Administrative Interview Paper

Administrative Interview with Principal Kelli Martin

April 3, 2017 at Greenbrier Middle School

On April 3, 2017, my intern team at Greenbrier Middle School, which includes Zach Mize, Clay Hoffmann, and myself, had the opportunity to sit down with Principal Kelli Martin, who was recently named Master Principal by the Arkansas Leadership Academy and Arkansas Middle Level Principal of the Year by AAMLE. I was excited to be given the chance to seek advice from such an established and successful administrator. We met in the conference room of the office to ask her questions regarding her position and impact as the principal at Greenbrier Middle School which was recently awarded the title of an Arkansas Diamond School to Watch, an achievement

Martin has worked hard to succeed at.

It is evident from her successes that Mrs. Martin is a very busy woman and we were appreciative of her taking the time to sit down with us to conduct this interview. We began the interview by asking her what type of team building exercises GMS does to increase work efficiency throughout the year. She responded with the word “Collaboration”. She said, “this is not a one time event, it is a culture purposeful in the structure of people and events”. The teachers meet on a regular basis in interdisciplinary teams of the same grade and weekly with a partner teacher in their same subject area. She informed us of one major event that the teachers are involved in is a summer professional development retreat known as Critical Friends in which the teachers work on TESS team building. As we have learned from AMLE’s,This We Believe, collaborative leadership is the key to successful professional development and this is made possible by having a strong school leader, such as

Martin gave us great insight on the importance of community involvement in the schools. We asked her how, as an administrator, does she make sure the parents and community are involved in school decisions and student lives. She shared with us the various methods of community involvement that takes place at GMS. Informational tools found in technology such as the social media accounts are used to get information out to parents and the community about school and student activities and achievements, such as Twitter, INstagram, Facebook. GMS also has a weekly GMS newsletter and of course there is one method that stands the test of time, personal conversation with parents and community leaders. There are also the active but smaller parent committees, such as the PTO and the Pact Committee which consists of parents that are non-PTO members and represent a wide variety in the diversity of families with students that attend GMS that are able to give input from various social and cultural backgrounds. GMS also has a group called the Smile Starters , which is made up from various community leaders, who come to the school during morning drop off to greet students, give encouragement, and show their support to the school. I have witness the the impact that the community has on the school and its success during my time as an intern at GMS and reflect upon the proverb, “it takes a village to raise a child” which means that it takes an entire