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 | James Yoro |
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 COMMUNITY COMMITMENT
Learning New Principals
Business Leaders Find School Has Changed Since They Left
Paper airplanes and spit wads still are problems for school principals, or so James Yoro and Ted Ahlem discovered Tuesday at Stella Hills School in Bakersfield.
Yoro, a lawyer, and Ahlem, a retirement home administrator joined Stella Hills Principal Rod Edgmon during the Bakersfield City School District's "Principal for a Day" event.
Yoro and Ahlem were among the more than 100 business and community leaders who took a turn at the helm of one of the district's 37 schools. And they quickly learned that a lot has changed since they attended grade school.
Shown a stack of pupil referrals waiting outside Edgmon's office, Yoro seemed almost relieved to spot one for a boy caught throwing paper airplanes and shooting spit wads.
"At least some things haven't changed," Yoro said after a tour of a school where spit wads and paper airplanes are relatively minor problems.
"The principal's job is much more complex than it used to be," Yoro said.
"A principal isn't just an educator anymore. He's a social worker, a fund-raiser, a pharmacist and a food manager, too," Yoro said.
Stella Hills School is located in north central Bakersfield in a low-income area dominated by low-rent apartment complexes.
Early in their day, Yoro and Ahlem toured a school where the pupil turnover rate annually is about 90 percent.
Ahlem, 39, grew up in Turlock and attended the same school from kindergarten through eighth grades. "The kids you went to school with were the kids you graduated with," Ahlem recalled.
When the turnover rate is so high "educating kids is a whole different ballgame," he said.
Yoro, 42, grew up in Bakersfield and attended Franklin School and St. Francis School. In those days, it was extremely unusual for parents to divorce, he recalled.
Thirty-six percent of the Stella Hills pupils come from single-parent homes. The problems associated with dysfunctional families are so high, Stella Hills has its own on-site social services representative and a mental health counselor to work with pupils and their family members.
Edgmon's most important job "may be as simple as making sure these kids get a decent meal," Yoro said. About 96 percent of the pupils qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
The task of educating the school's 650 or so students is made all the more demanding by non-academic responsibilities, Yoro noted.
The tour of the school included a visit to a room where a cupboard was filled with pharmaceutical bottles. Edgmon also showed the men a log used to track medications that are administered.
"You have a school nurse, of course?" Yoro asked.
"No, no we don't," Edgmon responded. Staff members oversee and administer the dosages, he explained.
Edgmon said the "Principal for a Day" visits by Yoro and Ahlem were appreciated. Such visits "show the staff the community is interested," he said.
The staff Edgmon handpicked for a school that opened five years ago includes six mentor teachers, he said. There are only 40 mentor teachers in the entire district, he noted.
Yoro and Ahlem were impressed with the work of several teachers, including Alysce Schofield, who teaches a combination class of first-, second- and third-grade pupils.
The poetry of one of Schofield's third grade students, Craig Bailey, caught Ahlem's eye.
"Yes, he read one of his poems at Joshua's funeral," Edgmon explained.
Joshua McMorris, 7, was a student at Stella Hills until six months ago when he was found dead in a nearby field, dumped there after he died of internal injuries from a beating. His mother and his mother's boyfriend both face related charges.
Jim Yoro is a partner in the law firm of Chain-Younger, Cohn & Stiles.
This article first appeared in The Bakersfield Californian.
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