Principal Charles Park’s face is commonly seen around campus, raising the question of what he does during the day. To answer this question, Insight shadowed Park on Tuesday to learn more about his day-to-day responsibilities.
9:00am
Park arrives at school after an hour and a half commute. He starts his day by meeting with his secretary, Silvia Martinez. She gives him documents that require his approval and signature, as well as reminders for him to check and reply to his emails. In some cases, if an email requires immediate attention, she will print it out for him to review. Martinez sets up or confirms any meetings that Park requests within this meeting. She is in charge of monitoring and creating his schedules, so these meetings prepare him for the day.
“The goal for him is to be able to show up, do what he needs to do, and get to the next place and do what he needs to do,” Martinez said.
9:30
After meeting with Martinez, Park spoke with Howard Lui’s 9th grade Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) class, where they discussed the significance of college. He lectured them for 30 minutes about the importance of their futures and going to college, beginning with an anecdote about his college decision experience and how it shaped his life. His original plan was to go to the University of California, Los Angeles(UCLA) with his best friend, James, and major in business. However, his plan fell through when a professor from Pepperdine University called him and suggested he attend there instead.
“I decided to go to Pepperdine and that’s why it changed everything I was about to do. So is college worth it? Yes, because I actually wouldn’t be here if I didn’t go to Pepperdine and become a teacher,” Park said.
10:11
Park makes his way across campus to the art and ceramics classrooms. He usually goes there when he has free time or to answer his emails.
10:13
He arrives at the ceramics classroom and walks around the room, conversing with students about what they’re working on, before talking to art and ceramics teacher Christine Schwandt. While there, he makes sure to be notified of any necessary art supplies that are running low, before the deadline for spending money this school year approaches. As second period ends, Park informs Schwandt he will come back another day to continue watching students work.
10:25
Nutrition begins and Park is in the cafeteria. He stands at the start of the cafeteria nutrition line and monitors the students selecting their food to make sure it all runs smoothly.
10:49
As 3rd period begins, Park talks to the school plant supervisor Danny Lopez about moving a table for students who have no shade during lunch.
10:55
Park makes his way back to his office. He checks his calendar to see what is next on his agenda, which is a counselor meeting. Inside his office, displayed on the TV, is live footage from security cameras across campus that only administration has access to. It was only implemented in the middle of last year for safety precautions.
“It’s not to keep eyes on our students, it’s to keep eyes on anyone who might set foot onto our campus who might be unsafe,” Park said.
11:00
Park goes to C-1 for the counselor meeting with them and administrators. The purpose of the meeting was to address students, mainly seniors, who are struggling with their classes and will need to take credit recovery classes. In this meeting, administrators and counselors have a Google Sheet with a list of students who require support to pass their classes in order to graduate high school. The counselor assigned to the specific student will review the student’s schedule and determine the next steps.
“We just do all sorts of magic. One of them being, if a kid, for example, if a kid is in a credit recovery class and they’re not showing up to it. Well, what do we do? Well, we’ll change the teacher. What’s their motivation? If Grad Nite’s their motivation, we’ll put it in their contract. We’re just coming up with all sorts of creative things,” Park said.
11:55
Park observes social science department teacher Avery Mischin’s world history class. Every teacher must be evaluated every one or two years depending on how long the teacher has been working here. A new teacher must be evaluated every two to three times a year for the first two years. After their second year, they are only observed every other year.
“They have to do a lesson, and then the administrators observe the lesson. And then, there’s a way of giving feedback,” Park said.
Upon arriving, Park notices that Mischin’s door gets stuck. It won’t close naturally, students and teachers have to pull twice for it to close. When situations like that occur, Park sends a picture via iMessage to Assistant Principal Melanie Wong and School Office Assistant Deanna Landa to find someone to fix it.
Mischin begins her lesson, gives Park her lesson handouts and a packet detailing her lesson plan. He takes notes throughout the lesson.
“Teachers make all the difference, you have to get the right teachers,” Park said.
12:38
Park leaves Mischin’s classroom and heads to the cafeteria to get lunch. A cafeteria worker brings him to the teacher’s lounge in the cafeteria and shows him the water damage by the window. He puts in a work order to get it resolved, before heading back to his office to get ready for the winter sports California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) parade during lunch. In his office, he has his own bathroom and closet.
12:49
The winter sports CIF parade begins and Park follows along, recording and taking pictures. The parade,led by drumline and cheer, followed by girls water polo, girls basketball, girls and boys wrestling, and boys basketball. Two teams made it to CIF quarterfinals, girls water polo are league champions, and sophomore Julie Cimarusti is competing at state finals for wrestling.
Once the parade is finished, Park gets a spirit point for the seniors with his sports apparel at the Circle Stage.
1:36
After lunch, Park usually eats his own lunch or goes to more meetings. A Google Calendar is shared with all of the administrators’ schedules for the day and the week.
“Today for me is a normal, average, regular day. I think if anything, it’s a normal day because everyone who is a part of running West Covina High School, also has a similar day,” Park said.
2:00
Park ends the day earlier to attend his daughter’s basketball game. Usually after school, Park watches any of the scheduled sports games or is at a department chair meeting, or Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) meeting.
“I think high school principal is the best job in the world, hands down. I’m so blessed and grateful to do this work,” Park said.
