Assistant Principal Nicole Morgan has begun training as an intern under Principal Jennifer Baker this year in order to prepare her for a future principalship. Morgan’s training will culminate in a temporary takeover from Dec. 1 to Jan. 26 during which she will assume full principalship of WJ while Baker retires after 12 years as principal.

Initially, Baker planned to mentor former BCC administrator Vickie Adamson over the school year. However, Adamson recently obtained a job as principal of Kennedy High School, leaving a position open. Eager to take on a new challenge, Morgan began training for her principal internship over the summer.

“I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity here at WJ because I really enjoy working with the community. I don’t think I would have done it at any other place. I have long standing relationships here with the staff and families, so I wanted to give it a shot,” Morgan said.

As a principal intern, Morgan is part of a training program in which she works with a sitting principal and learns what the job takes.

“The purpose of the training program is to give them the experience of sitting in the principal’s seat and doing a lot of the principal’s duties during the school year,” Baker said.

Over the summer, Morgan participated in several county trainings with other interns from a variety of schools. Because she started in July as opposed to the other interns, who began in May, Morgan had to catch up on training in order to be well prepared for the start of the school year.

“There are a lot of things you need to know about, like infrastructure of the building and instruction in general. [However], the beauty about that is I’ve already been in the building for a long time [as assistant principal], so I know where a lot of operational things are located,” Morgan said.

A large portion of Morgan’s training consists of shadowing Baker during meetings with administration, the instructional leadership team (ILT) and staff. Recently, Morgan has also begun to lead and take a greater role in these meetings by giving updates, presenting information and driving discussion.

“Ms. Morgan and I debrief a lot of things together and we plan a lot of things together. I’m helping her expand her thinking [from] just the departments that she supervises and the students on her caseload [to] all of the students, the parents, the teachers and the school as a whole. She’s starting to plan administrative team meetings and be out front in some of those meetings, too,” Baker said.

As Morgan has taken on this new position as an intern, administration has been down an assistant principal, causing the workload to increase. Baker has also had to take on student casework to help combat the heavy load.
“It has been challenging, but well worth it for [Morgan] to have this opportunity. I think she’s going to do a great job and she’s ready for it. I think she could probably take her own building right now and have no problems,” Assistant Principal Jeff Leaman said.

After her initial months of training under Baker, Morgan will temporarily assume principalship from Dec. 1 to Jan. 26.

“I have been leading some of Ms. Baker’s responsibilities now and I think starting sooner rather than later is great preparation [for the takeover],” Morgan said.

When Morgan takes over in Dec., Baker will retire after 12 years of being principal of WJ. The question of who will become WJ’s new principal following Morgan’s temporary takeover has yet to be decided.

“Some things are hard, like giving up certain [responsibilities], but I think that’s one of the things that a leader has to do. You have to trust the people that are on your team, and you have to let them spread their wings and grow,” Baker said.

When her internship is over, Morgan hopes to be considered for principalship of WJ due to her familiarity and close ties with the community. Nevertheless, no matter where her internship takes her, Morgan hopes to make her impact in the community as principal.

“To [make students] feel like [they] are a part of the school community – [that] is what my vision is as far as becoming a principal,” Morgan said.