New Clermont Northeastern High School Principal Shane Hartley compares leading a school to being the captain of a ship.
“If you want to make an impact, it’s like navigating a ship in the right direction. It takes communication to coordinate all the different people who are involved, and there are a lot of important steps,” he said.
Hartley, 45, has had that experience in districts large and small – as a teacher at Finneytown High School; assistant principal and principal at Deer Park High School, and secondary curriculum director in the Forest Hills Local School District. He officially takes over at Clermont Northeastern Aug. 1, with a mission not of turning around a ship, but staying on course with the district’s successes. He looks forward to returning to a smaller setting where he can have more of a direct impact.
“It’s a smaller group and you get to learn each other’s strengths and skills a lot quicker. You get to build some of that camaraderie and that teamwork that fellowship a little bit quicker. And I think you get to know the kids and the staff quicker and more in-depth,” Hartley said. “It’s quality as opposed to quantity.”
That process has begun. Hartley has talked with Superintendent Tim Sies about the priorities of the district, as well as Assistant Principal Brad Pierce, outgoing Principal Robert Walker and new Athletic Director Andrew Marlatt. He set up office hours to meet with teachers about the strengths of the school, where they want to keep improving and what a new principal should know.
Those strengths include the district’s much-praised and award-winning PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support) model and the closeness of the staff.
“(I was) just talking to a teacher who was relatively new, and she said, ‘As a new teacher, I always felt like people were here for me anytime I had a question. They were there to help me out.’ I talked to other teachers who said sometimes when people are going through some rough times or whatever the case may be, there’s a way of this teaching staff of coming together and working together,” Hartley said.
Preparing student for their post-high school life is another emphasis. The district refers to it as “CNE” – College, Next Step or Enlistment,” meaning the goal is for all students should have a definite plan, be it continuing their education, starting a career or enlisting in the military. Hartley wants to work with the teachers to review available data and make sure all students are on track to graduate.
He acknowledges the challenges created by turnover in the high school administrative roles – Hartley is the third principal in three years. “Change can always be a little bit of a guessing game for staff. It’s going to be important to be clear with my vision, and the challenge is to work collaboratively with the staff to accomplish our goals.” Hartley said. “Various processes and various expectations can also change with different leaders, so we need to ensure we’re all aligned.”
Parents have their own expectations, and Hartley has plans to build those relationships. He spent time at the Clermont County Fair, about three miles from the high school campus, seeing more about the community and their values. He also wants to post to social media as a way to showcase things going on in the building and as a way of informally introducing himself. Expect to see him at various extracurricular activities as well – he is a former high school football coach and has his own children who participated in marching band, school productions and school sports.
“One of the benefits of this small-town community is that people are reaching out to me already. That’s been really nice,” he said. One day in early July, as he stood outside the front door of the high school, a coach recognized him and said, “Oh, you’re the new principal.”
Hartley, who grew up in Springfield Township and lives in Madeira, sees Clermont Northeastern as a district where he can thrive.
“If I’m able to work with our teachers, and work with our community, and have great things going, I don’t necessarily need my name out there,” he said. “If our kids are succeeding, if our extracurriculars are succeeding, and if I’m able to work with all those people and continue to grow things, I wouldn’t want to go anywhere. This is the kind of place that I’d want to be.”
Smooth sailing is the goal.