ISLLC Standard 4: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by collaborating with families and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.
A School Community within a Community
Statement of Purpose: Identify the leader’s role in creating a collaborative relationship between the community and school
Questions the study answers:
1) How does the administrator involve the community in the school?
2) What are some of the ways that the administrator utilizes community resources?
3) In what ways are diversity embraced in the school?
Situation: IC is a middle school in a rural area that is rapidly moving to a more suburban area. The enrollment at IC has grown from 1000 in 2005 – 2006 to 1350 in 2007. Many of the students who have moved into the school district are either from out of state or from the Atlanta area, both of which seem to bring students from a more metropolitan area to our rural school. With our previous principal, we were not completely successful in obtaining and retaining Partners In Education. Since Mrs. Happy became principal, we have become somewhat more successful. Our school has generally had a good relationship with parents and the community. As principal, she has assigned Dr. New, one of the assistant principals, to work with most of the community related tasks that need to be completed for the school. After observing Dr. New and speaking with her, the results are as follows
Answers to case study questions:
1) How does the administrator involve the community in the school?
After observing Dr. New over the course of the last year and a half, I have noticed several areas that have improved in our school. One of the ways is through the communication with parents in the form of letters and notes going home, including contact about student progress. These forms of communication are documented to reinforce how vital the communication is. Parent Nights have also been set up for a variety of reasons including 6th grade orientation, 8th Grade CRCT Testing (fall and spring), Title I parent meetings and meetings with parents and students regarding the after-school program. The school also completes at least one parent surveys per year, but has issued more than that as needed for different types of data. We are in the process of upgrading our Partners in Education program. Unfortunately, many businesses work with elementary students and high schools, but we have found it difficult to keep our PIE’s involved in previous years. Dr. New has been working with several businesses who have recently agreed to work with our school. We have not had an active volunteer program in the past, but Dr. New has encourages parents to volunteer and be involved in their child’s school. Unfortunately, many middle school students don’t enjoy having their parents involved in their individual classes, but Dr. New has found ways to keep them involved in the school, rather than individual classes.
Programs called “Parent Academies” have been implemented to help parents including a GED program, a special education informational meeting, parenting workshops, and various other topics. Our School Council, while required, is an effective council. They meet on a regular basis and have been instrumental in helping to distribute information about AYP, testing, and even a recent bond referendum. Our school’s PTO is also active and meets with all administrators, including Dr. New, on at least a quarterly basis if not more often. Community members, including business people and Board of Education employees are invited to all school events including our Black History presentation, the Patchwork Arts Festival, Career Days, and reading or speaking in various classes. Another way in which our school has invited the community in is to involve the parents in completing our school focus walks.
Through our enrichment classes that were created from the students who meet/exceed CRCT test scores, several classes have become involved in the community. One activity that comes to mind is the Family and Consumer Science teacher who had her students crochet afghans and donate them to the local cancer society to distribute to cancer patients. Last year, one of the afghans went to a soldier whose mother works at our school and was serving in Iraq at the time. Our band and chorus are active in the community by holding concerts not only at the school, but also at the local mall, on the county square during evening shopping hours, and nursing homes. Our school participates in both canned food drives and the Toys for Tots program on an annual basis to provide for those less fortunate. We even take up an annual collection called “Coins for Custodians” where the students bring in their change and we divide the money and present a “bonus” to our custodians at Christmas. We are a Relay for Life supporter and have had a team for the last 8 years. We have fundraisers at the school and one of our counselors, a breast cancer survivor, is one of the major fundraisers and supporters. Our students, parents, and teachers are supporters of the activity sponsored by our local police department, the “Fuzz Run”. Athletes are encouraged by their coaches; in fact, our cheerleading squad participates in the 1 mile run and then hands out water during the 3 mile run. As you can see, we are school that is active in our community and it is reinforce through the administration, especially Dr. New who sends information to everyone as new activities are presented to her.
2) What are some of the ways that the administrator utilizes community resources?
Dr. New is activity seeking new Partners In Education on a regular basis. Making the community aware of what a school needs is half the battle of getting it! Along those same lines, Dr. New is very experienced at grant writing and our school has been very effective in that area under her guidance. One teacher, working with Dr. New, applied for three grants and earned the money for two of them! If we expect the community to support us, Dr. New reminds us that we nee to be supporting our local businesses whenever possible. This support for the businesses includes purchasing items from local businesses rather than from outside vendors whenever possible.
Dr. New is also eager to receive input from parents regarding things that we can utilize from within the community, as well as the things that they feel are need in the school, whether it is in terms of facilities, communication (newsletters, etc.) or staff. IC has also brought in the community in support of the AYP and NCLB information gathered by hosting a meeting that explained to the Chamber of Commerce exactly what it means when the paper reports the results each year. Guest speakers are utilized in various classrooms including science (one teacher teaches a forensic science enrichment class), social studies (a historian brought in various toys, foods, etc. from the early years of Georgia), or careers.
Through the help of the administration, 8th grade students participate in Job Shadow which presents students with the opportunity to work for the day alongside an employee to experience careers as they are, not necessarily what the students think they are. This keeps the community involved in helping to create good employees of the future for these businesses.
3) In what ways are diversity embraced in the school?
We have a variety of activities throughout the year that provide students with cultural diversity. Our Patchwork Arts Festival is held in the spring of each school year. Students are exposed to performing and visual artists in many areas. Artists from past years have encompassed areas such as computer graphics, caricatures, Japanese art, stained glass, blacksmiths, woodworking, spray paint, and a variety of others. Our performing artists include marching bands, story tellers, Native American flute, African dancers, Latino musicians, bagpipe player, Calypso band, “karaoke”, and a host of others. Students are exposed to various cultures through the course of the festival each year. Dr. New has given contacts to several new artists since her arrival. We have always celebrated Black History Month, but since Dr. New joined the staff at IC, we have begun a Black History Celebration which culminates the whole month with a school wide assembly with various student groups performing, from dancing to singing to skit productions.
We have very diverse cultural and educational backgrounds included in our faculty and staff. Dr. New, as one of the administrators in charge of hiring, has helped create a wide variety of people to be role models for our students. Another way that the staff helps present the diversity at our school is in the way that we all get along. We are a family at IC and as happens in all families, we don’t always get along. When problems arise, we meet and work through the problems rather than let them fester and create even more problems. I feel that this, under the guidance of Dr. New and our other administrators, helps the students to understand that while we may be different, we don’t have to be at odds with each other. We have completed several books studies, as small groups of the faculty. These books studies address the needs of students (i.e. Ruby Payne (A Framework of Poverty)) and help us to understand our students better. Dr. New also instituted student book studies which are supported by a group of mentors and that allow the students to relate themselves to characters in the books that are studied. Some of the student book studies are by gender and some are generic.
I believe that this case study shows that Dr. New is in the developing stage of leadership. She has been in administration for only a year and a half and this is her first administrative assignment. I feel that she has grown a great deal in not only the area she works with, but in her relationships with the faculty and staff, as well as the parents and students. She has high expectations for everyone who enters our doors, whether they are a staff member, a student, or a parent. Dr. New submits about 10 grant applications per year and has brought several new programs to our school through these grants. She works hard to create a community based school with all stakeholders becoming more involved with the school and establishing strong relationships that work towards the needs of the students. As a school, we have become more active in our own community, have been utilizing more volunteers, and have been creating a more welcoming environment for those who visit the school. Dr. New will continue to grow in her utilization of community resources as time goes by and will be a great asset to our school for a long time to come, I believe!