Principal’s Reflections: Jo-Ann Peters

Hawley Elementary School Principal Jo-Ann Peters came to Newtown in December of 1998 from East Haddam Elementary School in Moodus, where she was an assistant principal.

She arrived at Hawley in the wake of the addition project that expanded the school, and since then as taken on the challenge of reaching out to a student body that is now housed in a “more spread out” environment.

Before taking up the reigns of leadership as an administrator, Mrs Peters taught elementary school aged students for 12 years, and served as a supervisor for several programs in the West Hartford school district, where she also worked as a curriculum specialist.

With a new school year around the corner, Mrs Peters sat down recently with The Newtown Bee and talked about the challenges of running a successful school, and her expectations for Hawley in the coming year.

What is the toughest part about being a principal?

I think it’s the balancing act. You know, balancing between the leadership and the management, but also still keeping your hands on what’s happening in the classrooms on a daily basis. I know for me, it’s important that I’m in those classrooms daily, because I need that connection with the children. I think you have to make it a priority for it to happen, and the minute you let that priority lag, it’s easy to fall into just the management piece of it. I won’t see that happen. That’s a personal goal of mine.

What is most important for running a successful school?

I think you need to look at excellence and you have to set really high standards. Your expectations have to be clear, and you have to always look for continuous improvement. And I think that’s where Newtown has really driven and made a real focus, because if you’re not looking to continually improve, you stay stagnate. Change is never easy, but in order for there to be continuous improvement, there has to be ongoing change.

What makes Hawley a special place?

It’s a really warm, inviting environment, and that’s the key for me. People feel that they are always welcome here at Hawley. Prior to me coming here, Hawley used to be a very small, very neighborly, very community-centered type school. It’s grown since then. When you get over 500 kids I think it’s difficult to try and maintain that. But that’s a goal of mine: for people to always feel welcome, that it’s an inviting school.

What, in your opinion, will be the greatest challenge for you and the school as a whole this year?

An increasing faculty and enrollment. It’s trying to maintain a small school climate within a larger school. I think that’s a huge challenge. I think we’re very spread out here at Hawley, so we have to go that extra effort to maintain the type of exchanges a smaller school has. I was looking at my enrollment numbers, and I’m holding the line. I think that our numbers will be larger, but I’m fortunate that I have the renovations happening in the lower levels, so we’re going to be okay.

Five years from now, where do you see Hawley School?

I think that we would continually want to be progressive, that we would look at the needs of our population and continually be able to meet those needs. That’s going to change from year to year, and I think that as we continue to look out five years from now what our needs are today won’t necessarily be what our needs are five years from now. So I guess it’s being open minded, and always looking at what we need to address. Do I think five years from now kids are going to be any different? I would like to think that they’re still going to be the same, but kids grow up a lot of faster nowadays, and I think one of the challenges we have is to try to keep them young as long as we can.