BY KEYLEIGH HARLAN
Mr. Caycee Spears has been captaining our ship since 2015 when he assumed the role as Principal. Since then, he has encouraged, supported, reprimanded, and represented our school in the best possible ways. On November 29, we had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Spears and discuss this school year, our strengths and weaknesses, and what he hopes we can achieve through hard work and unity.
KH is meant to represent Keyleigh Harlan & CS is meant to represent Mr. Spears
KH: How do you think this semester is going so far?
CS: I think it’s going really well. Students are doing a good job. They’re meeting expectations, exceeding expectations a lot of the time. Haven’t been any real, major issues. We tell people all the time we have really good students. People who come in outside, if they’re visiting from another school or visiting from the state department or different places, always say the exact same things: we have good students. Our faculty and staff does a great job. We can always get better, and we want to improve individually and collectively, but I think it has been an outstanding semester so far.
KH: What do you think some of the highlights are?
CS: I think the school spirit, in general. People taking pride in the school, and that’s what we are trying to instil, regardless of what you are involved in, get involved in something. Academics are important. Not to diminish them (academics) in any way, but extra-curricular activities you can get involved in, and clubs. I talked to a student a few minutes ago about an idea, recycling idea, by the STEM club. If it’s band, if it’s a sport, if it’s archery, whatever it is, get involved in something, and be proud of it and do the best you can. So, I think that’s been one of the biggest keys this semester, getting kids involved and it’s a continual process.
KH: What are some successes or events or changes you would like to see implemented before the end of the school year?
CS: It kinda goes along those same lines, getting everyone involved in something, outside of the traditional eight to three school day. I know a lot of clubs meet during the days, some meet after school, they have activities. I think that is one of the goals of high school, the social part as well. And I’m not talking about parties on Saturday nights and that kind of stuff necessarily. I’m just talking about connecting and meeting new people. We have students coming in from the five K-8 schools, and students transitioning from other high schools all the time. Meet new people. Be challenged. Meet the challenges. Solve problems. Those types of things. So, continue to build on that. Going forward through the next semester, continuing to have class talks with individual students, build on those relationships. And make sure everybody in the building has somebody they trust, an adult in the building, whether it be a teacher, a member of the cafeteria staff, a custodian, whomever; somebody they can go to that they can trust and confide in.
KH: Is meeting new people something you would like the foreign exchange students to take back home with them after this year? That they met such a variety of different people?
CS: That was one of the goals, and there was actually a coordinator, who works with those exchange students, and asked me at the beginning of the year how many we would take, and I said as many, basically, as would want to come here because a lot of times we don’t have the means a lot of the time in this part of the country to go all over the world. Some people are able to, and that’s great. They have different experiences to learn about different cultures. But if we can’t go over the world and be world travelers, and some students can’t be, we try to bring the world to us, even if they just have an effect on a few people and can talk about their culture and what life looks like, and kinda open people’s minds.
KH: So, switching gears a little bit. A while ago a safety team came and talked to the students. What were some of their concerns, recommendations, and commendations they made? And did we change anything accordingly?
CS: Recommendations. They actually have just sent the booklet; I can bring it to you. The commendations, the things that we did well, they talked about the positive staff and students. They were talking about how they were welcomed, especially by some of the best behaved high school students they’ve been around. They are all retired principals, administrators, some have central office experience. But all of them talked about, and I believe, all of them that were here, come from a high school setting. They said we have some of the best kids they have been around. As far as things they were bragging on: they interviewed 100 students, and these 100 students have someone they can go to if they need something, which is kind of what I was building on before: just having those positive relationships. It’s something we’re working on with the faculty and staff, just having those relationships, community partnerships, business partnerships. Other recommendations that they made is staff wearing badges at all time. I used to have a coat, and I could put mine on my pocket, but they talked about it. They didn’t name it specifically, but I wore it around my neck (probably looks better on a bow tie than a regular tie, but we’ll see about that). Other recommendations are adults checking into the building. We are looking at redoing the front as far as safety goes, making sure they have to go to the office to sign in. They talked about recommendations as far as making sure visiting adults are all accounted for in the building. I am trying to think of other concerns, but most of them were minor, except for the entrance in the front.
KH: Did we change anything other than the lanyards? Like anything super small? Maybe not noticable?
CS: Certain fire doors can’t be propped open. They have to be released, in case of a fire alarm. They have to be released and not propped open with a door stopper. So, we took care of that. [flips through the book given by the safety team]
KH: They wrote all of that about us?
CS: Yes, all about us. Yeah, commendations. Students know the rules, school is very clean, the camera system that we have, implementing PBIS, suicide prevention and bullying prevention that we have in place, utilizing the school’s resources, the perception of safety, communication was key, and emergency drills, the freshmen academy, how the car rider and bus riders are seperate, that was important. And areas of concern, just continuing to contact parents in event of emergencies, building access controls, staff IDs, and one of the things that come up, and seems to come up quite a bit, is just how kids treat each other, which we have really good students, but sometimes students don’t get along, and that came up in this. Bus behavior was a big one, just making sure kids and bus drivers are trained in dealing with situations, and another thing that came up was tobacco use, and primarily just dip, and that’s been ongoing and we’ve looked at those. Certain changes that we have made there will be addressed, all of them and some of them. Some require different groups, like building something in the front of the school.
KH: So, something that is not in the book: what do you feel is the biggest overall problem at Logan County High School?
CS: I will go back to the same thing, probably involvement. We have about 75% of our students who are involved in extracurricular activities, and again, it’s not just sports, it’s the whole range, ROTC and all those different programs, that’s a large number, especially for a high school. That means we have 25% who don’t, and we have 1100 students, we have almost 300 students who aren’t necessarily involved in the whole ‘high school experience.’ And I understand, some students may not want to be. Some students are quieter, and that’s fine. They just need to have that opportunity, and it’s not saying you have to to stay after school every day and you have to come before school and do something. Some students like the isolation; they like doing individual projects and being more by themselves. We don’t want to force them, but we just want them to have the opportunity.
KH: And what do you feel is the best thing that Logan County High School does? Students, teachers, and everyone overall?
CS: Students. I think that’s the answer. Just students. And the teachers. I think it’s a unique high school because you have five different K-8 schools. But, I think when they get here, for the most part, and of course there are problems and issues that come up, students who don’t get along and students who have disagreements, and sometimes they have disagreements with teachers, and cause a disruption. But overall, the greatest thing about it is mostly how the kids treat each other, and the way they treat the teachers, and the way we greet our visitors in the building. It’s obviously the relationships we have, usually positive and usually respectful.
KH: Is there anything other than involvement that you would like to see from the students, especially with the seniors in mind?
CS: I think that this class in particular has a lot of leadership qualities in them, for them just to continue to grow, which is not “I’m a senior now, and I can tell people what to do” and bossing them around. It’s more of a lead by example, such as “Here is how I am going to treat my teachers” and “Here is how I am going to greet people in the hallway” and “Here’s how I am going to take care of my work,” such as making sure you meet deadlines and those sort of things. Leadership in that way, not in a bossy and telling freshmen what to do and telling them to go down the wrong hallway, that sort of stuff. Not that kind of leadership. Just leading by example. And this class has strong leadership qualities that they’ve shown, in the last couple of years in particular.
KH: Is there something you would like to see more from the teachers and the administration?
CS: Probably just continue to grow and to seek learning opportunities. All of the adults in the building are at different points; some are in their first year of teaching, some of them have been in twenty five. Some have been around longer than that, so you have a wide span, but just encourage everybody to continue to grow, seek learning opportunities, whether it be through conversations or attending professional days, and it doesn’t always have to be about school necessarily, just individual growth. So as far as staff goes, and I have encouraged students to do that as well, is keep challenging yourself to do better today than you do yesterday, and continue to do better tomorrow, and have the desire to help others in that way.
KH: Who is a teacher or staff member that you wish you could bring back to the Logan County district?
CS: There was a dynamic teacher at Chandlers when I was an administrator out there, and her name is Katie Healy, and she is a fourth grade teacher, and her family lived in Michigan and she and her husband had kids, and she needed to get back up there. But she was outstanding. She was great with kids, she was great with families, everyone loved Mrs. Healy. She was extremely bright, and kinda brought people along. She presented challenges and talked through things and worked through things. And, so, she would be one that I would bring back. And I think that about all teachers; I have seen it from K to 12. You aren’t going to teach the alphabet, obviously, at the high school, but strategies and relating to kids, understanding content and understanding students, breaching that gap, looks the same in Kindergarten as it does in a senior English class. You have those people, those teachers, any staff member, the ladies in the front office, that understand how the students work and understand how the school works, and can bridge that gap. So, it looks the same.
KH: Is there anyone at the high school you would like to bring back?
CS: Well, there are quite a few at the high school who I have seen because I taught here… ten years ago, I taught here. I taught English, so there’s been a lot of turnover since then; it’s just natural. I guess the principal when I was here, the first principal I had, Mr. Jaynes was the principal when I was teaching, and, of course, Mr. Nilan was here before him, and he would be one I would bring back as an administrator. He is the most laid back administrator that I have ever seen. I’d like to bring him back in some capacity, maybe not take his old job back because I’m here [laughs], but, at least to help out. It would be fun just to have him back; he knows a lot about high school.
KH: If you could be transferred anywhere, like be principal of any other school not in Logan County, where would you go and why?
CS: I don’t think I would go anywhere. And this may stunt your question. I remember we had a bell ringer when I was an English teacher, and I would ask kids, if it went with what we were reading at the time, if they could go anywhere in the world, and any kind of occupation, where would you go and what would you do? One day they asked me, and I didn’t expect them to ask me, and they said, “Where would you go?” And I got to thinking, “I couldn’t go anywhere. I couldn’t just go tell someone I was going to go be President of the United States or be the king of England,” something like that, occupation wise. When you get older, you have choices, and it’s a choice to be here, and if I had a desire to go anywhere else or somewhere else in the world, I don’t know what would really be stopping me from doing it. So, where would I want to be and what I want to do? This is what I enjoy doing, and I come to school every day. And if that ever changes, I guess I’ll do something else.
KH: So, what’s your favorite part about coming to school every day? What do you look forward to the most?
CS: I thought about this a lot recently. I mean, I am just getting old. I like to help people, not to tell them the answers, a lot of times I don’t know the answers, but students come to me with questions or concerns, staff members, other people in the district, about how to address the situations, and a lot of times I don’t know the answers, maybe I have been through something similar, maybe I have seen it somewhere else, and I can try to give some guidance. I like helping people work through and figure out solutions. I really like to work with students in the school setting, but I also like helping adults, and just helping them work through things. And a lot of the times, a few times actually, it is not something major, it is something the student has to get done in class or a concern they are having, whether it be with a friend or may be a teacher sometime, helping them work through that, that’s my job, and I really think that’s my ultimate thing. I need to provide a safe environment and have a learning climate and culture that’s built on having those relationships.
KH: Is there any major difference from going from teaching here to being an administrator at Chandler’s to being the principal here that you notice or anything you had to change?
CS: The older students get my sense of humor, what little bit I have. I feel they relate a little better than second and third graders. A lot of times I would think I had some really good lines, but it would go right over their heads. I just really enjoy working with people, with young people. I think that’s the same across everywhere. They still have the light, they still have a sense of wonderment, they have things they are looking forward to, and they participate in something and always look forward to things to come. Majority of the time, they have a positive outlook. Not that adults don’t, but it seems like kids especially have that sense of wanting to know something and wanting to learn something. I think it’s the same for younger kids, and maybe when you get into high school and get into work and jobs and those kinda things, maybe it’s not as apparent, but I think it’s still there. So, what’s different? I don’t think they are that much difference at all.
KH: Do you approach your job differently? Is there something you would do at Chandler’s that you don’t really do here and vise versa?
CS: I wear more suits here. I wore ties at Chandler’s, but here I wear a lot more suits. Other than that, they are very similar.