At its May 9 meeting, the J-D Board of Education appointed Greg Lawson as the next principal of J-DHS. He will replace current principal Paul Gasparini following this school year after Gasparini\u2019s long tenure at the school. The RamPage interviewed Lawson about his new position and his agenda as principal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can you tell J-D High School students about yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve been doing education in some capacity for 16 years now. I have a dual life, both as an educator and as a reservist in the Navy. And then a third life as a father and a husband. So I\u2019ve got a busy life. The part about that is it comes with a lot of experiences. In each of those worlds, I have a uniqueness, as you all do in your lived experiences. A big thing in education is it\u2019s a variety of settings \u2013 urban and suburban. My background is as a special education teacher. And then in the military \u2013 from tactical work, Navy education and training, what\u2019s called the operation level of war. It\u2019s all different. As a father and a husband \u2013 I have three boys that take up most of my time. My oldest is 12. My middle son, Atticus, is autistic, so [that\u2019s] another layer of diversity and difference. As much as that\u2019s a lot, I try to be as calm and chill as possible, and be relaxed, and keep things realistic. One of the biggest things that I\u2019ve learned over the last three years that\u2019s been really hard is being a developing adult. [Going] from middle school, to high school, to college is harder now than I think many of us realize. And that humility, that understanding, has really challenged me for the last few years to get better and be open. That\u2019s really who I am. I try to be boring, because there\u2019s a lot going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What led you to become a principal?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Being a principal was never my career aspiration. But what I started to see was the principals that I had that were mentoring me were able to have an impact beyond the classroom. When you\u2019re a classroom teacher, you can have an incredible impact on the students. But there are only so many kids. You reach a point where you\u2019re like, \u2018Man, I think I want to help more. I think I can help not only my students but maybe I can help the teachers, too.\u2019 That impact expands. I didn\u2019t think I had the personality for it. I didn\u2019t think I had the interest in it until I tried it and\u2026you feel it. You feel this impact of, \u2018Oh goodness, I helped out like 100 kids today. That\u2019s incredible! I had to be that positive influence in that student\u2019s life. And I helped out that one teacher with the lesson. That reached 130 kids today. That\u2019s incredible!\u2019 It\u2019s a good feeling to have, and I want to have more of it. It makes me feel good and hopefully my approach can help more students. That\u2019s really what it\u2019s about. Help more teachers. Help the community in that regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you believe are necessary qualities in a high school principal?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I think the first thing \u2013 the answer to any leadership position is humility. It\u2019s good to be humble. Humble to the fact that I\u2019m a 30-year-old white male. My experiences are mine, and not appropriate for me to impose on every student and every person I encounter. I think that sort of humility to stop, pause, and say, \u2018Where am I coming from? What lens do I have based on my lived experiences? And how might there be differences between my experiences and maybe yours?\u2019 I think that\u2019s important for a leader. The leader\u2019s got to make a decision. Sometimes you\u2019ve got to do that without total inclusive practice. But I\u2019m firmly a believer that if you set structures up and be proactively inclusive in your decision making, you can avoid making solely leader-based decisions. There\u2019s always time to consult. There\u2019s always an opportunity to get somebody\u2019s opinion. And I think that\u2019s the second biggest thing \u2013 being deliberate about being inclusive with the opinions you\u2019re getting. That really does include people who don\u2019t agree with you. Personally, I seek those opinions out quickly. I like that challenge. I like that check on my lens. So I think that those two things are incredibly important in leadership as a whole, particularly at a high school more so than any other organization I\u2019ve been a part of. You realize that students are forming their own opinions now. You\u2019re not just developing them. You\u2019re executing them. You\u2019re living lives based on these [opinions]. That\u2019s another avenue that we can teach and coach you in. Those are the two things I think are most important: humility and intentional inclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you believe a principal should bring to their school?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n They should bring a couple of really important things other than those two. A sense of transparency \u2013 you want to be open and honest to the greatest extent possible on the decisions you make. And consistency \u2013 you want to be as consistent as you can. Now that\u2019s hard when you\u2019re also trying to stay current. I know in the world of education, we tend to have changes and new initiatives every six minutes. But you want to stay current, and the reality is society moves so much faster than an institution like a school can respond. So how do we as older people manage that? For me, the first place I look is to the student who\u2019s already managing all of that. Because that\u2019s your world. You [Isaiah] set up this interview on Zoom rather quickly and probably intuitively. Two years ago, everybody in my age group would be afraid of something like this. We\u2019ve had to grow accustomed to it. For students, you\u2019re all in a different spot in terms of how you work and the speed at which you process. Because that\u2019s your world. Those two things are really important. I think those are important things to bring. They\u2019re definitely important to bring in my situation coming into a new district and a new school. [We need to] keep that transparency and those lines of communication open, and do our best to stay current with what\u2019s happening in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you hope to bring to J-DHS?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A couple of structures that will get us to that collaboration \u2013 to increase the transparency and the inclusion. I think my personality and my family \u2013 my family comes with me to events \u2013 we\u2019re an all-in sort of family. Fortunately, in my line of work \u2013 in my other life \u2013 there are times when I\u2019m away from my family a lot. When there are opportunities for me to incorporate them, I will. I don\u2019t come to school events alone. I don\u2019t show up at sporting events without two or three kids all excited and screaming. I think a lot of it is just who I am as a human. Hopefully those connections we make as people will really allow us to do good work and push the high school even further. Because let\u2019s be real \u2013 this is one of the best high schools in the state. It\u2019s incredible. It really is. I grew up in Central New York. J-D\u2019s the pinnacle. I have a really cool opportunity to come to a place that\u2019s already excelling and doing incredible work, and just maybe come up with a new idea or listen to your ideas, and say, \u2018Let\u2019s think that one out a little bit more and see where we can go with it.\u2019 It\u2019s an incredibly exciting time to be in education. It really is. We have learned so much over the last few years about what\u2019s capable and what\u2019s possible. I think the more we listen and open ourselves humbly to what students have to say, we might actually get more out of the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What made you choose to take the principal position at J-DHS?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I think it really boils down to what Jamesville-DeWitt as a district and what this high school represents. It was the motivator. This is the pinnacle of high school experiences, and this is a district that from family support to community engagement, is the model. In that regard, it\u2019s also very intimidating to say, \u2018Hey, look at this. I might be able to help this place. I might be able to give something of myself to this community.\u2019 It took a minute of me processing. It took time for me to talk to my family. I think J-D is an incredible place. I had to ask the question: \u2018Do I have something to give it that will make it better or could make it better?\u2019 I think my last five years of my life and the work that I\u2019ve done that changed my perspectives on the world and on myself, and the processes in which we\u2019ve had success [at West Genesee], in another suburban high school \u2013 I honestly could say yes. I think I could bring something to help. It doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s going to be perfect or flawless. It\u2019s the process that\u2019s important. It\u2019s the conversations that are important. That\u2019s really what I\u2019m working to bring to [the district]. J-D is a remarkable place. You [Isaiah] know this. You\u2019re there. It\u2019s incredible. It\u2019s amazing. So I\u2019m looking forward to that. The other thing that is that being at J-D is special. The J-D way is a real thing to me. The more I learn about the pride that you have in your school community \u2013 that pride that neighbors have in your school community \u2013 it is fascinating to me, and I want a piece of that. I want to feel that connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you plan to interact with and take feedback from J-DHS students?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I try to deconstruct this whole principal thing as much as I can. At the end of the day, there\u2019s an office, there\u2019s a title, there\u2019s a tie. There are little things that I do to be reflective and to put myself in a position in which I have to reflect on what students are saying. I\u2019ve said this a couple of times already. A lot of these are structural changes you can make. You need to have the diversity and equity groups, and they need to meet with you [the principal] regularly. My lens is limited based on my life experiences. The student governance works need to meet [with the principal] regularly. We need to have these formal opportunities for students to say what they\u2019re feeling. If you remove that, that\u2019s tough. The other thing that\u2019s big with me is just being a visible presence. I like school lunch a lot for a reason. It\u2019s an opportunity to sit down with people. I like to have those opportunities. Structurally, we need to create formal opportunities for students to meet with me and give their perspective. And [we need] the informal opportunities as well. The more time I can be walking around and not in my office, the better. That\u2019s my goal is to not be in [my office] as much as possible. The third thing is the structure climate surveys. At least once a quarter, once a marking period, give students a formal voice to say what they\u2019re feeling \u2013 what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not, so we can make decisions based on that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At its May 9 meeting, the J-D Board of Education appointed Greg Lawson as the next principal of J-DHS. He will replace current principal Paul Gasparini following this school year after Gasparini\u2019s long tenure at the school. The RamPage interviewed Lawson about his new position and his agenda as principal. Can you tell J-D High […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":18292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,26,34],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18291"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18291"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18381,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18291\/revisions\/18381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}