What are you most proud of so far this school year?
“I’m proud that we were really strategic as a leadership team in examining our Program of Studies and graduation requirements. We proposed a major shift to those things, and that’s the first major change to the Program of Studies and our graduation requirements in decades. Anytime you’re going to make a major change like that, it can be really disruptive and really upsetting. I give the staff a lot of credit for being trusting, but also asking good questions and trying to figure out how do we make our Program of Studies and our graduation requirements reflect what our needs are as a school community. I’m proud of the process, and I’m happy with the progress so far.”
One of your goals was to ensure a smooth transition to the adoption of the new interactive screens. What impacts have you seen on classroom education with this transition?
“I’ve been very impressed by the teachers’ facility with it. They’re just used in a very organic and natural way. Interacting with the boards has been really impressive to me because I infrequently use them, so when I see teachers use them in this skilled way, I’m really impressed with it. I think students still have a little bit of excitement when they’re writing on the board or making things move. I’ve been really happy to see that the adoption of that technology has been pretty smooth. I was a little nervous, but I’m happy with it now. I don’t even worry about it or think about it anymore.”
Many students are wondering about the lunch options. What are you doing, alongside the cafeteria staff, to minimize food waste while also ensuring there are enough meals for every student?
“So that has not been a major priority for me, only because I wasn’t aware that it was a concern students have. I just heard that concern shared to me from our school committee rep. So, I have taken that information and shared it with our Central Office staff to find out how do we work with our new vendor to make sure that we can have a nice balance of offerings. [We want] for the kids in third lunch to have the same options as all the other kids, but not so much food that we’re throwing lots of food out. So, we’re still calibrating to that balance, but I need to do more homework on why that’s happening.”
As we move towards the end of the year, what areas and programs are school funds going towards?
“We are wrapping up our budget development work and in the next four to six weeks, we’ll know exactly what our budget is. This and last year’s budget were a little bit challenging. So, [we are] trying to figure out how do we keep our same high quality instruction and expectations the same even though we are looking at some cost cutting. I am excited that despite these challenges, we’re able to offer new and exciting courses that we’ve never run before. We’re running eight new courses next year while getting through a very difficult budget picture. I give a lot of credit to [our teachers] for pivoting to some new thinking and new course ideas. I’m very confident that our rising freshmen will graduate from here with a significantly enhanced experience. Not to say that [students now] didn’t have a wonderful experience, but I think it’s evidence of a growth mindset in our school if every year we’re just getting a little bit better.”
What should students and teachers be looking forward to as we approach term four?
“I think everybody’s a little bit tired of all the snow we had. We had so many snow days, and I think everybody except for the seniors were not as thrilled to have so many. I mean, they’re nice on the day when you wake up and can sleep in. But, I’m ready for the sunshine and the warm weather. One of the greatest things about my job is every year I get to see a new group of seniors experience all these milestone events for the first time, and that’s really fun. For the senior class, we have incorporated some new programming like the ‘100 days till graduation.’ We have a trip planned for Senior Week. We have never done either of those things before. [The outgoing senior class] will experience probably the best Senior Week we’ve ever put together, so I’m really pumped. I really love this class of kids, and there’ll be some bumps in the road as we’re pulling it together, but I think it’ll be a good time.”
What has been one of your favorite moments so far this school year?
“I think the Pep Rally this year was just so fun. Every year the Pep Rally is fun, but this year they added some new elements. I don’t think anybody going into it would have assumed that some of these new features, like a paper airplane contest, would have gotten the students really excited. I will say, I think everybody who watched musical chairs knows that it got a little rowdy, so we probably won’t do that one again. But I think, except for that part, everything else was just really enjoyable and a good way to head into Thanksgiving break.”
Is there anything else you would like to add?
“It’s been a good year so far. It’s a year that I think we’ll look back on as being sweeping change, but my job is to make sweeping change not feel so disruptive. I think my staff and students have been really helpful in negotiating that change gracefully.”
