Field Experience A: District-Level Official Interview

I am employed with Success at Thurgood Marshall which is an independent charter

school operating under two boards (Orleans and private). Our handbook is aligned with the

district’s manual. This charter runs like a system within a system. Success School basically does

not have to answer to another board long as the school are performing at a C or higher. We have

a separate board that governs our school and creates our handbook and policies. The policies are

basically aligned with the Orleans Parish School Policies with a few changes. I had the honor of

interviewing elect Mr. Adam Meinig, the CEO of Success at Thurgood Marshall.

Mr. Meinig allowed me to conduct an interview with him via phone. I explained the

purpose of the call asked for a continuous line of communication to be open between us that can

assist me on this journey of becoming a principal. I started the interview off by asking about

revision procedures regrading updating policies. His response he stated before any revisions are

made, there must be a collection of data that will be reviewed by the board. The data will signify

discrepancies and concerns with the normed or projected outcomes of the policies. If there is a

high percentage of pushback or discrepancies, then it would be placed on the tactical list for

discussion for the next board meeting. Once the board agrees that there are inconsistencies, then

a pre-revision meeting is called to see if the data collected is accurate which calls for revisions of

a policy or policies. Once board members, selected officials, and parents vote that revisions

should be made, then they decide what the revisions are and vote for an approval. The public is

invited to participate in both the pre-revision and revision meeting. The revisions are approved

and officially updated in the manual for the upcoming school year.
Field Experience A: District-Level Official Interview

Principals are faced with many challenges throughout the day. Mr. Meinig stated that

inconsistencies of a team can affect the performance of a principal.

Mr. Meinig wanted clarity in on the question on what affects the day‐to‐day duties and

functions of school principals. His response was that principals’ daily task is to manage all

school operations and check in with leaders in charge of different components to gain a pulse of

the school; This includes school daily activities, culture walk throughs, maintenance department

check ins, transportation, and food service. It's the principal job to provide a safe and productive

learning culture and see that the school meets their goals and performance standards.

As it relates to the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders Standard 9

(Operations and Management), I was assigned to manage staff resources to support learning. I

met with the business manager to discuss the budget of the co-curricular department, ensuring all

teachers received their supplies. Then calculate the left-over funds so it can be allocated for other

projects; such as funding field trips, providing food for students for a future offsite after-school

performance. I was also assigned the project of getting accurate seating charts of students

utilizing our transportation services. I checked in with eleven teachers and asked each to board a

bus and assign each student to a seat. Once students were assigned, teachers made a seating chart

with their names and submitted to me for approval. Teachers also labeled their seats above the

window to assist the bus driver with identifying students. This task taught me how to delegate

responsibilities and not try to do everything on my own. This assignment taught me to look at

leadership through another lens, more holistic approach.

Field Experience A: District-Level Official Interview

Reference

National Policy Board for Educational Administration. Professional Standards for Educational
Leaders (PSEL).2015. Retrieved on September 4, 2019 from http://npbea.org/wp-
content/uploads/2017/06/Professional-Standards-for-Educational-Leaders_2015.pdf