Each week, Education World profiles a different school principal. His
or her responses offer insight into what it takes to be a principal, what
a principal's day is like, and the special challenges a principal faces.
Teri Stokes
Your school:
Weatherly Heights Elementary School, a K-5 school in Huntsville, Alabama
(560 students)
Your education experience:
I have been a regular ed and special ed teacher, a counselor, a special
ed coordinator, and an elementary counseling coordinator. I have been
a principal in two different schools for a total of 14 years.
What is the greatest challenge you face this school
year?
Making sure the teachers and staff are supported -- and feel supported
-- with all the additional requirements that the system and the state
keep placing on them.
What is your education motto/mantra/mission?
Be proactive, informed, and caring in all I do.
How much work, if any, do you take home?
I don't take it home. I stay late if needed, but when I am home, my family
gets all of me.
Who or what most influenced your decision to become
an educator?
My parents -- they were both teachers who made a difference. I wanted
to make a difference as well.
What do you do to relieve stress?
To relieve stress, I go into a classroom or eat with children in the lunchroom
or get physical and clean off my desk!
If you could have a different career, what would
that be?
I love doing workshop presentations, so I would do that full time.
If you're having a good day at work, what makes
it good?
A good day is when I have been able to hear a child read or look at children's
work and have them explain it to me.
Do you have any unusual pastimes?
I am in a tap-dancing principals group! Seven principals from our system
tap dance weekly. We've presented at local, regional, and national conferences
-- not just the dance but a presentation of principal ideas called POW
-- Principles of Wisdom. Last year, we attracted an overflow crowd at
the NAESP conference in San Diego.
What fills your time outside school?
I am a mother of four and a grandmother of two.
Your school: