Pressured Principal Aims to Withstand and Deliver

Ah, the end of summer. The coming of a new school year. That invigorating time when a principal’s attention turns to welcoming students, kibitzing with teachers and . . . trying to avoid a state takeover of his school.

Say what?

Oh, and being reassigned too.

Talk about taking the fun out of early September.

It’s not as though this wasn’t already shaping up as an eventful school year for Ben Carpenter, second-year principal at Ball Junior High in Anaheim.

Over the summer, he hired the last of 17 new employees. He’ll start classes with two new assistant principals and a new counselor. Twelve portable classrooms are set up on the football field because of ongoing campus renovation.

That’d be enough to give any principal an August headache. But on top of all that, Carpenter will have the state looking over his shoulder from Day 1.

Given that, I expected to find him in a cranky mood late Friday afternoon. He had the indignity this week of seeing his school--Ball Junior High in Anaheim--listed in the paper as subject to possible state sanctions in the next couple years unless student test scores improve. In a worst-case scenario down the road, he could lose his job over it.

Carpenter, however, is in no such foul mood.

“Put it this way,” he says, cheerfully. “I don’t lose sleep over it. I’m not tossing and turning and in a cold sweat. This is just the way it is.”

This isn’t to suggest that the 43-year-old Carpenter is cavalier about things. He just doesn’t think his school is in jeopardy, and says he’s looking forward to new programs and some “fixes” a consultant has recommended for Ball.

“I know there have been schools that were taken over, and there were reasons for that,” he says. “Our district is managed as well as any in the country. They give us whatever we need. They understand the situation the principal and teaching staffs are working under. . . . There’s not a school in this district that would warrant the state coming in and taking over.”

That said, Carpenter quickly adds, “That doesn’t mean they’re never going to, but I can’t imagine them doing it. Therefore, I’m not worrying about it.”

Is He Worried? Angry? None of the Above

Stanford 9 scores released last week showed Ball students are improving, Carpenter says. But in the current test-happy culture, that is but one measure of a school’s success.

Schools like Ball, with large numbers of students from families of lower socioeconomic standing and where English isn’t the primary language, tend to fare more poorly on standardized tests, Carpenter says.

There, however, lies the challenge. Carpenter says he can’t wait to get at it.

“It’s become a main focus,” Carpenter says of improving test scores. “I have put together a test preparation program that we’re going to start on the first day of school. It’s what you have to do. If you want to be successful on this test, you’ve got to teach the kids the state standards. The state has said this is what our kids must know. The days of random acts of teaching are really over.”

He’s not saying this glumly or angrily. Nor will he bite when I suggest the state’s long shadow must be adding to his burdens.

Carpenter says he’s tried to impart his don’t-worry philosophy to the teachers. “I tell my teachers, ‘You’re excellent teachers. You just teach. I will support you every way I can.’ ”

Carpenter’s good cheer aside, I don’t see how it can be nearly as much fun being a principal these days. Keeping parents, teachers and your bosses happy is tough enough.

But having the state tell you in so many words your job may be on the line?

No biggie, Carpenter says.

“I don’t see myself getting burned out,” he says. “If I can make it through the year with two new assistant principals, modernization and new programs, next year should be a piece of cake.”

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com.