1. The principal at Napavine, Jason Prather, has been a principal for three years. He began as a Dean of Students in 2012-2013, completed his principal’s certification that school year and then became principal during the 2013-2014 school year. His primary leadership characteristic is directive because he typically leads meetings or sends emails with specific expectations, though there are times when he also is participative and achievement-oriented.
2. At the beginning of each school year, Jason has typically been directive. For example, last year at the first staff meeting he told the staff that we would not be allowed to have visitors during our duty-free …show more content…
I am a supportive type of leader. I genuinely care about other’s well-being and I treat others as equals. I believe that every person in the school has a purpose and a reason for being there, whether it be the custodian, the librarian, the secretary, the teacher or the administrator. We are all in it together for the kids. We are a team who works together. It is like a football team, while the quarterback is the man at the helm, the one everyone sees and often the one who gets the glory or the blame; the quarterback couldn’t do his job without the linemen or the running backs. So it is with the principal. Principals must acknowledge the importance of every staff …show more content…
The principal at Napavine Jr. Sr. High School takes a directive leadership approach when dealing with staff. I am not that type of leader and I know I don’t necessarily respond well to directives. In addition, some staff members have complained over the past year that we are losing our sense of family and they believe that some of it is due to Jason’s leadership style. Teachers and support staff need to feel appreciated for the hard work they do with kids and often times, they just lack the supportive shoulder that they need. For example, one of our staff members spends many hours after school tutoring his math students. One of our seniors scored very high on a state math test and part of that student’s success was directly related to the many hours the math teacher spent working with the student. However, there wasn’t any public kudos given to the teacher and that teacher definitely deserved to be recognized for his effort. Jason is also very goal-oriented and that is both positive and negative. In our current educational climate, setting and meeting academic goals are extremely important, but not at the cost of our human relationships. We are in the people business, not the production