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In her former role as an Assistant Principal at Poston Butte High School, Dr. Shannon Anderson served as the school’s S.T.E.M. coordinator. In that role her focus surrounded around a very limited percentage of the student population who were enrolling, or were already enrolled, in the very rigorous program.
Now, in her new position as Poston Butte’s principal, she’s determined to spend more of her time getting to interact with the entire student body.
“It’s been really fun,” Dr. Anderson recently told the Ledger about her first few weeks in her new job. “The fun part is, in this role, I actually get to spend more time with kids and that’s what I’m really enjoying the most.”
Students sometimes find it weird that the school’s principal is also their lunch companion, but Dr. Anderson is interested in hearing directly from students.
She wants honest, direct feedback from students in addition to real answers to questions she asks about Poston Butte’s 23 new teachers, for example.
“It sounds like a lot,” Dr. Anderson said about the number of new staff members. “But we grew too, so we added staff and, obviously, we had some teachers leave.”
“I want to hear from the kids,” she continued. “And so far it’s been really positive.”
Former Poston Butte Principal Dr. Timothy Richard was widely acclaimed for his implementation of new programs such as Celebration & Remediation during his tenure at the school.
Certainly, Dr. Anderson aims to maintain those programs but believes they may require the occasional adjustment here or there and will look to students to find how and why those programs can be even better.
In order to garner that input from students, one of Dr. Anderson’s first orders of business is to create 3 – 4 student advisory boards, which she will meet with on a monthly basis, buy lunch, and talk to them about school functions and programs. She also wants student reaction to changes around the school.
“The things we already have in place that we can improve for students, we’re never going to know (until we ask students),” she said. “I get teachers’ voices; we get asked those questions all the time. I want to hear from student voices.”
An application was created to find a cross-section of students who want to express their opinion and concern regarding what is happening at the school and the decisions that are made.
The application will include a student’s GPA and a list of school activities he or she is involved in. Dr. Anderson says she interested in speaking with students who don’t list any school activities to find out if the school is not offering anything that interests them.
“Part of me asking them to fill out an application is going to give me that cross-sectional type of view,” Dr. Anderson said. “It’s OK if there are students who’ve had a referral once in a while because it’s opportunity to find out what about the rules are hard sometimes.”
Poston Butte’s rating as an A+ school by the Arizona Education Foundation is something Dr. Anderson plans to maintain, for sure.
“The A-plus award is a huge award,” she said. “One of the things that is great about it is that it is a snapshot of the culture of a school.”
The award encompasses more than just academics, it also includes school programs. Additionally, it focuses on the school’s culture and what makes students want to be at Poston Butte.
Although an A+ rated school by the AEF, Poston Butte was rated as a “B” school academically when schools were given letter grades, which is no longer the case.
Dr. Anderson wants the school to achieve at an “A” level in that area and believes improving ACT scores, getting more students to enroll in colleges or universities, and more rigor in the classroom are the ways to reach that goal.
“If we can make the claim that 85 percent of our students are passing their classes, but our ACT scores don’t show that we have a significant number of students meeting college entrance requirements then there’s a gap (present),” she said. “And that’s the gap we need to close.”
Dr. Shannon Anderson – PBHS Principal
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
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