New Principal. New Policies. Old Problems
By Marlon Saucedo
Round Rock, Texas – A new principal has been assigned for this new scholar year in suburban high school, Stony Point, a school which has dealt with problems of student misbehavior, teacher retention and academic performance within their past few years. Anthony Watson was appointed as head administrator of the school and has introduced new systems to the school which have so far created a fair amount of criticism but most importantly, it has brought a new opportunity to improve the school’s standards.
“The school definitely had it’s flaws, there were just too many kids and not enough staff, a lot of the ways they tried to control the kids made us feel imprisoned but Mr. Watson said he wasn’t shooting to make our school number one this year, he’s in it for the long run” said, senior, David Aranda.
Anthony Watson, a man with 16 years of experience as teacher and administrator in both middle schools and high schools, has implemented a fresh set of collaborative policies that tackle the curriculum, culture and assessment of the school and it revolves around the mantra, “Get the P.O.I.N.T”. This system focuses on the ideas of pride/perseverance, ownership, intellectual capacity, nobility and teamwork. According to Watson, if students and teachers embrace those ideas, then they “get the point”, meaning that they understand what they must improve on for the long run and are on their way to creating a development of the skills and practices that will be necessary for the student’s adult life.
“Being an adult doesn’t mean doing what you want, it means doing what you have to do”, said Watson.
The principal has eliminated systems of the school such as, in-school suspension, a system that students have taken advantage of, in the past, by purposefully getting in trouble in order to avoid going to class. This, along with more specific rules like students not being allowed in the halls before the beginning of their first class of the day, the elimination of cell phones during class hours and in the hallways, as well as several rules restricting unprofessional clothing will serve as a way for them to.
““I was tired of kids spending 4 years in this campus and then watching them walking aimlessly everyday with nowhere to go; they’re 21, 22 they should be in school, they should be at work but they’re walking around in their ratty t-shirt and ratty shorts and it’s 1 o’clock in the afternoon, they have not been anywhere that day,” Watson.
The new system has been met by much approval from the majority of the school’s staff. Sunshine Morgan, a teacher who has seen the school’s transformation throughout her 14 years of service, admires Mr. Watson’s fearless mentality towards the criticism of parents, students and teachers alike; a mentality she believes others before him lacked. “He’ll just take it, he’s just like, ‘Okay, so now what are we going to do? Because this is our job,” said Morgan.
Concerning the expectations of the school’s educators, Watson said, “Teachers need to see beyond their scores and realize there are cultural factors that created every single thing that happened in this child’s life before their learning; look beyond their behavior and see that kid who really needs help”.
According to Morgan, in the years leading up to the calling of the current principal, it was the “students and the parents who were running the school”. She recalled an encounter with a student a few years ago who threatened to kill her. She informed the principal of the school of the encounter but instead of dealing with the situation, the problem was brushed off with “don’t worry about it, I’ll talk to him later,” although, “later” never came. She admitted to have witnessed several fights during school hours that she could have intervened in, but the lack in a sense of safety and care from the higher ups kept her from engaging in those situations.
“We’ll be respectful to them (students) and as they give me their ideas of solutions and they can prove to me that those solutions are viable, I’ll listen to them, but until they’re responsible enough to handle the pieces, then we will put those pieces in place” said Watson, addressing the collaborative means he has put into place.
An obvious sense of bitterness has grown among the school’s students due to the changes in their scholastic system. “I think his methodology is still from middle school, most of us are 17, 18 and we’re being treated like children and I don’t agree with that at all” said senior, Matthew Delp.
About the new cell phone rules, Junior, Justin Sigmon, said, “I feel the rules about the phones are a little unorthodox because it’s not like you’re really hurting anybody other than yourself in class”.
In realization to those rules, Matthew Delp said, “The phone rule isn’t about the music or the distracting in class, it’s about the videos, the fights”, adding to this comment was, Kara Palk, who said “I think it’s kind of dumb that we can’t have phones but we’re allowed to use them in the cafeteria which is where most of the fighting goes on”. This was referring to an event that occurred earlier in the week, in which a brawl broke out outside of the school and did not spread as fluidly as it did before. “I think he’s just trying to fix things that weren’t broken in the first place,” said Palk.
Watson has acknowledged the fact that this turn of events has been easier on the teachers rather than the students and that the first years of transition from notoriety to praise will be challenging. However difficult the challenge will be, it is a challenge that Anthony Watson is determined to take, “I can help these kids, they need hope, they need help, and they just need someone to push them. I’m not afraid to push them. I’m not afraid for them to be upset with me cause it’s not going to stop me wanting the best for them”.
Marlon C.S. 