CHS Principal Jenny Moore poses with Assistant Principals Shane Schmeichel and Steve Abbott.
Jenny Moore is currently in her second year as principal of Coronado High School. Her journey in Coronado schools began as an elementary aged student. She graduated from Coronado High School and taught at the high school before becoming the Assistant Principal under Karl Mueller. When Mueller left unexpectedly to accept a job at Canyon Crest Academy, Jenny was chosen to lead CHS.
The transition was anything but normal. When Mrs. Moore was chosen, she was pregnant with her third child. As a result, the first semester of her tenure as principal was largely accomplished from off campus.
She has been on the job, at the campus, for a solid year now and is doing amazing things all while dealing with the challenges of deep budget cuts. There are plenty of things that have changed since she walked the pathways of CHS, but there is much that remains the same. Memories are being made every day between students and their classmates and teachers. Mrs. Moore recalls that when she was at CHS, her history teacher was also the ASB advisor and she and her peers would often pull pranks on him. They would try to get him off track. She offers that he was an amazing teacher and even today she remembers things he taught her in ninth grade! The high school is still about relationships with teachers and the experiences the students have with those teachers. “There remains a culture of teachers dedicating time in and out of school to help students,” said Mrs. Moore.
Naturally, however, some things have changed. Many of the courses offered are the same, but today there is a greater link to society. There is not “just” vocational training or “just” art. The focus today is on how the classes a student is taking can become part of their life later. Vocational training is no longer just for the student who doesn’t plan to attend college. “Everything has a potential job application,” said Mrs. Moore. She added, “We are connecting students with their passions and providing more depth of training or experiences.” The next step is to connect students with industries and companies that give those students actual vocational experiences outside the classrooms.
Mrs. Moore admitted that one of her biggest challenges as a new principal was “getting over the overwhelming sense of responsibility. Some of the most stressful times are not actual events or circumstances; they are the potential of what could happen.” She uses the question “What is best for the students?” as her guide each and every day. It’s not about making the decision that will be easy, but making the decision that will be best for the student population at CHS. She admits, as well, that having been a student, teacher and administrator at the high school has created a sort of maternal instinct towards not only the students, staff and families, but also to “have the back” of CHS, to make decisions based on the best interest of the site.
The position of Principal is so varied in its duties that one wonders when Mrs. Moore actually sleeps. A junior at the high school offered that, “She gives her all in everything she does!” She draws on her own experiences and memories to help her mold the high school into the best place it can be for Coronado’s children. She shares that after high school she immediately enrolled in college. It took her a while to realize that the student dance, symphony performance, or theatre production were actually run by students. In high school, an adult pretty much runs everything you do. As the principal at CHS, therefore, Mrs. Moore is making an effort to involve students in decision making that affects them.
One glaring issue at the high school has been the dress code; it was largely unenforceable. Looking to more clearly lay out expectations in a revised dress code, students were invited to participate in the process and solicited on a volunteer basis. Forty students attending the first meeting. Mrs. Moore took notes on what the students said and listened to their concerns and opinions. She learned from the students involved that they consider a shirt with offensive remarks far more disruptive to their instructional process than something like short shorts or spaghetti straps on a top. Through these meetings, a new dress code was drafted with student input on the language used and the standards included. Mrs. Moore knows that “it won’t please everyone, but it will be more enforceable and has student input.”
Through student involvement in decision making, the goal is to create an atmosphere of mutual cooperation, as opposed to students and adults being separate entities. Instead of students, for example, seeking approval for a dance before a pep rally, they can come to the administration to offer something they are considering doing. They can discuss their plans and have a say in how things evolve.
Mrs. Moore wants the students to understand the master schedule, how it is built and what the trends are with course registration. Offering the students a forum for discussion provides another lens to look through when evaluating issues.
She also wants to know what rumors are out there; what are students thinking, what are they hearing? She often walks the campus, visiting classrooms to observe the teaching and learning that are happening at CHS. She truly enjoys walking the quad and joking with students or sending notes with sentiments like “I saw you do something positive and wanted you to know that I noticed.” Mrs. Moore feels that one of the most important things about being principal is telling people they matter “because they do.”
One of the biggest challenges of being principal is morale of the employees. CHS has employees who haven’t had a raise in years and who “are existing under the specter of more budget cuts.” Our teachers have larger class sizes and have watched peers leave for more money at other places. As far as the budget is concerned, Mrs. Moore says that “we need to move in a direction of looking critically at what’s worth the money and what’s not.” Good decisions need to be made with our money. “There are things we have to do, ways of conserving resources,” but at the same time things have to be prioritized to minimally affect the tools teachers need to instruct effectively. There is also the challenge of the new site based budgeting, which brings the decisions to the individual campuses regarding how to spend their money.
Our students at CHS need 240 credits to graduate. The high school is tasked with providing a place for students six periods a day for four years in a row. Coronado High School provides much more to its students. COSA students take more than six classes a day. Students with an “E” or early period can take seven classes a day. The physical education requirement can be fulfilled with participation in athletics. Most CHS students are not taking electives because they have to, but because they can. Anytime the school restricts what students can take in excess of the necessary 240 credits to graduate, it is are limiting students. “Truly to save money, we would limit what students can do here,” said Mrs. Moore, but at the same time, “we don’t want to do that.”
Mrs. Moore emphasizes “communications from community members to teachers can have a huge ripple effect on campus” and if the message is negative can cause “lapses in confidence and require a lot of attention and support.” She feels it is extremely important for parents to partner with the school and use a problem solving approach before judging. “We best serve students by teaming together,” she said.
Mrs. Moore, busy as she is, has an open door policy. If there is something CHS students, staff, or parents want to talk about, she will make herself available for discussion. She feels an enormous sense of gratitude for everything she inherited from her predecessor. He did a good job, she says. She is excited to be entrusted with the helm at Coronado High School. Though there may not be smooth sailing ahead, she feels a sense of responsibility to ensure that with CHS’s programs and teachers, as well as everything the school and community value, CHS will weather the storm well.
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Kellee Hearther
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
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Photos provided by Jenny Moore, Sophia Zaller and eCoronado.com.
