Alhambra principal decided early to focus on urban kids

Seven Phoenix principals and a Mesa principal were finalists for the Rodel Exemplary Principal Award. The winners were Lela Alston Elementary School Principal Debbie Hutson; Madison Camelview Elementary School Principal Barbara Pierce; Montebello Elementary School Principal Jeff Sprout; and Edison Elementary School Principal Howard Paley. The winners each will receive $5,000 in savings bonds and will be asked to mentor three aspiring principals over two years.

Finalists were Sevilla West Elementary School Principal Kathy Davis; Bret Tarver Elementary School Principal Angela Gra-ziano; Loma Linda Elementary School Principal Susan Lugo; and Arrowhead Elementary School Principal Diane Silvestri.

JEFF SPROUT
Montebello School (Phoenix)
Alhambra School District

How long a principal?: Four years

Previous education experience: Taught junior high science for 10 years, then worked as an intervention specialist for 1-1/2 years.

Degrees: Arizona State University, bachelor of science in biomedical engineering; master's degree in education from ASU; doctorate in education administration and supervision from ASU.

Residence: Tempe.

Age: 42.

When you're feeling challenged, what drives you to continue?
A love for making a difference in kids' lives. And sometimes I sit down and write thank-you notes to people, and it quickly helps me to get my motivation back and realize what great work we do at Montebello.

What do you do to motivate and encourage parents and encourage parents to get involved?
First, we have curriculum that every night parents are involved in with their kids — they have to sign a homework sheet. Second, we have found that parents love to come see their kids do things, so we have family events. We also use these opportunities to draw in volunteers. We have a "second cup of coffee" event, which is where parents can meet with me and give me their thoughts. We just recently had a multicultural event and a family spaghetti dinner. We want to make sure that parents feel invited and welcome in our school.

How do your students know you have high expectations for them?
One way my students know I have high expectations is we have the students set their own goals, and so they know we want them to look to their future. I'm constantly on the morning announcements celebrating things that demonstrate high expectations, and we talk about their future a lot, that we hope they go to college. I think every student will tell you that the goal of our staff is to get every student into college.

How do you inspire your students, and who inspired you?
To inspire students, we bring real-life professionals into our schools so they can see the end result of getting a college degree. We have an Intel Engineers Day, where we bring in 25 to 30 engineers and they go into every classroom and give presentations about the importance of going to college. The students get to solve a problem just like engineers do, and sometimes the kids do better than the engineers. While I was in college, I was involved in the campus ministry, and my minister, Mark Baker, encouraged me to find opportunities to serve people in an urban environment. I traveled to Los Angeles, New York City and Dallas. It was through that opportunity that I developed a love for teaching. Also, my district's superintendent, Jim Rice, has been an incredible leader and has inspired me and mentored me as a teacher.

What tip would you give new principals?
Surround yourself with great people — your bosses, colleagues, fellow administrators and staff at your school. There's the old adage, "Rome was not built in a day." Really, it takes three, five years for a school to be your own.

Why are you a principal in a school serving so many children in poverty when you could be a leader anywhere?
At the age of 22, I dedicated my life to serving in an urban environment. I feel like this is a very important cause, to bring the message of the importance of education into our urban centers and to see kids be successful.

How do you use student achievement data to make teaching decisions?
We use a battery of assessments to find out how our kids are doing. We must target our energies specifically on what our kids need to learn ... We set instructional goals for ourselves in our school.