Biggest Challenges Faced By A Principal At Legacy College Prep Ednovate
Evelyn's greatest challenge as a principal is addressing the significant "outside factors" impacting student well-being, particularly the mental health needs arising post-COVID, requiring creative solutions and community partnerships. A further challenge involves personalizing support for teachers at various career stages, requiring a nuanced approach beyond a "one size fits all" model, a task made complex by limited resources.
Leadership, Problem-Solving, Community Engagement, Mental Health Awareness, Personalized Support
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Evelyn Castro
Principal
Legacy College Prep- Ednovate Charter Schools
UC Santa Barbara, 2009
Loyola Marymount University- Masters in Administration and Admin Credential
Anthropology, Sociology, Ethnic & Related Studies
Education
Education
Honors Student, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Immigrant, Worked 20+ Hours in School, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. The significant impact of outside factors, especially mental health and social-emotional needs, on student success.
2. The challenge of personalizing support for teachers based on their diverse needs and developmental stages.
3. The need for creativity and collaboration with community organizations to address the complex needs of students and teachers effectively
Transcript
What is your biggest challenge in your current role?
The biggest challenge, I would say, when you think about a school, is that oftentimes we think about just academics and instruction. But really, we're taking care of lives.
I think the biggest challenge is a lot of the outside factors that impact how students are doing, their well-being. Particularly post-COVID, a lot of what you see are needs around mental health and social-emotional needs of our students.
We can only do so much. So there are many outside factors that are outside of our scope of control that make our work a little more challenging sometimes. We have to be creative problem-solvers and leverage different community organizations.
I would say that's the most challenging. I think followed by personalizing supports for the adults. For example, with teachers, every teacher's developmental stage differs.
Some teachers are in their first year and are stellar first-year teachers. Some teachers may be in their first year but are having a really hard time, and vice versa. Some teachers are already in their 10th year of teaching.
Every teacher needs different things in terms of their growth and development. Personalizing those supports and not doing a one-size-fits-all approach is challenging given our capacity or the time we have.
But it's also something that is unique about working in schools. If someone is looking for something like that, it can be really enjoyable and fruitful, but it can also be hard.