Rogers steps in as acting principal

Principal intern Myriam Rogers assumed the role of principal on Jan. 26, a position she will fill until Feb. 26 as part of the Secondary Principal Internship program, according to the schools administrative secretary Cherrie Avery.

As part of the required training in order to complete the one year program begins in July, the principal intern must actively step in for the current principal for a month, says Rogers.

As a principal intern, Rogers said that she completes the role of the assistant principal and shadowed Williams. In her duration as acting principal, she will take over duties including attending superintendent, administration and supervisor meetings (A&S), Quad-Cluster Meetings, PTSA activities and making decisions concerning the school as a whole. Rogers intends to use her time as an experience in both administrating and interacting with students. "I think that if I am not intent and deliberate, I could lose face time with students because of the other outside forces," Rogers said.

The MCPS Secondary Principal Internship Program prepares and equips principal interns, with the requisite experience and knowledge needed to assume the position of a secondary school principal with the assurance of a smoother transition.

During the course of Rogers's month-long hands-on training, Mrs. Susana Phillips, a former administrator for MCPS, will serve as acting assistant principal in order to complete Rogers's regular responsibilities. For the duration of this period, according to Rogers, Principal Darryl Williams will work on a special program for MCPS dealing with math and the Blair cluster.

The MCPS Office of Organizational Development runs the Secondary Principal Intern program. As a prerequisite for entering the program the community superintendents must identify assistant principals who are ready for the program and have passed the Principal's Licensure exam, according to Rogers.

According to the Office of Organizational Development, once a principal intern has agreed to participate in the program and has met all the requirements, he or she is matched with a principal at the March Staffing Meeting in the Office of School Performance. After the selection, the principal must decide if he or she is ready to serve as a principal developer, Rogers said. If the principal accepts, the shadowing begins. However, if the principal is not ready or available to participate in the program, the intern must be transferred to another school in which a principal developer is available.

The opportunity to participate in the program presented itself to Rogers when MCPS central office posted their annual call for interns in 2008. Rogers decided to enroll in hopes of becoming a principal upon the completion of the program. "I have a vision of the type of school that I want for my students," Rogers said. "I want to be a person that inspires my students to have a high school experience, but to also be able to have the best of both worlds.

Once the program is complete the intern principal must wait to be assigned as a principal to a school. However, the intern principal does not have to accept the job offer and can wait until the right opportunity presents itself if they choose, said Rogers.