keeps sending the way of our school systems. “We need heroes in the classroom” a national leader once said and Duarte seems to have its share.