Who Is Principal Thompson: Unconcerned Or Uninterested Parents?

Lincoln High School, which is located in a low-income neighborhood in San Diego, was a rebuilt after 50 years of failing to educate children. Rebuilding the high school was the answer the community had been looking for they were hopeful. Before the rebuild most students who attended Lincoln did not meet the standards for their grade-level, few graduated and even fewer went go on to college. After years of suffering and neglect there was little doubt That Lincoln High School deserved the $129 million it received from the city to rebuild. But was rebuilding the school the solution for Lincoln High School 's education problem? First we’ll examine, How the problem started, the decision making steps and if the plan was successful.

This is a case study analysis of The New Principal: Managing Human Resources by Jane A. MacDonald (2006). This case study focuses on issues a first year principal may face when entering her school for the first time. Ms. Vera Zola was not only a first year principal; she was also new to the school district. In her previous role as assistant principal, she was in a neighboring school district. In her new district, the Suburban Public School District (SPS), there were approximately 11,000 students enrolled (MacDonald, 2006). Ms. Zola was assigned to Roma Elementary, one of six elementary schools in the district. There were two middle schools and two high schools. Approximately 80% of high school graduates continued on to higher education or a trade school. Community members had diverse cultural backgrounds and lifestyles, and the community was growing.

When Mr. Clark originally taught at Eastside High School, the culture seemed very competitive and full of high standards. The students seemed very eager to learn and at a pretty high level for their age. Twenty years later, the culture flips dramatically. The school quickly goes from pristine to a graffiti-infested playground. The teachers are the prey and the students (mainly the ‘hoodlums’) pretty much do as they please. Education is a small goal for any of the students, and the students that do want to do well fear those “hoodlums.” Mr. Clark identifies this immediately when returning to Eastside High. During his first assembly, Mr. Clark let the entire school know that he was the HNIC. He gathered up all the trouble makers and sent them home, expelling them from school. Most were drug dealers, 5th year students, or drug abusers that were dulling the spark of the other students.

The school is responsible for designing and implementing strategies to reach the educational goals of students. The particular high school beliefs that all kids can learn and that the mission of this school is to challenge each student to learn, achieve, and fulfill his /her potential. Principals should lead each school in implementing the policies. In addition, this high school’s improvement plan of the three legal issues: unsupervised students, hallways, and field

At Hazelwood High School, they do things differently than at my school. At Hazelwood, most of the people worry about themselves and nobody else. Most of the school doesn’t get good grades and the school does not do anything about it. One day in English class Andy walked out when they were reading Macbeth because it was too emotional for Andy to handle. His friends were concerned and told the school counselor. They said, “But… but… it seems like… like… he needs help or somethin’.” Then the counselor said, “Well, I probably shouldn’t tell you boys this, but he is getting some outside counseling… So you boys can relax and be assured that he is getting whatever help he needs”(100). At Harrisburg High School, if someone had an issue like that, the counselors and teachers would be concerned, even if the person was getting outside help. Another thing about education that is different than mine is the school. In Ronda’s English homework, she wrote, “Our school building must have been built about a million years ago, because it was brown and tall and raggedy-looking, but it fit right in with the rest of the day”(16). At my high school, we are very fortunate to have a very new building to learn inside of. At Hazelwood High, they were not fortunate enough to have a new high school be built. Culture and education are very important pieces of people’s

Union Hill Elementary School is embedded in an area of rich history in the City of Worcester. Their school building was built following the Civil War and has withstood the changes of time from its early years of a primarily Jewish Immigrant and merchant town to today’s urban neighborhood, rich in diversity but plagued with instability, crime and poverty. In March of 2010, Union Hill was identified as a Level IV School; it was a school that lacked structure with a chaotic environment with many deficits. There was a lack of supervision, schedule, standard-based curriculum, effective instruction and leadership. Most importantly, there was a lack of trust among the parents. They did not have the faith that Union Hill was going to give their children the best education possible. Under the supervision of new Principal Marie Morse, changes were made. There was a new level of commitment and passion among the school staff that drove them toward creating five areas of focus for the year:

Mark Biller describes the educational system like a delicate ecosystem, all parts of it need to work together if things are going to last. If the community does not support a school, odds are the school will have to close-down. If the teachers don’t work with parents, then kids will not get the support they need. If parents do not support teachers, students loose an

It is said that “Most families want to know what is going on in the school and would do a better job of parenting and educating if they knew how.” (MORRISON, 2009, p. 491)

Every school district has board meetings throughout the school year. Unfortunately, many parents, community members, & school personnel do not attend such important meetings because they don’t realize or understand the importance of such board meetings or how informative they can be. According to Kankakee School District (2017), the Kankakee School District Board of Education is composed of seven elected members, who were elected by the citizens of Kankakee to serve a four-year term that do not receive no salary for they services, are committed to ensuring a quality of educational excellence that will enhance the opportunities and challenges facing today’s student and additional responsibilities that board members include are selection of the District superintendent, developing general polices according to wishes of the community and requirements of law, hiring school personnel based upon recommendation of the Superintendent and the Assistant Superintendent of Personnel, adopts salary schedules, approves funds to finance school operations, must adopt and review the annual operating budget for the District, and setting the property tax levy to produce adequate funds to meet the District’s financial needs ranks among the responsibilities of the Board of Education (Retrieved from https://www.ksd111.org/domain/68). For this paper, the Kankakee School District board meeting will be used, information learned from board meeting, use of

"I can't name one person who lives in a home with the mother and the father. I wish I could.” Another problem facing the school is the lack of support from parents. I believe that the blame extends beyond teachers and administrators. For example in the auditorium on Back to School Night.

The chapter opens with a case—Robert F. Kennedy High School—depicting the many problems facing David King, the new principal of a deeply troubled urban high school. A school that opened with high hopes only a few years ago now finds itself mired in conflict and dissatisfaction. King’s first meeting with his new administrative staff produces a blow-up in which a male housemaster physically threatens the chair of the English department. By the end of the case, the situation feels overwhelming. Is there hope? The authors follow

David Kane is an African-American young gentleman, who has been latterly awarded the position of a principal at the Thurgood Marshall High School, Illinois. The school is two years old and divided into four “house”, each comprised of 300 students, 18 faculty members and a housemaster. Dr. Louis Parker had been the school’s first principal and had an impressive background, but he reassigned in disillusionment and many described him as a “broken man” .

When the decision was made to close the Hillcrest campus in 2014, the timing of the announcement and handling of the parents involved was less than ideal. With less than one year as RSPS administrator, Dr. Menard was ill equipped to handle the closing decision and properly communicate with parents. This led to many students leaving the Meritas Family of Schools entirely and tarnishing Rancho Solano’s image in the community. Her systematic faults can be summarized by Allison Stanton’s article which states “by remembering that

Another Monday night, another 6:30. Another routine school board meeting? No. The past week had seen a series of meetings between the parents, teachers, students, and elected officials of Manawa WI, my hometown. And at this particular school board meeting, the mayor was about to present a report of those meetings, and ask the board to make as series of changes to combat the startling rise in the number of both teachers and students leaving the district.

There is a very fine line between freedom and self-determination when discussing and -implementing activities for students and education purposes. I agree with both the new teacher and Mr. Humam in this case study. The freedom and self-determination curriculum described for Hillsdale “A” School could possible work as a school curriculum if presented in a solid structure. It’s very important to communicate and have relationships with all students, parents and teachers, however if not equally it is just as important to educate and contribute to student and staff morale. After evaluating and considering the current plan and the progress of the student’s growth, a mid-semester staff and administering meeting will be conducted to resurface the existing plan (Progressive view point). Student’s grades, attendance, student and parent involvement; participation in school activities will be weighed. Our purpose of joining and concluding will be to create or modify a plan that would include students to attend class regularly, implement a grading system containing a strict academic curriculum focusing on college and job readiness. A social emotion curriculum will be offered to address behavior and self-worth. Courses like sunbathing (Human Science), and personal grooming; hair and nails (Cosmetology), will be offered as student choice. Although this plan will eliminate wasted student free time and lack of parent involvement, we will provide an environment that will allow student choice