Guidance and administration rearrange duties in hopes of benefiting students

Following former assistant principal Kevin Mount’s departure  at the end of last year, the administration recognized the need to reorganize its staff. Mount cited burnout with being the school’s main disciplinarian as a main reason for stepping down.

       On behalf of the other administrators, assistant principal Brian Safine said that the old delegation of duties was not healthy.

       “None of us got in this business to dole out discipline or talk to angry parents,” Safine said. “It’s not at the heart of what we do as educators.”

Instead of seeing the whole picture, according to Safine, they were stuck in a “silo,” unable to connect with the students on a more personal level.

      For this reason, each student has been paired with an administrator in addition to a guidance counselor this year. The administrator will handle all issues related to student support, including discipline, activities and academic advice.

Safine, previously only in charge of academics, is now paired with students with last names A-G. Assistant principal Brian Thompson, Mount’s replacement, is paired with students with last names H-M. Assistant principal Kerry Mohnike, previously in charge of activities and special education, will now work with students N-S, and principal Paul Robinson, last names T-Z.

In order to retain consistency, the updated divisions based on last names will not apply for current seniors, although they will share the same benefits in terms of being paired with an administrator.

       “Anytime a student comes to the office, any one of two people will be able to connect with them, giving them the support they need,” Safine said.

       Safine hopes that by assigning each student to a specific administrator, the administrator will be more aware of a each student’s needs or strengths. As a result, students and the educators in the office will form stronger connections.

       In addition, during  college application season, the burden of writing letters of recommendations will be more evenly distributed between guidance counselors and administrators.

      Safine said they hope the guidance counselor-administrator team will further personalize the office support system. In cases  involving more than one student, the administrators will form a “tag-team,” collaborating with all the students and administrators involved.

       Although this collaboration may require more work, Safine is confident that their efforts will pay off in the long run.

The change has already had an impact on many students, including junior Mitali Shanbhag.

“I definitely support this change in the sense that along with being more connected with certain members of the staffing department, students also have the opportunity of [seeking] advice from two different [people],” Shanbhag said.