The world knew him as the Olympian. There’s even a gold medal and a Wikipedia page to prove it. But now he is just known as the principal.
Andre Phillips has a vision. Phillips was named principal last month after Bill Parks took a job in another district.
His vision starts with his motto. A post-it note on his laptop reads “ECHV,” or “every child has value.” A small, but important, remnant of his days as a teacher here, more specifically as a special education teacher, where he touched the lives of many.
Phillips fondly recalls seeing a former special ed student of his working at the supermarket. But what made the encounter so touching was the fact that he was succeeding. He had a job and a normal life. And he said that he had Phillips to thank for it.
And while he may not be in the same position upon his return to Stagg, he still hopes to reach out to the students as individuals. He wants them to succeed academically as well.
“I want to have the students be continually engaged,” Phillips said.
He is optimistic about his goals as the new principal, owing in part to the fact that he’s working with “a good group of kids, and good group of teachers.”
And while he does want to increase graduation rates and improve CAHSEE and API scores, he doesn’t see this as a duty that rests solely on student shoulders. “We have to push ourselves and our teachers.” Although, the students are still responsible for their own goals and learning.
Phillips wants to emphasize that the students can activate their prior knowledge and really understand their learning objectives. “I want to be able to go into each class and ask for the learning objective.”
Part of how Phillips hopes to achieve his goals is to really form a connection with students, by making sure that he, along with all the assistant principals, are more visible on campus. “I try to go out every period,” Phillips said. “Students actually come to me and ask me to come to their class.”
He added that part of his motivation is getting the other administrators out and about to help them “to make informed decisions.” Phillips and each of the assistant principals have an assigned area that they visit throughout the day. Plenty of students have seen one or more of the administrators in their classes already. Senior Zachary Artozqui said, “He just randomly pops up in our classes and says ‘hey class!’ and interacts with us. He’s a really energetic, fun guy.”
He emphasizes student ownership, pushing for them to take their learning into their own hands. As does the new assistant principal, Francine Baird.
Baird plans on “enhancing the parent and community component.” Not only that, but she has plans to reach out to other areas of the community like University of the Pacific and Delta College. She hopes that this community outreach will improve the academics, athletics and social aspects of Stagg.
The school has new faces and plenty of changes to look forward to in this year as well as the coming years.
