Learning to lead, Rick Neal is enthusiastic about his new job and the lessons he’s learning and passing on to his administrators.
Neal was selected as the superintendent of Pea Ridge schools, a position he stepped into July 1, but one for which he was preparing for months before.
Last March, Neal participated in the Milestone program of the Soderquist Center for Leadership and Ethics at John Brown University. Saying he wished he had the opportunity to do that 17 years earlier, he said what he learned there was invaluable.
The Pea Ridge schools are now part of The Learning Institute and are being assessed to gauge what students are learning.
“We’ve broken away from the co-op ... this is more relevant for teachers and is more convenient,” Neal said, adding that three of the four buildings are fully implementing Common Core standards. Because the new evaluations are more rigorous, he said initially test scores may appear to be lower. “I hope by 2014 we’ll be doing well.”
“We are partnering with Farmington schools in leadershipseminars throughout the year,” Neal said.
Praising his predecessor, Dr.
Roland Smith, Neal said he is taking one of Smith’s practices, but using it differently. Smith used books and book evaluations to grow his administrators, but Neal prefers seminars with instructors to provide effective leadership instruction.
“All the credit goes to Roland Smith for really improving my career,” Neal said.
“You learn about your own personality and about how to handle different personalities,” Neal said, “as well as how to be an effective communicator.
“Communication is the number one piece of being successful.”
He admitted many people have been surprised at how well he has adapted to the new position.
“Two years ago, I would never have seen myself in this spot because I liked what I was doing.
But, to have the opportunity to impact 1,700 kids - that’s incredible,” he said excitedly. “I’m a kid guy ... It’s such a wonderful responsibility.”
One of the most important lessons he realized through the leadership exercises, Neal said,was to recognize the importance of seeing tasks, not as a competition, but in trying to improve the quality of the product, which in schools, is the students.
He is also working through Academy for Effective Leadership through Arkansas Tech University in cooperation with Lamar, Texas. With that, he traveled to New York City and was astounded to see the differences in situations in which young children are placed just because of the environment.
As part of a state-directed mentoring program, Neal is working with Megan Witonski of Elkins and will participate in 20 hours of mentoring.
As he learns, he passes on the lessons to his staff.
“Making teachers more effective ... giving them tools for success ... people want to be treated professionally, with respect,” Neal said. “It’s all about leadership.”
Each employee at the school - janitors, lunchroom workers, bus drivers, teachers - has an impacton the students.
“The bus driver sets the tone for the day. He is the first person the student sees in the morning and the last person they see at night,” Neal said. “It’s all about giving them the tools to fix themselves to help others.”
And from here, Neal believes that first of all, providing a way for teaching to continue uninterrupted and secondly, to help both the teachers and the students learn to make good decisions.
“All people make mistakes. It’s about making good decisions by making mistakes and improving from that,” he said. “We’ve got to allow people to make mistakes, but learn from them.”
“It’s been a very pleasant, very good experience.
I’m very pleased with our administrators, teachers, students,” Neal concluded.
“We have a great relationship with the city officials.
“We have a lot of things going for us and we hope to keep the small school identity even as we grow,” he said.
News, Pages 1 on 10/31/2012