Education Week - June 1, 2022 - 15

Clockwise from top: Jocelyn
Disla, a substitute teacher
and 2018 graduate of
Haines City Senior High,
reads a poem to her drama
class.
graduated in 2018.
" Sometimes, the principals [in other schools] are
Camil Fowler, a teacher
and class of 2018 graduate
of Haines City Senior High,
explains a worksheet to her
reading class.
Johnny Disla, a 2016
graduate of Haines City
Senior High, works as a
long-term substitute,
teaching digital
technology.
not as engaging with their students, " she said. At
Haines, by contrast, " you can really feel that-and
you can notice the change in behavior in students.
It's really made me want to come back to my high
school. "
Teachers have also jumped at the opportunity to
help their former students learn the ropes.
" The teachers around us were our teachers, "
Johnny Disla said. " The ones next to our doors would
give us tips and advice on what materials to give the
students and advice on classroom management. "
It " really just felt like coming home, " said Rios,
who was recently hired as a full-time front-office
secretary.
Rios is majoring in finance at college and isn't quite
sure she'll stay in education. But, she says, if she does
choose an education career, Haines City Senior High
School will be her choice.
" This is the only school that has [had] a great impact
on my life, " she said. " I have thought of eventually
coming back as a teacher, but who knows. "
For Camil Fowler, a 2018 graduate who teaches
intensive 9th grade reading, working at her alma
mater made a lot of sense.
For one, the school is only about 10 minutes from
These steps make people feel like they're valued
and are having an impact, Lane said.
" My number one recruiting is the returning
alumni, because they know what it was like to
be a student here: they felt really good, they felt
taken care of, they felt inspired, empowered.
Their teachers gave them a great relationship, "
Lane said.
" Those relationships are what make the students
want to come back and be a teacher across
the hall from [their] favorite teacher and work
with them. "
Johnny Disla, a provisional teacher and a longterm
substitute for digital technology, graduated
in 2016, Lane's first graduating class.
Becoming a teacher was the furthest thing
from his mind while he was a student, but he remembers
how the school changed when Lane
arrived.
One of the reasons he returned to teach at
Haines City Senior High School, he said, was because
of the positive influence the teachers and
staff had on him.
" No matter what was going on-it could have
been a storm, a fire drill-they always had a positive
attitude, " Johnny Disla said. " They helped
my way of critical thinking and how I've developed
my personal judgement. "
" You could say that it's my dream to be here, "
he said.
But it's not just getting new employees in the
door, it's also keeping them.
Lane has set up a new-to-campus group, with
teacher ambassadors who help newcomers get
acclimated. The group meets twice a week over
the year to review everything from the school's
mission and vision and attendance issues to how
to enter grades into the system. They also get together
for coffee and lunch.
" They just really talk and support each other
as new individuals on campus-again, to build
those relationships, because when you have the
relationships and support the odds of you staying
are dramatically increased, " Lane said.
Another key prong is ensuring that there's accountability
and support for staffers, he said.
Each of the school's assistant principals oversees
about 40 staff members and is responsible
for ensuring that those staff members have everything
they need to do their jobs.
Having a designated go-to person for assistance
can temper the frustration of staff members
serving in a large school, where it's easy to
get lost, he said.
" You know one assistant principal is responsible
and gets paid to take care of you, and you
go to that person, " Lane said.
In turn, Lane does the same for the six assistant
principals, so that they can help their staff
with their needs.
'Felt like coming home'
Jocelyn Disla, a substitute with a bachelor's
degree in psychology who teaches a drama class,
began working as a substitute to get more handson
teaching experience.
Leadership engagement with students is one
of the things that stands out about Haines City
Senior High School, said Jocelyn Disla, who
her home. And when she worked as a substitute at
other schools, she didn't feel that her requests for assistance
were supported by administrators.
" Just having the administration there every single
day, supporting you, reminding you that if you need
anything, we're here, we've got you, that definitely
helps out a bunch, " said Fowler, who recently started
on staff full-time after subbing for more than a year
during the pandemic.
" I think in other schools where it didn't work out
for me, where I only subbed there once, and I said,
'You know what, never again,' that was because the
administration and the staff weren't as welcoming
or they weren't as reminding of like 'Hey, if you need
anything we've got you.' "
Despite coming from a family of teachers-her
mother and grandparents were teachers-Fowler
only started seriously considering teaching while
completing a degree in communications at the University
of Central Florida.
She started subbing after she finished her first year,
just before the pandemic hit.
" It was a good experience, and it was almost like
an internship-kind of a window to see if I wanted
to teach. "
Now, she says, she thinks she's in the profession
for the long haul.
" This place is a community in and of itself, " she
said. " I don't see myself going anywhere for a while. "
Coverage of principals and school leadership is
supported in part by a grant from the Joyce Foundation,
at www.joycefdn.org/programs/education-economic.
Education Week retains sole editorial control over the
content of this coverage.
EDUCATION WEEK | June 1, 2022 | www.edweek.org | 15
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Education Week - June 1, 2022

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