Community Principal --- Day in the life

Day in the life — Alesia Green — Ashton Principal thrives in community school

by Hope Roush, Point Pleasant Register
05.17.10 - 11:02 pm

ASHTON — Principals are often viewed as the center of the school as their responsibilities including dealing with students, faculty as well as the building itself.

And Ashton Elementary Principal Alesia Green enjoys all of the responsibilities that her job provides. Green has served as Ashton’s principal since November of 2008. She previously worked at the Mason County Board of Education office as a director. In addition, she served as principal of New Haven Elementary School and worked as a teacher for Point Pleasant High School and Hannan High School.

According to Green, she decided to leave her job at the BOE office because she wanted more hands-on interaction with students and teachers.

“If you’re going to make a difference I feel that you need to be at the school level to see the difference — you can see where you make progress with the kids,” she said.

Green attributed her past teachers as the reason for pursuing a field in education.

“I was really blessed with some excellent teachers when I was in school. As far as becoming a principal, I wanted to try and see if I could have a positive impact on the students, staff and school,” she said. “I need to be positive in this job. There is no way I can expect the teachers to be positive with the kids if I am not that way with them.”

In fact, Green described working with both the students and staff of Ashton Elementary as being her favorite part of the job.

“I enjoy seeing kids and staff walk into the building anticipating the day ahead. I also enjoy when they leave at the end of the day and I can see that they felt good about the day,” she said. “I like seeing them feel like school is a place they get to come to rather than a place that they have to come to.”

Green added that she also enjoys how being a principal enables her to work with all aspects of the school.

“Being principal is interesting because when you are dealing with an entire school you have to see how situations affect everyone involved — staff, children and parents — that can be a challenge,” she said.

She also decribed the general work load as another challnege of her job as principal.

“There is more job than there are hours in the day. When I’m here I shouldn’t be behind a desk doing paperwork, I should be out and about. The challenge is finding a way to balance the work out,” she said, adding that no two days are the same.

According to Green, she arrives well before school starts and usually has questions and tasks to take care of before she even enters the school building.

“I answer questions constantly. You have to think on your feet and make quick decisions with this job. Unexpected things happen that must be taken care of,” she said. “Being a principal is just like managing a home, but instead of managing five people you are managing 450 students and 50 staff members.”

Green also said that she enjoyed working at Ashton Elementary because of the school’s community-oriented atmosphere.

“In this small community the school’s are truly the focus and center of the community. Both Ashton and Hannan are a huge asset to the community,” she added. “There’s absolutely nothing I dislike at this school. This is a great staff with a lot of community support.”

Just as Green has pursued her dream of being a school principal, she encouraged others to pursue the things that they want in life.

“Live true to your convictions. Whatever you feel passionate about, pursue with all your might,” she said.

(If you know someone who could be a potential candidate for an upcoming “Day in the Life” feature, e-mail his or her name and contact information to mdrnews@mydailyregister.com or call 304-675-1333.)

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