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Clinical Field Experience C: Evaluating Campus Operations

Brenda Gutierrez Rojas

College of Education, Grand Canyon University

EAD 536: Strategic Leadership and Management in Principalship

Professor Scott Reisbord

March 23, 2024

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CFE C: Evaluating Campus Operations

Part of the responsibilities of a principal is to operate the school and maintain the facility

clean and safe for our students. For this assignment, I met with our Lead Custodian, Ms. Acosta,

to discuss her duties, responsibilities, and any safety concerns we have as a school. First, I

reviewed her job description which details her responsibilities in terms of cleaning, maintenance,

and safety. She also oversees three other custodians that work at our school. She is responsible

for creating an effective schedule in which they take turns between the day and night shift; she

also reports any findings that need external attention to the appropriate person; and follows

protocols to order supplies. She has worked at our school for over 10 years and is quite

knowledgeable about safety procedures.

Safety and Welfare of Students and Staff

When it comes to operations in general, our school is a bit challenging. We are a charter

school that rents two buildings from a church, and this makes things very tricky when it comes to

running the school. Safety is a huge issue because the buildings were not created with student

safety in mind. I learned that recently we had a safety audit from the Texas Education Agency

(TEA). After the school shooting at Uvalde Elementary, our state governor put several

preventive measures in place, such as random safety audits by TEA. The results are shared with

all faculty and staff in order to keep things transparent; so, she was discussing the the fact that

several of our doors magnets need to be upgraded. Apparently, the District Operations Director

reported the findings to our Superintendent and it was decided that they would apply for a federal

grant to help with the cost. Until then, a security guard was placed at the door that is the most

concern and with the most traffic. Another area of concern mentioned by Ms. Acosta is the fact
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that the teachers have their doors 100% covered and according to the Fire Marshall, in order to

be in compliance with the fire-code we can only have our doors 20% covered. She also shared

that this was an issue with the art teacher who wanted to cover an entire wall with cardboards in

the cafeteria. She expressed that she felt bad because having to remind people of the rules makes

her not so popular with some teachers but she believes in safety first and she takes her job very

seriously. I have my children in that school, and I appreciate Ms. Acosta’s concerns.

Allocation of Resources

The allocation of resources for upkeep of the operation side of the school is initially

included in the district’s budget for our school. However, Ms. Acosta was sharing with me that

when it comes to ordering materials to restock restrooms or even furniture that we need, she

needs to input a ticket in our district system for requesting services. She said many times she is

told that she must deal directly with the District operations manager and to not include our

principal in her emails or requests. She was said she did not understand why she had to do that so

she keeps the principal verbally informed of anything she requests anyway because she

understands that he is the one that runs operations at the school, on a daily basis and if something

is lacking teachers will go to him not her district supervisor. The disconnect when dealing with

resources was interesting to me. I am not sure exactly what the process is for obtaining resources

for cleaning, and maintenance.

Procedures to Monitor and Manage Operations

According to my conversation with our lead custodian, she is in charge of making sure

that all daily duties such as, cleaning restrooms, wiping down desks, cleaning carpets, waxing

floors, restocking restrooms, setting up and cleaning up in the cafeteria; assisting with cleaning
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up messes during lunch duty and so on are left up to her. She oversees the other custodians and

only reaches out to our administrator if there is something out of the ordinary going on that she

cannot resolve. The principal, as I have observed, handles daily operations such as the driveline,

making sure the securities are at their post, monitoring dismissal, lunch, and any building to

building activity. He also approves requests for the use of meeting rooms and any other area in or

school that is not a classroom.

PSEL Standards 7 and 10 and Implications Future Professional Practice

As a future leader, I plan to secure workplace conditions for our school community that

make everyone feel safe and secure. Aligning with PSEL 7, I will also empower and trust my

faculty and staff to help maintain our school safe and to constantly and collaboratively help

improve programs that continually keep our school clean and safe. I will find ways to ensure

that our school is continually improving its practices in all areas so that our student’s learning

environment is positively impacted on a daily basis.

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Reference Page

Professional standards for educational leaders. (n.d.). Retrieved June 12, 2023, from

http://www.npbea.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Professional-Standards-for-Education

al-Leaders_2015.pdf