Ms. Russell, our new principal,  would like to meet with all parents to listen to your feedback, expectations, ideas and vision for her and for our school..  We will meet in the BG Library on Thursday, August 13 from 6:30-8:00pm.  Please contact me at susanmcconn@comcast.net if you have any questions.  See you then!!

July 7, 2009

Dear Briargrove Parents,

I am thrilled to announce that Deborah Russell has been named principal of our school.  A product of HISD schools since the age of 5, Debi brings years of teaching and administrative experience with her to Briargrove.  She spent 14 years teaching at the elementary level and has served in a variety of different capacities throughout the HISD West Region.

Debi became interested in elementary education while working in an emergency shelter.  Her interaction with children in the most distressing of situations solidified her desire to be an advocate for all children and to seek out the best way to serve them.  In the last year, she has served as an Aspiring Principal’s Institute Intern, attending two separate courses at Harvard University and gaining on-the-job experience as she worked closely under the principal of West Briar Middle School.

Debi is married to Jerry Russell and is the proud mother of Zachary,18, who graduated from Westside High School in May and will attend U of H in the fall and Cole, 23,  who will obtain her degree in elementary education from U of H this coming December.  In her spare time, Debi loves to read, cook and spend time with her family.

Debi is eager to meet both parents and faculty as soon as possible and looks forward to a spirited exchange of ideas and vision in the upcoming year.  We will schedule a parent focus group, probably in early August, in order for Debi to hear feedback on your vision for the school and expectations for your new principal.  Check back on the website and email for more details on the date, time and location of the meeting. 

Thank you so much to all of you for contributing to the process with your ideas and input.  Please join me in giving Debi Russell a giant Roadrunner welcome!

Sincerely,

Susan McConn

PTO President

Ann Sledge has been named Executive Principal over Briargrove Elementary School.  This is the position that was previously held by Armando Alaniz.  Many of you remember Ann from her years as Principal at Briargrove.  The West Region has recently been reorganized to align Executive Principals with their areas of expertise.  Mr. Alaniz has many years of secondary experience and will continue to be Executvie Principal over Grady.  Ann Sledge's experience, obviously, is primarily at the elementary level, so Briargrove will become one of her schools.  I am very grateful to Mr. Alaniz and his years of service to Briargrove especially during the recent principal search.  As those of you who attended the parent focus group know, he has been more than fair in listening to the concerns of parents and their expectations for a new principal.  Thank you Mr. Alaniz!  I look forward, as I know you do as well, to Ann Sledge's strong leadership and think she will be a tremendous asset in helping our new Principal understand the inner workings of our school.  Let me know if you have any questions regarding this reorganization. 

 See below for a message from Ms. Picard re early dismissal:

We will still have early dismissal at Briargrove on Fridays.  Most of the needs assessments we got back from parents say they will be picking up their children on Friday.  We will have Camp Roadrunner for those students needing that extra supervision.  Camp Roadrunner will be only until 3:30 and on Fridays only.  I have also been working on fee for service programs for Friday.  So far I have ArtWorks, Early Language Learners, and Robotics coming on Fridays.  I was looking for someone to provide etiquette classes but haven't been successful yet.

 This subject really doesn't have much to do with the principal search but I put this blog entry here because I think that is where most people are checking these days.  I have received many questions regarding early dismissal and wanted to let you know what I know on this subject.  I spoke to Armando Alaniz, Executive Principal over our school, and he told me that he thought that the early dismissal program would remain in place for the fall.  He said that from his experience, it is disastrous to make schedule changes in the summer.  I'm sure the new principal will re-assess all of the programs at Briargrove upon his/her arrival and in so doing, may decide to do away with early dismissal (or he/she may not!)  Either way, I think the earliest any changes would occur would be mid-year.  I hope this clarifies the subject for those of you trying to make arrangements for fall.  Keep all the great questions coming and I will do my best to answer them in a timely fashion!!

Thanks so much and have a wonderful 4th of July!

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA!!!!!

Interviews for our new principal were held in the Briargrove Library today.  Thank you to all of you who provided feedback during the first phase of the interview process for our new principal.  I can assure you that not only were your comments used to formulate questions but the candidates answers were evaluated in light of what you said you wanted in a new principal.  We were able to recommend some great candidates to Barbara Thornhill, Superintendent of the West Region.  The West Region office will review references from the recommended candidates as well as administer necessary tests or review test scores (all potential principals are required to pass 4 aptitude/psychology tests).  Once the candidates pass this part of the process, they will be interviewed by Ms. Thornhill who will then recommend two candidates to be interviewed by Dr. Saavedra on July 7th.  He will hopefully select our new principal (he has the power to veto both candidates which will extend the process).  I will keep you posted as I receive updates.  Please let me know if you have any questions about the process.  Obviously, questions about specific candidates cannot be entertained in order to protect the privacy of the candidates. 

As of 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 28, 25 people have responded to the survey.  Responses fell in several general categories--I grouped the comments together to make it easier to digest the information.  Please email me if you have any questions at all regarding the responses.  I'll update the responses every evening.  Thanks so much!

Community Perception: 

• Not the dynamic school it once was
• Great
• excellent
• Good, but not as good as Rogers
• Many Problems
• As a great and rich school in terms of personality
• Strong neighborhood school
• Easily persuaded
• Community icon
• Best school
• Quality neighborhood school
• Good public opinion
• Very good
• Attendance of students from the neighborhood must increase.
• Good for a public school
• Strong, community, overpopulated
• Great reputation
• Very strong school
• Community school
• Good neighborhood school
• Strong
• Leaderless, ok, crowded, not neighborhood enough
• Expects high standards

Faculty/Staff

• Knows everyone and encourages parent involvement
• Teachers are committed to students
• Good office staff, kind teachers
• Strong teachers
• Great staff
• Supportive staff
• Great teachers
• Would like to see a dress code for teachers
• Would like to see a more professional office staff
• Teachers are very hard-working and understanding
• Public opinion of the school needs improvement.
• The level of professionalism needs to improve.
• Teachers are dedicated and creative
• Teachers are the best thing about the school
• Some teachers need to stop yelling at the students--the Principal should motivate them to be the best they can be in this and all areas

Curriculum/Academics:

• School needs to focus on learning and teaching children to think and less on TAKS
• School needs to be more challenging academically and keep the AR program
• School needs to work on teaching the curriculum and probably offer volunteer tutoring services
• More classes should be offered on Fridays
• More math classes
• BG needs a stronger academic program that challenges our children and is not just content with passing grades but strives to get the best out of all kids.
• School should be able to provide education for gifted and non-gifted students.
• Should be an exemplary school with an emphasis on math and science.
• BG should address the needs of all children from the accelerated to the remedial.
• New principal should not be satisfied with recognized status but should strive for exemplary status.
• More structure is needed in the curriculum
• The level of education needs to return to what it once was.
• BG needs to be at exemplary status.
• BG needs a stronger science and math curriculum.
• BG needs a well-definied GT plan that is in place for more than 1-2 years and looks at the academic strength of the students rather than placing more importance on class numbers.
• Students need more PE classes per week.
• The fifth grade academic program needs improvement.  It seems like BG's academics slack off in this grade compared to other schools.
• Principal should have knowledge and application of new teaching techniques and programs (less homework, more emphasis at lower grades of foreign languages) and should focus more on GT curriculum.
• Teachers need to stop teaching to the TAKS.
• BG should continue to excel academically for all students challenging higher achievers, assisting those who need additional help, but not letting those in the middle fall through the cracks.
• In order for BG to keep serving the BG neighborhood and attracting BG children, it has to show that it is academically strong and that the children will graduate from BG with the ability to succeed in any private or public middle school.

Demographics:

• New principal needs to understand and balance the needs and demands that come with the broad range of economic and racial diversity at BG.
• (Suggestion was made to group students demographically in order to be able to tailor the education needs to each group)
• Keep attracting the students from the neighborhood
• Principal must work to keep the neighborhood students at BG.
• The cultural diversity is the best thing about BG.
• The neighborhood feel is the best thing about BG.
• The neighborhood feel is the best thing about BG. (two different people made the same comment).

Parents:

• Great parent involvement
• Parents involvement is school’s best asset
• Parents raise a large amount of money for enhancements to the school
• PTO sponsors many enhancements to education (patriot day, 4^th grade Austin Filed trip, $ for  teachers to buy extra classroom supplies etc.)
• Great parent volunteers
• Great neighborhood and families
• Great parent involvement
• PTO needs to communicate better regarding details of meeting agendas, events and general information.
• Briargrove has a unique and strong PTO.  The new principal must know how to communicate and deal with the pressures of a lot of parent involvement.
• Great parent involvement
• Parents who care and are highly involved
• The free access to all the classrooms by the parents needs to be controlled and carefully monitored so that the teachers can teach.

Safety:

• Carpool lanes are dangerous off San Felipe
• BG needs more security control during entrance and exit for students and visitors.

Communication:

• This is the area which needs the most improvement at BG
• BG needs to provide parents knowledge of students’ achievements before the end of 9 weeks.
• BG should provide better communication on how students are progressing.
• New principal should be a great communicator with students, teachers and parents
• New principal needs to have an open line of communication with parents.
• New principal should communicate effectively his/her vision to faculty and parents.
• New principal should ask for feedback from parents and teachers.
• Communication needs improvement at all levels, beginning with the principal.
• Communication and consistency of expectations should be made more clear regarding programs and policies (example: GT, teacher assignments, schedule, class size, etc.)
• An effective principal must be able to communicate well with parents and students.
• Principal must be able to listen with an open mind and communicate effectively with parents and students.
• The area that most needs improvement is communication to all parents of things occuring at school.  The PTO is a wonderful tool...but we have to remember that the Principal is the leader of the school.
• If the new Principal does not communicate well, the community will not be able to place its trust in the position.  Bottom line--the PTO will run over a candidate that is not willing to push back and defend not only the decisions made in running the school but more importantly BACK their staff.  If not, the school will lose talent.

Vs.Private:

• BG needs to have more of a private school feel in the classrooms.
• BG should be competitive with private and vanguard schools in the area.
• BG should provide a high quality education and encourage a high level of parent involvement so that neighborhood parents do not feel they need to send their children to private school.
• BG should be an option for the whole neighborhood (so many choose private school) and lead into a great Grady feeder pattern.
• People should feel like Grady and Lamar are good options after BG.
• It should be a given that people living in the neighborhood send their children to BG.

Leadership:

• New principal should provide the necessary resources to accomplish his/her vision.
• New principal should address all issues promptly and decisively based on the vision for the school.
• Principal should be organized ambitious and compassionate to teachers, parents and students.
• Principal should be involved with every student-knowing and rewarding the high-achieving students and providing the necessary resources in order to help the underachieving students succeed.
• Principal must want the best for the school and be able to work with the involved parents, open to taking advice from the community
• Principal should be both friendly and strict.
• Principal should be proactive and positive.
• Leadership is the area where BG most needs improvement.
• Principal should lead in all areas--have a clear vision for the school, lead and earn respect from teachers, parents and students.
• Principal must not be afraid of the parents especially when he/she knows his/her information is correct.
• Principal must have common sense in regard to the decisions that are made for the school and be able to anticipate the outcome of decisions  and know how to effectively answer tough questions.
• Principal must listen to the needs of the school community and support community efforts. 
• Principal must focus on the needs of the students and community as a whole.
• Principal must be a good leader with mutual respect for faculty, students and parents.
• Principal must be a strong and respected leader who listens but then makes his/her decision and is not swayed by a few parents or teachers.
• Principal must understand diversity in the school space and promote equalitarian doctrine.
• Principal must be available to listen with an open mind.
• Principal must be tolerant and focused.
• Principal should be innovative, a strong leader and open to new ideas.
• Ann Sledge is an example of a great principal.
• We need to find someone like Ann Sledge with a vision and the charisma to lead the school toward it.  
• Principal should lead the school to greatness by hiring highly professional teachers.
• Principal should instill respect for the school among teachers, parents and students.
• Principal should lead enthusiastically with charisma and draw everyone together to work as a team.
• Principal should not be a 'yes man'.
• Principal should establish a culture that promotes the neighborhood feel of the school and relies on parental involvement and participation and offers a top-notch education with the help of top-notch staff of teachers.
• Principal should be a strong, decisive leader but relational with the kids.
• BG needs a strong principal who can cast a vision and lead its teachers as well as parents.
• Principal should support his/her teaching staff, embrace PTO support and above all strive to improve the educational quality and environment of the children without trying to please every single parent.
• Principal should be a strong leader with business sense, an interesting and confident speaker.
• Principal should above all have a true love for children.
• Principal should have the fortitude to run a business with very diverse shareholders and at the same time be able to give in when necessary and stand firm when necessary.
• Principal should be motivating and innovative
• Principal should have a clear vision of the future and be able to plan for it.

Building/Grounds:

• Clean, well-organized
• Welcoming architecture
• Great layout, clean
• Well-kept, clean
• New
• Very well-organized
• Great neighborhood feel and location

Miscellaneous:

• BG should be a dynamic school with engaged children, faculty and parents.
• BG will grow bigger and better
• BG will get better in the next 5 years.
• BG should have student school pride, involvement and offer more after-school activities.
• Early dismissal should be voluntary as it presents a financial hardship to some parents.
• Please no half days on Fridays.
• BG should be an excellent highly rated school that is the envy of west Houston.
• BG should continue on the path to excellence that it has successfully traveled.
• BG should provide a quality education of which the neighborhood can be proud.
• Class sizes are too large, especially kindergarten and first grade.
• Class sizes are steadily increasing, making it difficult for teachers to give the students the attention they need and deserve.
• Children with behavioral issues need to be suspended and not just kept out of class for a short time.  They are becoming an increasing distraction to other students and need to be dealt with more effectively.
• BG has a great sense of community.
• BG is fun and welcoming.
• BG should continue to be a neighborhood school that relies on parent involvement and participation and offers a top-notch education with the help of a top-notch faculty.
• The best thing about BG is that my children want to go to school every day.
• The best thing about BG is the neighborhood feel, proximity and cost.
• BG should be an outstanding school with great teachers where everyone wants to send their children.
• BG shoulld be a vibrant school led by an articulate leader and a quality staff that wants to be there and is there to teach our children.

About 20-25 parents met in the library from 6-8.  Armando Alaniz, Executive Principal of the Lee Feeder Pattern and head of the Principal Selection Committee (the new principal will report to him as did Mr. Garza), began by explaining the principal search process. (See my post--The Candidate Selection Process--which contains the same information)  He also facilitated a discussion of the qualities and attributes that parents felt were most necessary for our new principal.  There was widespread agreement on these issues. 

 Below is a summary of the characteristics that parents at the focus group said were most important in a new principal:

Parent Requested Principal Skills and Attributes

Briargrove Elementary School

June 2009

Academic Expectations

·             Exemplary School – minimum expectation

·             What is being taught in the school raises the level for all    

          students to Exemplary (not let testing for Exemplary status    

          guide teaching)

·             Consistency in student workload

·             Curriculum and vertical alignment with teachers

·            High Expectations, Rigor for All

·            High Standards

o       Over-prepared for middle school, good salesperson of our “public” product

o       Math and Science

Experience in Elementary School

·            Enjoys children, patient, makes eye contact, child interaction   

             “child-centric”

Good Communicator

·            Technology Savvy

·                    Confidence, charisma, motivator, (enforces communication

         from teacher to parents) commands respect), commands

         respect, can deal with confrontation/problem solver,

         engaging speaker

·                    Curriculum communication to parents

·                    Expectations communicated to parents and student

              Forward-thinking/Visionary

·                    Visionary, think ahead, make Briargrove unique experience/model school for fun programs – recycling, make special projects part of learning process & not burden teachers more “service-learning)

·                    Someone who is willing to be a “learner” and can “grow”

·                    Identify and keep good talent

·                    “Good hiring skills”

              Strong Disciplinarian

·                    Attendance, discipline procedures

·                    Strength in discipline issues

·                    Cafeteria management, discipline, teachers want to teach

              Strong Leader

·                    Multi-tasking (test preparation, knowing parents/students,

               good communicator, team principal-teachers-students)

·                    PTO/parent personalities

·                    Strong Policy Recognition & System (builder)

                   Policies/Organizational Skills (management skills, budget,

                   school & PTO)

·                    Consistency in leadership, fairness

·                    Private pre-school utilization as feeder for school

·                    Understand the “competition”

·                    Navigator  - bureaucracy, government (federal & state)

·                    Open-mindedness and embracing of parental involvement

·                    Strong parent personalities

·                    Computer, blog, e-mail, reduce copying

·                    Learning

·                    Someone who can leverage the relationship with community, parents

·                    School of choice, private school options, carters/magnets

·                    Knows Houston and HISD system

·                    Ownership and involvement in school issues student sensitivity of all students, “hand-on” principal  GT/Vanguard program

·                    Culture Creator

o       Inspires love of learning, sets standard for culture in school

o       “Fun”

Below is a summary of those characteristics:

Briargrove Elementary

Staff Input – Principal Search

1. Strong instructional background with a focus on core subjects in 3^rd – 5^th.  Candidate should be able to give feedback to teachers via coaching, mentoring, and by challenging teachers.

2. Good knowledge of discipline management.  Firm and consistent with all.  Be able to support the HISD and/or Briargrove discipline plan.

3. Puts educational and social needs of all children above all else.

4. Is comfortable providing positive feedback to all employees and students on a regular basis.

5. Strong leadership that can articulate school’s mission and goals and respect staff, students, and parents.

6. Leadership that sets and communicates but does not micromanage.

• Moral builder/rally teachers and staff
• Support all staff members including non-teaching staff
• Familiar with new technology for classroom and building
• Open door policy/person to person listening and communicating
• Multi-tasker in all aspects of the position
• Someone with success in previous leadership position/experience
• Be adaptable to change within the changes in the community, student population, etc.
• Strong internal communication skills so everyone is getting the same information
• Good listener
• Collaborative leadership
• Fair/consistent that appreciates hard work of staff
• Respects traditions of Briargrove and doesn’t try to change to many things.  Builds on the positives of Briargrove
• Reflective leadership that isn’t afraid to make changes to improve the academic culture of the building.

Our target date to name the new principal is set.  We have secured a meeting with the Superintendent for July 7.  At that meeting we will present our recommendations, 2 or 3, candidates for his review.  If he is satisfied with at least one candidate he will make the decision on that date.

The process.

Post vacancies for ten working days starting today, June12.

Review resumes, on going till June 25.

Check references, on going till June 25.

Review the three required skills and personality assessments to assure candidates meet district expectations by June 25.

(Hartman Personality Profile, Principal Skills Demonstration Test, Principal Insight Assessment) 

Meet with Briargrove staff to get their feedback on the characteristics and skill they are looking for in the next principal.

(Date to be determined )

Meet with Briargrove parents to get their feedback on the characteristics and skill they are looking for in the next principal.  I ask you and your officers for possible date and time.

Hold interviews on June 29th and 30th if need be.

I need the names and contact information for the parents from the PTO who will represent the parents at the interviews.

Two or three is the suggested number.