Inside the life of a high school principal
Being a principal can look like a thankless job: You fire people, you take all the criticism and you spend less time with the kids. But schools need great leaders.
Amika Guillaume is the principal of , a charter high school that鈥檚 achieved a 95 percent graduation rate鈥攚ith ninth-graders who generally come in reading at the fourth-grade level.
鈥淚f we play our cards right, and we do everything that this school has set out to do for you,鈥 she tells them, 鈥渢hen you will be the first in your family to graduate from university.鈥
On this episode of School鈥檚 In, Guillaume joins GSE Dean Dan Schwartz and Senior Lecturer Denise Pope to explain East Palo Alto鈥檚 approach, share her day-to-day routine and provide some back-to-school inspiration.
Guillaume works from 8am to 6pm, then puts in another three to five hours after her children go to bed. The daughter of immigrants, Guillaume has a personal connection to the work.
鈥淚 still have nightmares that they took away my graduation diploma because 鈥榶ou weren鈥檛 supposed to be here,鈥欌 she said. 鈥淚 see myself through this journey. And I think about how it was such a miracle that I made it through a master鈥檚 program at Harvard. And that it shouldn鈥檛 be a miracle. It should be just something that is clear.鈥
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