Reaching my career goal of becoming a principal is rewarding, but being fortunate enough to be working in a school community that I love is unbeatable. I feel blessed to have found such a warm home in which to carry out my passion for teaching and learning as the new principal of Prides Corner School. I still get that excited feeling in my stomach each morning when I drive into the parking lot. Each day is filled with new challenges and promise that together with such an excellent staff and awesome students and parents we can provide the best education possible.
Some of you may remember me as Miss Peavey when I began my career in Westbrook 26 years ago as an itinerant art teacher. I enjoyed teaching at all levels, kindergarten through 12th grade, but Prides Corner was one of my memorable first teaching assignments, so it feels like coming home when I enter the gleaming yellow hallways. We learned and played together in those early years, and as a traveling art teacher and pee wee basketball coach who loved getting involved in every community project possible, I have developed long lasting relationships with the people of Westbrook. In fact, one of the best surprises at open house this fall was discovering that many Prides corner parents are former students! It is such a great feeling of familiarity to see the resemblance of many of you in your children’s faces. Having been the art director for the past 22 years, and then gifted and talented coordinator for the last two, I have had the good fortune of getting to know hundreds of students and families and flourish in a community that is so supportive of education.
I fell in love with leadership while working with an inspirational art staff and serving on Westbrook’s administrative team. I decided to pursue my dream of becoming a principal and enrolled in the Educational Leadership program at the University of Southern Maine 10 years ago. While there, I developed a fascination with the school change process and learned that change is a process, not an event. I loved learning about the social justice theories of teaching, the compassion it takes to be a good principal, the perseverance that the job demands and the importance of being a good listener and having vision, but above all else I learned to always remember why we are here – for the children!
At Prides Corner School we have high social and academic goals for the students. One of the goals we are working on this year is to teach the core values of being kind, polite, caring, helpful, respectful and safe. We are also making learning to read our primary focus and have set ambitious goals to help every child become a successful reader within his or her ability. Due to the community support for the new all-day kindergarten program, which we see as a vital literacy boost, and the uninterrupted literacy blocks, as well as reprioritizing time to give struggling readers additional literacy support they need to make catch up growth, we expect that there will be significant progress toward reaching our literacy-first goal.
While it is an awesome responsibility to be a principal under today’s fiscal conditions and increasing mandates, I welcome the job with open arms and will work hard to help every teacher be the best possible teacher and every student to be the most successful learner and human being he or she can be. Your children are gifts that you share with us every day, and I consider it a privilege to be involved in their lives and learning!
Janet Crawford is the principal at Prides Corner School.
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