Fayetteville assistant principals to change campuses

FAYETTEVILLE -- Allison Houston remembers standing inside Butterfield Trail Elementary School when she knew she wanted to switch from being a junior high assistant principal to an elementary assistant principal.

She remembers being amazed at an elementary teacher who gave a signal that quickly sent her pupils to learning stations in different parts of the classroom.

It's a moment that is again fresh in Houston's mind with a recent decision by top Fayetteville School District leaders to assign eight assistant principals to different schools for the 2016-17 school year.

The change means Houston will leave Holcomb Elementary School to go to Butterfield Trail. Jana Starr, an assistant principal at Asbell Elementary School, is set to take her place at Holcomb. Butterfield Trail Assistant Principal Heather Williams is going to McNair Middle School. They are among the assistant principals affected.

Starr has worked as a team with Asbell Principal Tracy Bratton during the past four years to build up student test scores, and the effort has started to produce some results.

"It's hard to let go," Starr said. "I look forward to the next chapter, and we'll see what happens."

Houston thinks of Butterfield Trail as a good school and is happy to be going there, but the move has led to some teary-eyed moments with her Holcomb colleagues.

"This has become such a family to me," Houston said.

The decision was made by Superintendent Paul Hewitt and associate superintendents Kim Garrett and John L Colbert.

"People who have been at a school and are comfortable there and know the system there, you make a change like this, it rumbles through," Hewitt said. "It raises the level of discomfort. It requires some risk-taking. That's what we need in leaders -- people who adjust, adapt and take risks."

The administration wants the role of assistant principal to be like an apprenticeship for becoming a principal, Hewitt said. Many assistant principals have worked at only one school, giving them a limited perspective of that school's culture and that principal's leadership style. Fayetteville officials want assistant principals to see how different principals lead.

"It is critical that school districts prepare a cadre of people who have broad perspectives to move into the principalship when a position comes open," Hewitt said.

Having assistant principals switch campuses is a new strategy for Fayetteville schools to support the development of assistant principals, Garrett said. The administration does not have plans to move assistant principals on a schedule, but additional moves are possible for assistant principals or principals who work in the same building for a long period of time.

Developing school leaders

Another concern is having enough high-quality candidates to fill future principal positions, Hewitt said.

Many educators who enter educational leadership programs have no intention of becoming a leader, said Ed Bengston, assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Arkansas who researches the preparation of principals. They are driven by the desire for higher pay and more options that additional education and a master's degree offer.

Another issue is whether the job of a principal is desirable, Bengston said. The job is intense, stressful and often means working 60 to 80 hours a week. Some ways school districts can make the principal job more attractive by providing adequate support or developing a school culture where it's OK to have a balanced life.

An example of support is having personnel in place for principals to go to for information in a timely manner, Bengston said.

"You can get swallowed up by the profession," he said.

School systems in different parts of the country, from large urban districts to small rural schools, are having conversations about how to develop a pipeline of leadership, Bengston said.

Little research exists on rotating assisting principals, but the literature is mixed, Bengston said. Some research shows that it sharpens skills, while others show it can have a devastating impact on school systems. He thinks success depends on the mindset of those affected, including how open principals are to developing assistant principals and how open assistant principals are to learning new aspects of schools.

The efforts in Fayetteville appear to be about developing an internal pipeline of leaders, Bengston said.

"It's one of the things in education we don't do well," he said. "We don't consider the fact we need to continue to develop folks."

Breaking the news

Assistant principals didn't know about the plans for next school year until they attended a meeting in early April with the associate superintendents, Houston said.

"It's for growth," Houston said. "I totally understand that."

Houston's career spans 21 years. She taught at the junior high and high school levels for 10 years in Oklahoma, Fort Smith and Rogers before becoming an administrator in 2005. She spent two years as a dean of students at Rogers High School before becoming an assistant principal at Woodland Junior High School in Fayetteville.

She was at Woodland for five years before taking the assistant principal job at Holcomb.

Houston grew in her career with each change. She's at peace with the new assignment, but the news upset her at first, she said.

"Teachers were emailing me and texting me," Houston said. "I had to pray about it."

Houston has developed a trusting relationship with the teachers at Holcomb so they can talk openly when issues arise with students. Houston will join the front office staff and some teachers after school for Pilates or a walk through the neighborhood, she said. Their children and grandchildren have gotten to know each other after school.

They have been together for parties and dinner out, Houston said.

Sometimes Houston is too happy, said Mona Foster, an administrative assistant at Holcomb.

"She always has a smile on her face," Foster said. "The parents enjoy that so much, having someone happy to greet their children. She's always so positive."

Different schools

The district also is developing a training program to make it a priority for assistant principals to be involved in leading instruction, Garrett said.

Principals are the instructional leaders of their campuses, and assistant principals are there to support the principal, Garrett said. Principals decide how to delegate responsibilities, and the duties they assign to assistant principals varies from campus to campus, Garrett said.

"The best they can do is understand how to solve problems," Garrett said. "You become a better problem-solver by being exposed to many different situations."

District leaders decided to leave all assistant principals in place who have been in their buildings fewer than three years, Garrett said. No changes were made at the junior high and high school level because the junior high assistant principals have been there less than three years. Because of certifications, that meant the high school assistant principals also needed to stay in place.

The assistant principals at Happy Hollow and Vandergriff also have been at their campuses for fewer than three years, so they are staying put, Garrett said.

Some smaller schools with around 300 students or fewer have had several part-time administrators, Garrett said. With the changes, district leaders sought to place full-time staff to focus on one campus and to support the principal in the classroom instruction, Garrett said.

Leverett will not have an assistant principal for 2016-17, but will have a full-time instructional facilitator, Garrett said. Washington will have a part-time assistant principal who also will be a part-time instructional facilitator.

Root will have a principal and full-time assistant principal, but because both are strong instructional leaders, the campus will not have an instructional facilitator, Garrett said. Asbell is also a small campus, but because of its high poverty level and need for support, the campus will have an assistant principal and an instructional facilitator.

Holcomb Principal Tracy Mulvenon said Fayetteville benefits from good leadership, but the decision to move Houston is a change.

"We're sad about her leaving," Mulvenon said.

Holcomb has become like a family for Houston because of the relationships she has with the staff, relationships she hopes to build at Butterfield Trail. Houston feels like she has more to learn about leading an elementary school.

"I have learned so much here," Houston said of Holcomb. "Eventually I would like to be a principal."

"She will be," Mulvenon said.

NW News on 05/09/2016