A new
class of principals
On their first day, hundreds of
school leaders dive into evolving challenges
Wednesday, September 07, 2005 • BY JOHN MOONEY
• Star-Ledger Staff
In the door at 7 a.m. yesterday, Dona
Preston was fielding parent phone calls 15 minutes later and
early-bird students a half-hour before the first bell would
ring.
The copy machine briefly didn't work --
"That made me really nervous," Preston said -- and a
laminating machine was missing from a classroom. And that
was all before the official start of Preston's first school
day as principal of Linden's Highland Avenue School
No.10.
As public schools open across New Jersey
this week, Preston is one of hundreds of men and women in
their rookie year at the helm. Regarded as having maybe the
most important job in education but also one of the most
unpredictable, they are diving in.
In Preston's first hour, a bus went to
the wrong school, a mother asked that her child's teacher be
switched, and there were more than a few parents who
wouldn't leave.
"Okay, parents, time to go; your children
will be fine," Preston told the stragglers, making a mental
note that parents from now on will stay outside.
Like much of public education, the job of
school principal has changed considerably over the last
decade. Once a male bastion, the position is now close to a
50-50 ratio, with most elementary schools run by women,
according to state data.
While the average experience of New
Jersey's 2,200-plus principals is more than 20 years in
education, one in 10 last year had less than a decade
working in schools. The same share is younger than
40.
Demands of the job have shifted, too.
School safety, special education, questions of legal
liability, and a host of new federal and state
accountability rules are just few of the pressures facing
principals like never before.
"The social issues they are dealing with,
the greater diversity of the student body, the state and
federal accountability -- it's a more complex job, no doubt
about it," said Eloise Forster of the New Jersey Principals
and Supervisors Association.
"It's not enough that just the trains run
on time any more," she said.
Given those demands of the job, Preston
is among the first class of new principals and other
administrators who will be required by the state to take
part in an on-the-job "residency," working for their first
two years with an outside mentor.
Forster of the principals group is
leading and supervising the program, already gathering and
training more than 120 mentors. Vito D'Alconzo is one of
them, a former North Plainfield and Boonton principal who is
mentoring Preston and three others.
"When I started, I would have loved to
have someone to bounce things off," D'Alconzo said
yesterday. "Even if you think you're on top of it, there's
always something that pops up."
Like parking.
"The parking borders on dangerous,"
Preston said yesterday, citing the cars parked at all angles
outside her new elementary school in the morning, leaving
little room for the darting children.
"We'll have to do something about that,"
she said. "Maybe cones, or I'll get out there
myself."
Parking was actually one of the few
problems, though, in what was a nice debut for the new
principal in her preK-5 school of about 330 students. A
former special education supervisor and teacher within the
district, the 55-year-old Preston already knew much of the
staff and even some of the students.
She had spent the bulk of the summer at
the school, putting in place what she acknowledges is a
near-obsessive system of color- coded schedules, defined
tasks and even numbered cafeteria tables. "It's a sickness,
I know," Preston joked.
Added secretary Diana Kosiba: "Being with
her over the summer, we are organized. Boy, are we
organized."
It wasn't just the new organization that
she brought to the school, as teachers after just a few days
said they appreciated less tangible traits in their new
leader.
Last Friday, as teachers returned to
prepare their classrooms, Preston greeted each one with a
decorated goodie bag of candy and treats. In between talk of
how to replace old computers and catch up to School 9 for
top test scores in the district, she asked teachers for
their own suggestions.
It wasn't lost on many in this staff of
virtually all women that for the first time they had a
female principal.
"It was such a welcome surprise to know
it was a woman," said Joan Barron, a fourth-grade teacher of
more than 20 years. "More than the candy, she gave us
respect."
Four days later, Preston said no training
could ever have completely prepared her for the first day.
To gain her certification, Preston took part in an
accelerated program through the principals association that
has graduated nearly 150 new leaders since 2003. It includes
mock exercises in everything from parent complaints to
scheduling woes.
But earlier she described the butterflies
in her stomach like that of an actor about to walk on
stage.
"I don't know how they could ever explain
the first day," she said. "There's nothing like
it."
John Mooney covers education. He may be reached at
jmooney@star ledger.com or (973) 392-1548.
© 2005 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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