Winona Reif
This year, Aragon introduced a new principal, Dr. Michael Jones, former principal at Lowell High School and educator since 1994.
In his first 90 days as Aragon’s new principal, Jones took on a “Listening, Looking and Learning” approach to acclimate into the school community and environment.
“I talked to lots of staff members, and I listened,” Jones said. “I talked to students, parents, school community members and district leaders to get insight. I talked to former and current administration [and] department heads just to understand the historical context of the school. What’s the heartbeat of Aragon High School, and how could I support it as the new principal and instructional leader?”
The findings of this approach were somewhat unexpected for Jones.
“I was surprised in terms of the general feeling that folks had that there is a gap between the schools,” Jones said. “It’s a high school district, so we don’t have that many schools here, like eight to ten schools, but I still find that there seems to be a divide between the schools in terms of who offers this versus who offers that. [I was also surprised] in terms of the feeling that the school district office and our school site are possibly not being aligned with what we value.”
Despite this, there were still areas of strength that Jones observed.
“I was very surprised at the abundance of resources that are here in the district and at the school — human resources and financial resources,” Jones said. “There’s [also] a great social network here amongst staff and the students. In the midst of our political climate, our social climate and global crises that are taking place, I find that people stick together. They support each other. This is a safe place for students and staff to come for the most part.”
The “Listen, Looking and Learning” approach also revealed some aspects of Aragon that could be improved, and provided some goals to work towards and focus on.
“We should focus on having more conversations with our student body and really listening to our students, because [they’re] the reason we’re here,” Jones said. “We could give more agency and voice to students and involve them in the conversations we’re having that impact them the most, whether it’s around course, scheduling, what classes we offer, bell schedules [or] Student Nutrition Services.”
Many students are in support of this decision.
“It’ll be interesting because there’ll be a bunch of different perspectives from people with backgrounds, so therefore you have different solutions to problems,” said junior Meredith Huang.
However, some believe there should be an established extent to which student voices are heeded.
“I’m all for inclusivity, but there’s a boundary, where it just gets so out of hand and you have to stop,” said junior Giovanni Picetti. “Everyone’s voice should be heard, but when you start worrying so much about hearing voices, you start singling out some voices over another.”
Aragon already has plans in place to reach these goals, such as close work with the Student Equity Council and Leadership students and staff surveys. In addition, Jones plans to survey both students and their families on how effective Aragon has been with reaching its Western Association of Schools and Colleges goal — which includes reinstating pre-pandemic practices and strengthening relationships among staff and the community.
Even past these 90 days, Jones aims to continue an approach that focuses on close observation and interaction.
“I plan to continue to gather data each year,” Jones said. “[I plan to] compare each year to the former year to continue to involve students, parents, community stakeholders, district leaders, and everyone in the community to move our school forward.”
