WJ knows Principal Jennifer Baker as the commander in chief, but just as Obama has his cabinet, Baker has her own right hand men and women. They are seen them disciplining students and patrolling the halls, but what does an assistant principal like Janan Slough do behind closed doors?
According to Slough, students are a huge part of the job.
“I like talking to kids, I spend two hours out of the six and half hour school day doing it,”said Slough. Students are not the entirety of the job though, as Slough has meetings with department heads as well as other administrators. While students consider her position mainly disciplinary, Slough claims the opposite.
“Discipline is a very small chunk [of my job],” said Slough. “It’s not an everyday thing, we have a great student body.”
According to Slough, meetings with students and parents are definitely not her favorite part of the job, as she prefers school events.
“On Saturday I went to the carnival in the cafeteria…it was so powerful to watch out student body organize such an event,” Slough said.
Her schedule is similar to a student’s, going around the school seeing teachers. However, this time, Slough is the one evaluating the teachers based on their performances.
“Observing teachers throughout departments [and] watching real classroom activity is a good chunk of the job,” Slough said.
The life of an administrator ranges from resolving school related issues to discussing transcripts. One day she could be talking to students all day about college prospects and the next attending meeting with department heads. One thing that remains consistent with Slough is, well, inconsistency.
“No day is ever the same, that’s for sure,” Slough said. With a job as unscripted as Slough’s, the job truly changes daily.
The route to becoming a grade level administrator is not easy. Slough earned a teaching degree in education from the University of Maryland and proceeded to move up the education ranks. In 1995, Slough moved to WJ as the RTSE, managing a department that included multiple special education programs. At WJ she was an active member of the instructional council, mentored new teachers, assisted with the analysis and interpretation of data to impact student performance and co-chaired the assistance program for at-risk students.
“At the end of the day it’s about safety and security and student outcome,” Slough said. As this year’s juniors become seniors, Slough will go over college options and grades to help students in their post-graduation plans. Then, as they graduate, her journey restarts with the freshman class of 2018.
