Taking Aim

On April 19th and 20th I spent a lot of time gathering information in Mexico High School and the Career Center to take AIM at areas for improvement in the high school. In reflection, what was so refreshing was finding school teachers and leaders aiming along with me -- remember: I've only been in the district for 5 days, one of these was to be interviewed. I've found so many ready to move so quickly and so late in the school year and it is, well, UNCOMMON. If there's one thing I've picked up on at Mexico High School among faculty and staff it is this: There is a strong desire to AIM to reach and teach students, and adopt a path to make a stronger positive impact in the lives of students -- TOGETHER. This is refreshing. It isn't found in every school. A quick look at Mexico neighbors to the east in St. Louis inner-city schools and the west in Kansas City inner-schools would find an extremely high drop out rate and loads of disengaged, off-track students. Couple this fact with scores of teachers that avoid working in schools like these because job satisfaction and life meaning are lost in an environment where students struggle to learn in the face of many factors outside the schools' control.

I also had the opportunity to meet with students in a focus group setting which proved to be exceptionally revealing. A focus group is a moderated conversation with open-ended questions which allows information (data) to be gathered about a particular topic, in this case Mexico High School.  In particular, the overall climate of the building came up as a major theme in our group. In fact, it was eloquently described by nearly all the 15 students. The students that met with me provided valuable insight into how teaching and learning was occuring in the building - some very positive insight and some areas that will need to be addressed early-on for our coming school year. I can't remember a group of students with more meaningful comments and observations in a focus group setting than the group that participated April 20. I appreciated all their respectful, and very honest appraisals. Rest assured, their comments and observations are valuable to our faculty and staff as we begin to look for ways to improve Mexico High School and our work as professionals.

My next trip to Mexico will be on graduation day May 24. I believe it's important to see this event even if I'm not "officially" the principal until July 1. Graduation ceremonies are about a community's best hope and young people reflecting on their purpose. The community launches them into full-fledged adulthood in a celebration of success. Mexico's seniors are the end-result of a community's effort to launch them into a competitive, sometimes tough world. I want to be a part of the celebration, even if this time is only as a spectator. See you all on May 24.