Tucker shines bright as Lighthouse school

1. “Be proactive – You’re in Charge.”

2. “Begin with the End in Mind – Have a Plan.”

3. “Put First Things First – Work First, Then Play.”

4. “Think Win-Win – Everyone Can Win.”

5. “Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood – Listen Before You Talk.”

6. “Synergize – Together Is Better.”

7.”Sharpen the Saw – Balance Feels Best.”

Those are The 7 Habits of Happy Kids – in order of 1-7 – as defined by Sean Covey. One through three are “start with you” principles, four-six: “then play with others” and seven: “and remember to take care of yourself.”

Those are the principles and those are Tucker Elementary – student by student, teacher by teacher, through and through.

It is the only Leader in Me school in Georgia that has earned the Lighthouse distinction, and there are only 21 Lighthouse schools in the nation.

It all started more than four years ago – this is their fourth “full” year, said Dr. Kim Halstead, Tucker’s principal. “Our whole school, our entire staff went through the (Covey) model,” she said. The model, she said, is used to train businesses all over the world. “However, an actual principal in South Carolina got a hold of it and said it could work for kids. So that morphed into the Leader in Me (program).”

Tucker, Halstead said, has since gone on to get four teachers certified to give the training (so it is no longer dependent upon Covey to provide the training). It also now offers the 7 Habits for Parents, and its next goal is to train Highly Effective Teens, “so we can help with the transition to middle school,” Halstead said.

As far as the Lighthouse distinction, she said once a school becomes a Leader in Me school and that starts to become a part of their “culture,” Covey, she said, can/will send in a review team for the day.

“There are some very high standards that Covey sets,” she said, “that if you’re excelling in those areas, you can get the Lighthouse distinction.”

That doesn’t bring with it extra money, but it brings plenty by way of recognition and opportunities. For instance, when the School System had a SACS review for accreditation, Tucker was one of the schools visited. The Exit Review comments: “The head of SACS said our student leaders at Tucker needed no prompting,” she said. “They knew what they were doing. So, I guess the payoff is when the community comes in or new families come in, it’s sometimes surprising to them the level of student leadership in the building.”

Two key pieces really make it work for Tucker, Halstead said. One is the data notebook the children keep on themselves. The school has a mission statement. Each classroom has a mission statement and each child develops his or her mission statement.

“It’s pretty high level for kids,” she said. “In their notebook they have their mission and their goals and they are and tracking that data. So it’s amazing how competitive kids can be with their own data. And they really understand it. And the mentality before might have been they’re getting their grades but not really seeing it (progress made and/or progress that needs to be made).”

The other key piece, she said, is giving back.

“We’re taking kids to the state Chamber of Commerce meeting and they’re the kids that are speaking.” Likewise at other meetings such as the Kiwanis. “We go to the Houston County job fair and the kids are interviewing applicants. We have a student panel interview candidates and (the candidates) are more anxious about interviewing with the kids than adults. And the kids meet and give their top choices and usually we’re dead on with each other.

“It’s really just us getting out of the way and turning loose of old paradigms and old concepts.” Teachers still teach. They still facilitate their classroom, she said, but kids are answering intercoms, giving morning announcements, signing out students, issuing technology items, etc.

“They’re managing classrooms,” she said. “It’s really adults shifting their ideas of what’s happening in school.”

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