Education Week - February 7, 2024 - 9

How These Principals
Nip Apathy in the Bud
After Winter Break
And Long Weekends
Cellphone bans, Instagram posts,
and shout-outs are small fixes to
the growing problem of student apathy
By Olina Banerji
Principal Scott Wisniewski adopted a new evening
routine last year. After dinner and helping
his kids tackle homework, he does what most of
his students probably do every evening: scroll
through Instagram.
He collects all the pictures he's taken of students
and teachers-in classrooms, at football practice,
or award ceremonies-and posts them. As a firsttime
principal of Pompton Lakes High School in
Passaic County, N.J., Wisniewski has been running
his Instagram handle since August last year, tallying
up an impressive running number of posts.
" When I'm taking the pictures, students come
up to me and ask, 'Hey! Is this Day 77 or 78?'
They're invested in this effort, " said Wisniewski.
" People feel good when they are appreciated.
So, I have to make time in my schedule to post
on social media. "
It's all part of a coordinated effort to remind
students about all the great things at school, and
why they need to be there to join in. The pictures
highlight student participation, from on the football
field to raising their hands in math class.
An extra hour of sleep. Unfinished math
homework. Or an ongoing tiff with a fellow student.
There are multiple reasons that complicate
students' return following a break like winter
holidays or even the 3-day weekends that populate
calendars in January and February.
Principals like Wisniewski know that these
tiny breaks in routine can snowball into nagging
attendance issues.
Data on student absenteeism collected in 2021
indicated that absenteeism had tripled since the
start of the pandemic, and it has remained high
ever since. While the strong headwinds around
absenteeism may have settled down, principals
are still grappling with the tail-end of the problem-a
persistent sense of apathy toward school,
which returns after a break in routines.
" The apathy sets in over Christmas break. It's
a time for students to decompress. But they are
also disconnected from learning, " said Mike Randolph,
the principal of Leesburg High School in
Lake County, Fla. Randolph said his team has put
in extra effort in the first week back from winter
break by reinforcing what the school's goals are.
" We were a school where no one wanted to
come when I took over. Now our graduation
rate has gone up from 67 percent to 85 percent.
That's the purpose we make clear to students
when they come back, " he said.
Keep cellphones in check
The core question behind the attendance
issue, the leaders said, is one of choice.
" How do I make this school a place where
teachers and students choose to come? That's
my purpose, " said Randolph.
One key element some leaders are targeting:
cellphones. Without their constant distractions,
leaders like Randolph believe students will engage
more with lessons.
He's made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that
cellphone use must be curbed, especially in the
first week back. Leesburg High strengthened its
cellphone policy over break: Students aren't allowed
to have a cellphone visible during class.
The idea is to give teachers as much instructional
time as possible in the first few weeks
after a long break. Without the distraction of
cellphones, Randolph is hopeful that students
will engage more in class.
Randolph's been strict about collecting
cellphones when he sees them out in class, taking
away almost 80 on the first Monday back
from the break. He's also planning to measure
the impact of this policy in the first instructional
review of the year, by comparing student engagement
in this semester with the previous one.
To put this policy into action in a school with
over 1,700 students, Randolph and his team
had to be on their feet-quite literally. " We have
walked to every class on the first day within the
first 90 minutes. We go back later in the day,
too, and students know we're out to take their
phones, " he said. To give teachers as much instructional
time as possible, Randolph said his
whole team had to communicate the cellphone
policy well, and then follow through.
Back-to-school week can't be all punitive
though. Teachers were instructed to spend a few
minutes in every period to pose a " restorative "
question to their students.
" We asked questions like, 'What are you passionate
about, and what have you done over the
last 48 hours to support that passion?' Another
one was framed around 'What is your purpose for
attending school?' Not the school's purpose; the
focus was on what they wanted, " Randolph said.
If a student spoke about wanting to change
their family trajectory of not attending college,
the teacher could prompt a discussion about the
path to college.
Schools need a full staff roster, though, to support
this engagement. Randolph has a dedicated
discipline team, a dean of students, an athletic
director, and others, who help him in identifying
students who face challenges in school.
Fights between students are one of those onetime
attendance lapses that could grow into an
absenteeism problem. Randolph recently took
the help of a mental health liaison to settle an
argument between two students, one of whom
had avoided school for two consecutive days.
The problem, added Randolph, was nipped in
the bud.
Insta-appreciation and the art of 'seeing'
students
Wisniewski's school is also battling student
apathy.
" They're going to fail a class, or their attendance
is bad. We're doing a food drive and it's
hard to get them to participate. We're hosting a
ceremony to highlight the achievements of one
"
How do I make this
school a place where
teachers and students
choose to come?
That's my purpose.
MIKE RANDOLPH
Principal, Leesburg High School,
Lake County, Fla.
student, and no one else shows up, " Wisniewski
said, noting the range of examples. " None of this
impacts students. They just don't want to do it.
It's just really difficult to motivate them. "
To break through, Wisniewski is drawing on
his master's degree dissertation, on how school
leaders use social media to promote their own
schools when there are competing school choice
options. He posts every day on a dedicated Instagram
account, and ensures the posts aren't all
about one club or one activity, with the objective
of using the account to show that all students belong
in Pompton Lakes community.
" I want to be intentional about highlighting
kids who are doing things, and who may not get
a lot of recognition, " he said. " It's been a blast,
honestly. "
The appreciation doesn't stop with students.
He highlights teachers, too. Recently, he posted
about all the teachers who rushed to help a student
who suddenly felt dizzy.
Revving teachers up is just as important
Students need to feel connected to the
school campus, and a large part hinges on
teachers who are willing to go the extra step
to engage them.
But who keeps teachers engaged after a break?
Principals step up the small gestures to welcome
them back. Randolph's school revamped the
teachers lounge during the break and stocked
it with coffee and cookies on the first day back.
The school has also instituted a weekly appreciation
award for educators who " go above and
beyond their role. "
Beyond small gestures, Randolph said, principals
have to have teachers' backs. In implementing
the cellphone policy, for instance, teachers
can see Randolph and his team outside their
classrooms, ready to follow through if they see
a student using a cellphone.
Wisniewski said he made it a point to meet
each of his 50 teachers in the first month after
joining the school.
" I didn't want our first interaction to be a negative
one, during an incident, " he said.
Every two months, he also does a walkthrough
with each staff member-from English
teachers to football coaches. The walk-throughs
highlight every staff member's importance, and
they also serve as the source for most of Wisniewski's
Instagram posts.
What it all comes down to, the two principals
said, is that measures to engage students
take planning, time, and need to be consistent
throughout the year. All that hard work pays dividends
when it's crunch time-after breaks when
everyone's struggling to get back.
EDUCATION WEEK | February 7, 2024 | www.edweek.org | 9
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Education Week - February 7, 2024

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