‘I still feel connected to students’

Gregorio T. Camacho School, the smallest elementary school on Saipan, has one of the best student-to-teacher ratios and scores on standardized tests. Acting principal Charlotte Camacho said these are a few reasons she’s proud to lead the students, teachers and staff of GTC. Here she answers some questions.
[B] Question: What is your background?

Answer:[/B] I was a teacher for 9.5 years before becoming a principal. Early childhood education is my background. I taught for 9.5 years in kindergarten and 1st grade. I became acting principal the second semester of the 05-06 school year.

[B]Q: What do you do on a daily basis as acting principal?

A:[/B] Aside from all the paper work we have to do, writing reports about the students’ progress, all the IEPs [individualized education plans], ordering, using the funding that we have so that our schools have sufficient supplies they need, we also substitute. We are substitute teachers. At our school we have decided that reading is our priority, so the principal and vice principal teach reading for an hour a day.

[B]Q: What’s the best thing about being an acting principal?

A:[/B] I think it’s when you come into contact with the students. I think we still feel connected to the students.

[B]Q: What’s the hardest thing about being an acting principal?

A:[/B] Not only do you have to take care of needs of schools, but the needs of the central office. It’s a balancing act. I find it quite hard to do sometimes. But the students come first, sometimes I find I have to put the paperwork on hold because the students are the priority.

[B]Q: What are your goals for the rest of the year?

A:[/B] We wrote a grant. Unfortunately the governor has the final say and he has not quite given us a green light. The grant was to renovate our termite infested classrooms. There are a total of 14 classrooms. Our goal is to make that one way or another, if they are going to re-route that money then we will get that money from someplace else, because we really are in dire need of renovating those classrooms for health reasons. Our goal continues to be that our students are progressing and moving forward with all the scores, in addition to meeting the goals of PSS. Just making sure the kids are growing.

[B]Q: Do you find your principal duties ever enter into your personal life?

A:[/B] Yeah, it seeps into your personal life. It’s a balancing act. It’s something I find very hard to do, however; I have young children and they have expressed the need for me to be with them, ‘Mommy we need you to stop, we need you to come home.’

The school does become your family; however, it should be your second family, as I’m learning. That’s my resolution [and] I’m working on that.