Just Walking Through

There are numerous urgent issues for a principal, but probably none as important as visiting classrooms. My supervisor, Mrs. Judi Paredes, walked through 14 classrooms with me on Thursday. Walking through classrooms helps us to see strenths, potential problems and trends.

If you drove your child to school on Thursday, you probaby saw a line of black life-size silhouettes across the street from the school. The school staff stood with the silhouettes, which represented the Emerson teachers who may not return to Emerson next year.

As you pulled into the school, you may have also noticed that the parking lot was empty. While the parking lot won't really be empty next year (we will probably only lose three teaching positions), it was a dramatic visualization representing the impact of the drastic cuts on California school districts.

When Mrs. Paredes drove into the empty parking lot, she kept on going, joining the staff by parking across the street. Dressed in black, like the rest of the Emerson staff, she walked with me through fourteen classrooms. As we walked, we lamented the impact that the economic circumstances will force on both the teachers as well as its potential impact on the students next year.

Usually when we pass through the classrooms, we ask questions such as, "What are the students learning?" or "Were all of the students engaged in the lesson?" But not so much on Thursday- our hearts were heavy for 14 Emerson teachers. In addition to the implications of the lay-offs of teachers, how will the increased number of students per class impact learning next year?

Just walking through the classrooms never felt more important.