Eudora’s principals provide right example
The best way to teach or to lead is by example, a fact that is not lost on educators in the Eudora school system.
Every morning, we see Eudora principals Jim Lauer, Rod Moyer, Don Grosdidier and Dale Sample greeting students as they show up at their respective schools. It's a simple gesture of welcome, but one that sends a message that the school's top man sees the importance of every student. When the students have an opportunity to interact with their principals to hear that person use their name they come to know him as more than an impersonal distant authority figure.
Sleepy-eyed students will note their principals are already on the job, full of enthusiasm for another day. And while we don't want to dwell on the negative, it also sends the message to youngsters that someone in authority is watching their actions.
Principals occupy a unique place in our educational system. They face ever-increasing paperwork, as the state and federal government demand more accountability for the funding they channel to our schools. That responsibility surely keeps principals behind closed office doors more than they would like. Yet, as their presence at the doors each morning indicates, our principals understand the importance of connecting to teachers and staff of experiencing the nuances of the school day with their own eyes and ears if they are to do their jobs right.
Principals understand students who are proud of their schools will take pride in their schoolwork. We can tell you from experience just how passionate our principals are about their schools. While we sometimes disappoint them because of our limitations in sharing that passion with our readers, we would never ask them to back off.
If our children learn from the example set for them everyday, they will do well.