MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- As students prepare for the 2009 to 2010 school year starting Aug. 31, Matthew C. Perry High School here opens its doors to a new principal with approximately 13 years of experience in childhood education.
Morgan Nugent was chosen as the new Matthew C. Perry High School principal from among nearly 480 external applicants and an unknown number of internal applicants applying for school administrative positions within the Department of Defense Education Activity Pacific system.
During his 13 years in childhood education, Nugent has been principal at other schools, been assistant principal while serving as an athletic director, coached several youth sports, and had successful experiences while working with at-risk youth in alternative schools.
Nugent agreed to sit down with the Iwakuni Approach and answer a few questions about his experience and plans for the school.
Before you were a principal, what approach did you take when you were a teacher in the classroom?
I was never a teacher who just simply told kids what they needed to know. I don’t believe in a situation where you just tell a child something and expect them to remember it, because they’re going to forget it very quickly unless they grab a hold of it, dig into it, find the truth for themselves. Our (job) as teachers is to point them in the right direction and help kids take ownership of their own learning. Otherwise ‘sit and get’ is ineffective.
What do you see as your main responsibility as the new principal of Matthew C. Perry High School?
My main responsibility is seeing the kids succeed. We’ve got to pull everybody onboard. That’s my job; make sure every kid is being reached.
What approach will you take in leading the school?
I think a lot of people will find that I’ll be very involved. I’ll be in the classrooms a lot. I want to know what the kids are learning and why it’s relevant to them. We are surrounded by some exceptional teachers who have a lot of experience and who are experts in their own areas. If you get a chance to start sharing that knowledge back and forth with each other, you can really start seeing things take off. The more things we can get connected to where cross-curricular learning is taking place, the more solid it becomes.
What do you think about this school compared to others you have worked at?
I think the biggest thing from the public school to here is probably going to be parent involvement. I see a lot more parents here with their kids who are already communicating with teachers. All in all, I think the parent support here is going to far surpass what we have had in the public schools.
Are there any disciplinary or specific policies, such as off-campus lunch, you plan to change?
We’ll continue doing exactly what we’ve done in the past. If something has to get changed, we’ll pull in all the parties, talk about it and go from there. I’ve never been afraid to make changes if the changes are necessary. I don’t like making changes for the sake of making changes either.
What can students expect to see from you as the new principal?
Well, they’ll see me in their classrooms every day. I’ll be out and about. I’ll eat lunch in the lunchroom. In the past I’ve sat down at the lunch table and asked kids, ‘What’s going on?’ No one knows better what’s going on at the school than the kids. Too often what I think needs to be improved on, what teachers think needs to be improved on and parents, isn’t sometimes what the kids see. They can make us go to that next level. We’ve got to consider who we are working with.
What words do you have for the students coming here this year?
We’re excited about having them come back to school. They’ll find that they’ll have someone that will push them extremely hard this year. We’re going to push them academically, athletically and within the fine arts program. I expect success. Never do something mediocre. If you’re going to put your heart into it, then put you’re heart into it. You better strive to be the best. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time and other people’s time.
What words do you have for the teachers?
Japan has found a way to pull all of its resources from all these scattered islands, using their infrastructure. Everything from the ferries, shin, to highways; they found a way to connect and bring all their different strengths and weaknesses together. They found a way to flourish for centuries upon centuries. That’s what we are going to be taking a look at here with the teachers. We’re going to be taking a look at seeing each other’s strengths and identifying those areas that we can share. We need to have that open door policy that invites people to come on in and take a look at what we’re doing. Share our best practices and not be an island amongst ourselves.
Moving on to the parents, what’s the one thing you think they should know about you?
The most important thing parents should know about myself is I am an active listener. I do not just want to hear complaints; I want to hear solutions. Educators are thieves. We steal good ideas and make them our own. I don’t want them to sit in their town homes, in their towers or their apartments. We want the parents to be involved.
Do you have anything to add, something you might want to say to the community?
I’m just excited to be the principal here, and feel free to stop by and introduce yourself. You’ll find that I’m a very personable administrator.