The Ubiquitous They - Barbara Sanders

Who are you and what do you do in Benicia?  I’m Barbara Sanders and I’m principal at . 

How long have you been the Principal at Mathew Turner School? This will be my tenth year (as Principal).  I came here as a Principal, but my entire career has been with the . I started out as a teacher at and when opened up I moved there as a reading center teacher, and then I went to the as a (Vice Principal), and then when this one came open I interviewed for it and got the job.

What was your biggest surprise when you became principal of Matthew Turner Elementary School? Just the amount of things you take care of.  Your instructional leadership filters to the children in terms of curriculum, the discipline, how things are running in a school; everything from the cafeteria to the custodian to the grounds keeper to when I recently cleaned the (school) garden out. I think I never thought I’d be wearing as many hats as I am now.

What’s the biggest challenge you face as Principal?  I think the biggest challenge right now for all of California is, unfortunately, the financial situation. We go into each year and we decide the things we’d love to do with kids to make a good all around experience for all of them.  That’s been kind of harder in the last couple of years with budgets being cut. 

What’s the one thing you would like to make happen as the Principal of Matthew Turner? I just really love it when the kids that leave here for the Middle School are competent, proficient, happy, all of those things that make the well being of a human being…that all of those things come together in six years, that they are well on the road to being a good citizen and a good caring person and one that is proficient and can do all the things they need to do to make their way in life.