New Decatur High Principal Leslie Russell’s affection for her students is evident as she greets them every morning, but it’s an affection she said is balanced by her determination they will graduate with the tools they need to succeed.
“We’re going to love (our students), but we’re not going to love them into poverty. We want them to be successful,” Russell said. “I want to love on these kids, but I also want to push them. I want the rigor in our high school to be there.”
Russell said she knew she wanted to become an educator after working as an aide at an elementary school during high school: “I enjoyed being able to help students and then see that light bulb come on where you feel like you made a difference, or you helped them understand something.”
Russell, 44, earned her degree in elementary education from Auburn University and started her career as an elementary teacher in both Moody and Oneonta. When a school consultant observed Russell’s leadership abilities at Oneonta Elementary and learned she already held a master’s degree in administration, Russell was recruited for the school’s assistant principal position.
“I had never thought about doing it so early in my career,” Russell said. “I thought, I have a chance to make a bigger impact on student learning (while) still having those relationships (with students).”
After three years as assistant principal, Russell was promoted to principal of Oneonta Elementary. After nine years as principal, and a year as principal at Oneonta Middle, Russell accepted her current position as principal of Decatur High.
“Oneonta’s a great school system. It’s a great place to work, but I wanted something different. I wanted to see how other schools operated,” she said. “I’d always wanted to work with high school students.”
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
This is Russell’s 14th year as an administrator, 22nd in education overall, and a unique year due to the COVID-19 pandemic: “It’s definitely been a challenge,” Russell said.
Sarah Dunlap, history department chair and teacher at Decatur High, said Russell’s “personal and professional” leadership style has helped the school thrive during COVID-19.
“She wants to make sure that her students are OK, and her teachers are OK,” Dunlap said. “I’ve seen her on countless occasions, if a teacher has a problem, has a question, she just stops what she’s doing. She puts her students and her teachers first.”
Russell said the best part of her job is interacting with her students, and she starts each day standing at the front door greeting students as they enter the building.
“There’s a lot you can tell about a child before they enter the building in the morning,” she said. “I wanted to greet my kids with a smile and I wanted them to see me first thing each morning. There’s kids that come from difficult situations and being there to greet them — that’s my favorite part because it’s the part (where) I get to see them on a different level.”
UNIQUE CHALLENGES
Coming from Oneonta elementary and middle schools, Russell said Decatur High has unique strengths and challenges.
“There’s more of a diverse population here at Decatur High School, so that brings its own set of challenges. ... The biggest challenge you face when you get to the high school level is if you’ve got students who have fallen behind somewhere along the way,” Russell said.
“In elementary school if you’re a grade level behind or two grade levels behind, it’s pretty easy to catch them up. At the high school level, it’s difficult to get them caught up.”
Russell said Decatur High has an “impACT period” at the end of students' third block where students are able to work on whatever skills they need to hone, including English proficiency, intervention for students who are failing courses, and ACT preparation for students who want to boost their scores.
Dunlap said impACT was a part of Decatur High before Russell came to the school, but that Russell has improved the program with new ideas: “I love working with her. I enjoy coming to work every day and seeing what new things she’s going to have for us.”
Russell said it’s important to her that her students are on a path not only to graduate high school, but to leave with the skills they need to succeed after graduating. As an elementary and middle school administrator, her students were years away from graduating, while her high school students are a lot closer to that milestone.
“I realized how important it was to make sure those kids were on track to graduate, and make sure they had everything they needed to be successful,” she said. “When you think about it, the pathway we set them up on in ninth grade will determine their future.”