JOB SHADOW #1

EOCS 7450

SUMMER 2007 COHORT

For my first job shadow, I shadowed Assistant Principal Jazzy as she served as principal for the summer school program being held at my school.  AP Jazzy had been at our school for the whole school year prior to the summer school program.  She was responsible for scheduling the Title I and after-school program throughout the school year, as well as writing grants and a variety of other curriculum related duties.

Below are the activities that I observed her completing throughout the six and one-half hour shadow.  The following paragraphs will outline some of the activities that I observed AP Jazzy completing through the course of the day, not necessarily in the order in which they happened.

One of the first items she had to address was the fact that several of the students had been picked up late on three different occasions and it was only the sixth day of summer school.  Dr. Jazzy was writing a letter to be sent home with the students that clarified that if students were not picked up on time on a daily basis, they would be removed from the program.  The letter stated that if the students did not ride the bus that had been provided, the students must be picked up within 15 minutes of their classes being dismissed.  It further stated that after three violations (beginning after the letter date), the students would be removed from the summer school program.  This is a very important issue since the students would not be monitored once the summer school faculty was gone for the day.  She completed the letter, had it proof-read, and then printed it.   The summer school secretary then copied it for her.  Dr. Jazzy used her summer school rosters to get the letters ready for dissemination at the end of the first block.  Some of the students needed the letter at the end of the first block since they only had to attend one block, not both.

Dr. Jazzy also had to deal with some late bus issues.  There were approximately 25 students who arrived 15 minutes late to school.  Dr. Jazzy called the transportation department and discussed with them the importance of getting the students to the school on time.  She asked the transportation department if there was any way they could adjust the schedule so that students would arrive to school on time.  They said they would talk with the driver to see if they could move the route up by 10 minutes, thus avoiding some of the traffic they were running into at certain intersections.

Another issue that I observed Dr. Jazzy addressing was the budgeting and ordering for the summer school program.  The ordered items had been delivered and some had already been given to the teachers, so she had to verify all the items that had been ordered, what had been received, who had ordered what items, and then asked the secretary to separate and distribute the remaining items.    She also created a memo to go with the items asking the teachers to verify that they had received all of their ordered items and return the memo to her for confirmation.  Another issue, in the form of budgeting, was the verification of payment by some of the parents.  If a student was in summer school for GCRCT remediation, the county funds were paying for the student’s attendance.  If a student was in summer school for class remediation (they failed two or more classes), the parents are required to pay tuition.  Dr. Jazzy had a list of the students that were attending summer school with information regarding why they were attending summer school , if they were required to pay for it, and if they were required to pay, how much had already been paid and how much was due.  Dr. Jazzy then had to call the parents of about 10 students whose parents had not yet paid the full tuition fee and remind them that if the fees were not paid within the first two weeks, the students would be withdrawn from the program.
 
Unfortunately, even in summer school, Dr. Jazzy had discipline issues to deal with.  During the course of the day, I observed her working with several different students on behavior issues.  One of them was a student who was refusing to work on the computer program that was being utilized during the summer school program.  The student would log in and open the program, but would not follow the directions or work to complete any of the lessons.  The teacher for that block had sent Dr. Jazzy a note the previous day about the student’s lack of attention.  When Dr. Jazzy had the student brought to her, she informed the student that his parents were paying for him to attend and that it wasn’t going to be her sitting back in 8^th grade during the next school year, but that it would be him if he did not complete his work and bring his skills up to a higher level.   She reminded him of why he was in the summer school program and encouraged him to do his best.  She gave him a daily log to get signed by his teachers to help keep him on track.

Another issue that Dr. Jazzy had to deal with was a student who had “scrapes” on his arms.  One of the teachers brought the student to the office to speak with Dr. Jazzy.  She took him into her office and was talking with him.  As she talked with him, she found out that he was using needles and scratching them across his arms which were creating the scrapes that the teacher had seen.  As she continued to talk with him, she found out that there was another student doing the same thing.  She had that student brought to the office as well.  Both students were searched and found to have two needles each on themselves.  Dr. Jazzy wrote both students up and suspended each of them for one day.  She reminded them that if they missed more than three days of summer school, they did not earn any credit for it, so they were reminded not to bring anything like that back to school when they did return.  Their parents were called and asked to pick up the students.  When the parents arrived, both the parents and students were reminded of the attendance policy and reminded not to bring anything else inappropriate onto school property.  They were told that the students could return Thursday (since this was Tuesday).

Dr. Jazzy took time to go visit each classroom to ensure that the teachers had all the materials they needed and that all the class sizes were appropriate.  She used her list of teachers and walked through the halls, checking on classrooms, verifying attendance, and looking for things that would need to be addressed or corrected when she met with the staff that afternoon before leaving.
 
Dr. Jazzy was also visible at the end of the first block.  Students who were not attending the second block were dismissed first.  She said this was so they could get them out of the building before giving the other students their break.  Teachers who were responsible for monitoring the first block dismissal had to be relieved so that they, too, could get their break before returning for the second block.  Students who were not picked up on time were escorted into the office and when the parents did arrive, they were required to come into the building to get their child.  At that time, the parents were made aware of the letter that had gone home that day and of the repercussions if the rules were not followed.  Dr. Jazzy made sure that all the students were supervised at all times.
            
On the day prior to my shadow, Dr. Jazzy had seen one of our “home” students and talked with them about their behavior and effort in summer school.  This student was attending summer school for GCRCT remediation, so their parents were not paying for it.  The student was an eighth grader that would be retaking the GCRCT at the end of summer school in the hopes of moving on to high school next year.  Dr. Jazzy had called the parent the day before and asked for a conference toward the end of the second block.  The parent arrived on time for the conference and Dr. Jazzy escorted the parent into her office.  She proceeded to explain the process for the rest of summer school for their child.  The child would need to complete all their work and would have to get a daily log signed be the teacher for each block.  She reminded the parent that if the student did not take summer school seriously and work hard to learn everything they could, they would find themselves failing the second GCRCT and find themselves back in eighth grade next year.  She explained the appeals process for the parent to use if they child failed the GCRCT, but also explained that they had only promoted 3 of the 10 who appealed the previous year.  The parent was very supportive and assured Dr. Jazzy that the child’s efforts would improve.  When the parent left the school, both the parent and Dr. Jazzy indicated that they were dedicated to working together to move the child up to high school.
               
Dr. Jazzy met with the staff at the end of the day.  She asked if there were concerns or issues that needed to be addressed.  She talked with the teachers about their lesson plans and what she needed to have turned in to her.  Dr. Jazzy explained the computer program being utilized for the summer school program and a discussion was held about how to get the reports and what kinds of reports would be needed.  She also asked the teachers to make sure that any attendance issues were addressed immediately.  She informed the staff that students would be given progress reports at the end of the week since there were only four weeks of summer school.  Teachers were asked to be sure that students were turning in their work and to contact the parents if work was an issue, as well as attendance.
               
All in all, I felt that this was a very rewarding experience for me.  I have been teaching for 17 years and have observed different administrators on different occasions, but had never spent an entire day with one.  In fact, I thought that being the summer school principal would be easier than the every day administrative duties, but I now believe that to be incorrect.  With summer school, every day counts more than twice a normal day in school.  Unfortunately, it is not the “cream of the crop” in summer school, either.  Many of the issues in the regular school are magnified during summer school.  I have a great deal of respect for Dr. Jazzy in dealing with everything as well as she did. 
               
After shadowing Dr. Jazzy, we made an appointment for the following afternoon for me to conduct my interview.  Below are the questions and the responses that I got from Dr. Jazzy.

1.        What was the most difficult part of scheduling for summer school?  The most difficult part was having such a short time to create the schedules.  I had a wide range of needs and a limited number of teachers and classes with which to meet all those needs.  Students were there for different reasons – some needed remediation for the GCRCT, some needed academic credit, and others needed both!  I had to find the best way to utilize my financial resources and my human resources to provide the best opportunity for all the students to get what they needed.

2.       Are there issues you are having in summer school that you had not experienced before? Yes, there are several that I have not had experience with before.  One of the issues was in determining who would be teaching what.  Since most of that was in place when I was hired for this year, I had to start from scratch for the summer school program, including looking at the  applications of the teachers who had applied and selecting the ones with the correct certification to staff the program with.  Another issue that was new to me was the ordering of the materials.  We got them ordered in time, but teachers needed the materials as soon as they came in, so I didn’t get everything accounted for before some of them were handed out, so I had to go back and ensure that everything had been received so that I can send the invoice in for payment.  As you know, I haven’t dealt with a lot of the discipline issues this last year, either, so it has been interesting to listen to what some of the teachers have been bringing to my attention.  We have been lucky, though, because so far, we haven’t had any bus discipline issues.

3.       What is the best way to motivate those students who are attending summer school?  I have done my best to go into every classroom and tell the students what is expected of them. Because they are here for different reasons, I had to make sure that I covered all the bases with each class.  I emphasized the need for them to make up their academic work so that they could move on to the next grade level and not be lost from the very beginning.  I explained to all the students, but especially those needing the GCRCT remediation, that while the test isn’t everything, it is the major factor in determining not only if they go onto to the next grade level, but also if they are getting the education the education they will need to get jobs and be able to support themselves when they grow up.  I also talked with them about how important it is to their parents.  Whether the parents are paying or not, the students had a responsibility to do their best work since so much time and effort had been put into getting them up to grade level.  I also explained to them that since they had given up part of their summer to be here, it is important to make sure that the time has been well spent and that they need to work as hard as they can to make sure that they earn the credit or pass the GCRCT  so that they have made the time given up worthwhile.    

4.       If you were to be the principal for summer school again next year, what would you change?   I don’t think I would change a lot.  When dealing with summer school, you have a very quick turn-around in your scheduling from the end of the year.  Summer school lasts for four weeks, so everything has to be rushed – the registering, the scheduling, the progress reports.  Everything seems to be running at a faster pace.  There isn’t a lot you can change just because of time frames.  Also, when students are behind in their classes, one of the ways they get out of doing work is to act up.  This behavior will carry over into summer school, as well.  All I can do, as the principal, is to relay the expectations and follow through with the consequences should they choose not to meet those expectations, whether they be in behavior or in academic performance.  I honestly don’t know if I will do summer school again, but I am glad that I have had the experience to work with all areas of running the school.