School Climate



Should schools be responsible for solving or handling social issues as those presented in the videos?

I would say yes as it pertains to school.  Conflict that arises during school hours is the school's responsibility to assist in resolving the matter through peer mediation or some type of other counseling method.  It is unfortunate that some conflict occurs while students are at home through face book or some other social network.  When the conflict is carried over to the school environment and impedes the process of learning it takes a combination of parents and school administration to resolve those issues.  School administrators have no control over what takes place in the home, therefore they must rely on the parents to monitor their children and resolve issues with their children so that is does not carry over into the school atmosphere.  Unfortunately, that does not always happen.

What other social issues you believe schools should be responsible for addressing in some form.

One of the issues that I think schools should address is self-esteem.  If students feel good about themselves and believe in themselves it will enhance their student performance.  So often students compare themselves to others and create a self image that causes them to believe that they are inferior in some way.  If all schools would implement some type of Character Education these students may come to realize that being different is not a bad thing and celebrate the diversity that exist in our schools.

Principals Interview

Principal Decision Interview: What are two recent decisions you have made as a principal?


1. Being chosen to lead and open a new school this pass year there were many decisions that had to be made. In an effort to have the latest technology in every classroom, a company donated four promethean boards to our school. I had to decide which teachers would receive the training and promethean boards in their classroom. Because of the high school credit for algebra I and the preparation to get our 8th graders ready for high school, I chose to place the four promethean boards in all 8th grade math classes.


Decision Making Process: The decision making process used in this decision was from the Facilitative Leader Model (Decide and Announce). The principal made the decision without any teacher or administrative involvement. I believe I would have used the same model because there were no promethean boards in the school and announcing that we had four would have sparked lots of debate about who should receive the boards. Our principal has always stated that she wants promethean boards in all classrooms and decided to put them in the 8th grade math classes first.


2. Coming from a high school background where we have high school graduation to middle school where we have a moving on ceremony which does not mean the students actually have been promoted. I had to decide on the best procedure for this ceremony. Since this decision involved all 8th grade teachers, I met with all 8th grade teachers and asked the teachers what was done in the pass at their schools and how could ours be different. Many suggestions were given and written down and I chose a few teachers to handle specific parts of the ceremony and from there we put the program together.


Decision Making Process: The decision making process used in this decision is also from the Facilitative Leader Model (Consensus). The principal basically let the teachers decide what kind of ceremony they wanted to have as long as it was done in excellence. I would have done some things differently. Bringing teachers together to make suggestions can be time consuming and some people are heard and some are not and get their feelings hurt. I would have formed a moving on ceremony committee to come up with the program and had them present it to me for approval then present the program to all 8th grade teachers.

Principals Interview