Field Experience A: District-Level Official Interview 1

Field Experience A: District-Level Official Interview

Raymond Barton

Grand Canyon University: EAD 505-Educational Law

3/02/2020
Field Experience A: District-Level Official Interview 2

Field Experience A: District-Level Official Interview

Bagdad Unified School District (BUSD) is a small rural district in Yavapai County,

Arizona. The district serves roughly 620 students in grades k-12. Bagdad school district has two

schools, a middle/high school and an elementary school. The administration is made up of one

principal for each school along with a superintendent. The district school board consists of five

members. For this field experience and interview was conducted with one member of the school

board to discuss what goes into creating and changing policies for the Bagdad Unified School

District.

Creating and updating the manual

After conducting the interview, I learned that when it comes to updating and making

policies, the district relies on the superintendent to introduce policies. The board member said

that most policy changes come from the superintendent, they couldn't, or wouldn't, give me a

percentage. They did say that the superintendent and school principals meet with the school

board members regularly to review policies and procedures. When looking into amending or add

new policies are influenced by new legislation, both state and federal. Other factors that would

affect a change or addition would be things like, student progress, school budget, safety, staffing,

or anything that they feel would benefit the district. The review of policy and the adaption of

new policy promotes the mission and vision of the school (Professional Standards for

Educational Leaders, 2015, Standard 9).

I asked the member about a new policy that was passed that didn't turn out the way they

expected. Last summer, at the urging of the superintendent, the board changed the policy of

letting online home school students participate in extracurricular activities. In Arizona,

homeschool students must be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities. Yet, students

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that take a class from online schools are part of a charter school; therefore, it up to the school

district whether they can participate in extracurricular actives (AIA Bylaw Article 15, 2019).

BUSD, in the past, had allowed online students to participate. The intention of changing the

regulation was to try to get these students to enroll in our school. It would help increase

enrollment and provide for better accountability for students that represent the district. The board

did not expect any issues because this policy affected very few students. It turned out there was

more resistance than they expected and to some legal action the board member couldn't discuss.

It just goes to show you never know what may happen when you change policy. The board

member informed me that will most policy changes they never have issues.

All policy changes or new policies are introduced by the superintendent and then approved by

the school board. When implementing new procedures or making a change, the superintendent

must send the original or amended policy to the Arizona School Boards Association (ASBA) for

review. They make sure that is legal and that the wording is clear and understandable. After

ASBA gives its approval, then it can be presented at a school board meeting for the first review.

If no changes occur, then it will be placed on the agenda for a second board meeting for

discussion and action. Now, it can be voted on an approved. If changes are made it must be sent

back to the ASBA for approval. It was interesting to know that if there was an emergency, the

school board has the power to declare a board emergency where they can adopt changes or

approve the new policy in a single meeting.

Day to Day Duties and Functions

The second part of the interview discussed the day to day duties of the principal. The

board members see that the principal is affected by many factors’ students, parents, the

superintendent, community needs, and teacher’s needs. “There are 100 factors that could have an
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impact on the day." In this board members view the essential thing principals need to do to keep

the student safe. To do this, the principal must be visible on campus. They should be visiting

classrooms and seeing what is happening on campus. The second most important thing a

principal does daily is to deal with parents. The board member said, “Happy parents lead to a

happy board” when parents are happy, they are not coming to complain. The quickest way to

make parents happy is to contact them when there is an issue. Keep them informed on what is

going on at the schools. Lastly, this board member said that they expect the principal to have

happy teachers. Having happy teachers lead to better performance in the classroom. When

teachers are happy you have more retention, when teachers stay in the district, we have more

consistency and leads to stronger test scores.

Shadowing

After spending an hour shadowing my mentor, I learned how immense a principal’s

responsibility entails. I learned that skillful delegation of duty is a vital leadership tool to have if

I want to be a competent principal. I sat with my mentor why he talked to a few different

teachers where they discussed everything from student issues to supplies needed for next year.

No matter what was being discussed my mentor was always positive. In my time with him he

demonstrated two aspects of Professional Standards for Educational Leaders standard Nine. First

was showing a system for fair and equitable management of conflict among students, faculty,

and staff (PSEL, 2015, Standard 9). Second was the management of fiscal resources to support

curriculum and instruction (PSEL, 2015, Standard 9). I will use what I have learned from my

principal about responsibility and developing a positive and productive relationship among

members of the school community when I become an educational leader. I learned to be an

effective leader; it is critical to keep up with the current trends, new legislation, and legal issues
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that concern education. It is also important to empower other people to take on leadership roles

(Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, 2015, Standard 7).

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References

Arizona Interscholastic Association (2019).  Bylaws; Article 15. Student Eligibility Rules

Retrieved from: http://aiaonline.org/files/65/article-15-student-eligibility-rules.pdf

National Policy Board for Educational Administration (2015). Professional Standards for

Educational Leader 2015. Reston, VA: Author.