Adrian High School Principal Sam Skeels talks about progress, success at high school

ADRIAN — Even in the profession of teaching and school administration, there is a learning curve for educators.

First-year Adrian High School Principal Sam Skeels talked about those learning curves during the Adrian Public Schools Board of Education meeting Monday while also sharing the progress and success at the high school since he took on full principal duties prior to the start of the 2022-23 school year.

“All of the teachers and staff have been just absolutely wonderful in showing me what secondary education looks like. I wasn't as green as I thought I was,” Skeels told the board Monday. “But there's a lot of things that teenagers go through that I didn't realize until I got up here. It's been great.”

Skeels was officially named high school principal in May. His first day as principal was July 1. He succeeded former principal Mike Perez, who retired.

Skeels had been principal at Lincoln Elementary School for more than 10 years. He previously was an assistant principal at Springbrook Middle School and a physical education instructor for the district before becoming Lincoln’s principal.

During the interview process last spring, Skeels said he wanted to bring a new vision and a new era of leadership to the high school. He pinpointed some of those adjustments during his board presentation Monday.

One of the first things he wanted to tackle, he said, was relationships with teachers and staff.

“Great things were happening before I started (at the high school), but there was a lot turnover with five different principals in about a 10-year span,” he said. “What I wanted to let (teachers and staff) know is that unless I get fired, I'm going to be here for quite a while. And what I want to establish is that every person matters. Encouragement is the most important thing. Personal connections and letting each kid, each person who comes through our doors know that they matter, and that we care about them. That's what we're focusing on.”

Another area of importance, he said, was getting everybody on the same page in terms of high expectations and energy for teachers, staff, students and parents. After at least one decade of leading an elementary school full of young-minded students, Skeels said, he wanted to bring a similar enthusiasm to the high school landscape.

Teachers and staff, for example, are expected to establish a positive classroom environment; everyone is expected to work hard; engagement needs to begin at the teacher level to get students engaged in learning; and there needs to be a lot of encouragement, professionalism, and accountability for making sure things are done to provide the best environment for every kid on a daily basis, he said.

“The same thing is also expected of our students,” Skeels said.

Certain high school rules regarding cellphones and electronics usage in classrooms and the dress code were among Skeels’ items to address as principal.

“Basically, what we did was we just decided to strictly enforce what has been in place for years,” he said.

While there was some initial pushback from students, and some parents were concerned about the enforcement rules, Skeels said, dress code and electronic device violations are way down in numbers since the beginning of the school year.

“It was a bit of a struggle for the first couple of weeks,” he reported. “We kept encouraging the staff to stay consistent with it. And now, we still deal with the violations here or there, but it's drastically down, and what the students are finding is that they're able to engage more, and the teachers are able to teach the content more, as well.”

Weekly newsletters for students and parents, weekly newsletters for staff, and communication through platforms such as Google Classroom, Infinite Campus and social media are examples of Skeels’ approach on a strong communication piece that stresses clear and concise information throughout the school.

“But the biggest thing that I stressed with the staff is that we need to have face-to-face or verbal conversations whenever possible,” he said. “We need to try to stray away from the emails. Emails are a necessary evil, I feel, but I think in society today, we're too quick to type when a face-to-face conversation or a conversation over the phone, where you can be able to tell one of the conversations, is more appropriate. As a result of that, I've gotten a lot of good feedback.”

When it comes to the extracurricular opportunities at the high school, Skeels said, Adrian is unmatched in Lenawee County with the amount of athletics, the arts and the clubs it offers to students.

Coming soon to the high school, he previewed, is a ninth grade academy, specifically available to incoming ninth grade students, who have concerns about academic success in high school. The academy will begin during the 2023-24 school year, he said, and will feature an individualized approach that aims to prevent a failure rate for freshmen students. The lasting effect of the academy, he said, is to empower students through the remaining high school grades and then ultimately help with the school’s graduation rate.

Maple Mentor Time is another framework piece at the high school that is being worked on, Skeels said, for installation in the coming school year.

Board members, including President Beth Ferguson and Vice President Jon Baucher, praised Skeels for his ability to relate to teachers, staff, students and parents and to communicate equally with all of them.

“The students have been great,” Skeels replied. “They’ve been fantastic in their willingness to sit down and to talk.”

Trustee Michael Ballard, who was among the high school principal interview committee members last year, said all of what Skeels spoke on during his update was exactly what he proposed to do as principal during the interview process.

“What you just heard is what he told us a year ago,” Ballard said. “I think that it speaks very well for Sam, that this is what he's been doing. He didn't blow any smoke. He came in, he did the job. He's doing the job. And the proof is in the pudding.”

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Principal Sam Skeels gives update on Adrian High School progress