by Mallory Carlson ’19

 Within his first week as principal, Dr. Eric Minus took his new administrators, administrative assistants, business office staff, and building services members on an in-school field trip. On the agenda was a three-hour tour of a very important building – Sherwood High School. The field trip started at the front doors of the school, and throughout the tour Minus highlighted areas that he would like to revamp, in efforts to make Sherwood an dynamic, consistent learning environment.

  “Culture trumps strategy all day long,” Minus said in explanation of the renovations and his other endeavors during his first 90 days as principal. “If we can create a culture and a climate at Sherwood for our students and for our staff,” he said, “I think everyone is going to be more apt to be responsible for the work we have to do here.”

 Working on the physical aspects of cultivating the Sherwood community is just one of the many tasks Minus led efforts to create an increasingly unified and collaborative culture. Before the school year started, Minus engaged in 60 individual meetings with students, parents, teachers, and community members to listen and learn more about Sherwood. He took some of the recurring themes that he heard throughout these discussions and utilized them to help shape his expectations.

 “That’s how those Pillars of Excellence really came about,” Minus said, referencing the new standards of excellence he has implemented for students and staff. “Through a lot of listening, some themes that came out of those meetings with people, this idea of coming together … It’s just kind of this concept of how do we take Sherwood to the next level. It’s already a great school, but how do we collectively work together to bring Sherwood to another standing?”

 Though he has goals of his own for the community, Minus recognizes that there are areas that affect students that he is expected to address. For example, the commonly held belief that there is an unnecessary emphasis on standardized testing. While his more than two decades of experience in various school districts taught him that standardized tests may never be eradicated entirely, he maintains that assessments should align with what students are really learning in the classroom. He describes testing as a measure of students’ abilities for states and/or school districts so that they know if their processes are effective; administrators need to ask, “are we getting the return on the investment … how well are kids doing based on the resources we’re putting into schools, the staff that we’re putting in, the programs that we’re putting in?”

 Though to the chagrin of some students that standardized testing will not be going away, Minus emphasizes the need for effective assessments. “A balance is important,” he noted. “I would simply just ask that we be mindful that whatever we assess, that it’s connected to something that students have learned along the way.”

 In Minus’s eyes, the key to making Sherwood the best it can be is the culture that engages students, staff, and community members. So far, he has worked with administrators and students alike to forge strong relationships that will ensure success.  As for others in the Sherwood community increasing communication and maintaining positive relationships, Minus encourages “respecting where we all come from, recognizing that we all come from different journeys and different experiences, but it won’t stop us from addressing each other in a way that is respectful.”

 It is not difficult to see, even relatively early in the school year, Minus’s efforts to construct a sentiment of approachability and respect with both students and staff. Beginning the first day of school, Minus was visiting classrooms, making PA announcements to bring the Sherwood community together, and maintaining a presence in hallways to solidify his promises about unification and making the school “One Sherwood.” Visibility is also a priority for Minus, as he wants to end the stereotype that the principal and administrators are “untouchable figures that make unilateral decisions” and work towards gaining students’ trust that he will always make decisions in their best interest. “For me, it truly is about building relationships with kids and staff to make sure that they know that we’re all on the same team,” he remarked. “We all are about the education of our students.”