Fresh Eyes, Ample Experience Combine In New H-F High School Leadership

HOMEWOOD-FLOSSMOOR, IL — One has a resumé three decades deep; the other has a pair of fresh eyes and a passion for connecting with students. Their combined skill sets and strengths make for a team well-equipped to lead District 233, and Homewood-Flossmoor High School.

New Principal Clinton Alexander and first-year Superintendent Dr. Scott Wakeley have their eyes on the year ahead, having spent time brainstorming and collaborating since Alexander's hiring late last year. They'll focus on character building in students and staff, and finding their back to a new "normal" coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both bring distinct backgrounds that will enable them to embrace their roles.

Wakeley is in his second year as superintendent at District 233, 32nd year in education, and 19th year as a superintendent. Prior roles included positions in Bradley-Bourbonnais, Yorkville, Genoa-Kingston, Evergreen Park District 124, and a principal role in Plainfield. He began his educational career as a school psychologist.

Alexander began his career as an English teacher at Bloom High School, went on to Proviso East, followed by an assistant principal role at Rich Township, and associate principal at Rich South. Most recently, he was principal at Hillcrest High School.

Both were eager to begin the school year as a team unit.

"We’ve been having conversations since the day he was approved by the board, talking about philosophies," Wakeley told Patch. "It’s been that evolutionary growth of a relationship, of him learning me and me learning him.

"We’re truly blessed to be at H-F, and that’s not lost on us," Wakeley said. "The gift that we’ve been provided, the opportunity. We want to make sure that we take a great school with a great reputation and not just live on its reputation, but build on it."

Alexander views the opportunity as one to work with an accomplished educator and leader.

"I’m excited to partner with Dr. Wakeley as we have a new regime at H-F, because as we started talking I realized we share some common traits such as servant leadership," Alexander said. "We value equity and high achievement … I was able to see that connectivity that we have, so it was good to feel connected with your supervisor."

Alexander wants the students and staff to feel his presence as principal, and to recognize his voice as one that speaks with them, not just at them.

"They need to know they have a champion," he said. "I want to champion our students to be the best version of themselves. To know that you have a principal that cares, that’s involved. They’ll see me, they’ll hear me … I’m looking forward to being that influence and presence at the building.

"Being in public service, it’s important that people feel valued, and heard. I’m an agent of support, encouragement."

Leadership at the school and district will emphasize building on the "profile of a Viking," which highlights key competencies for students to aspire to. The attributes are attached to a compass, with diversity and inclusion as true north. Other points include innovation and problem-solving, reflection and resilience, communication and collaboration, and citizenship and character.

"Everyone’s smart," Wakeley said. "But we want our kids to be able to say, 'I am a person of character and citizenship,' and 'this is what I do that demonstrates that.'"

"Equity, diversity, inclusion is our true north, and that lays over everything we do, permeates everything we do. Our students of color are so important, they have to know that their voice matters, that they’re cared about. … We cannot leave that to chance, we won’t leave that to chance."

Alexander looks forward to a chance to demonstrate how this system allows students and staff to take core competencies on build on them for life skills and characteristics.

"We feel like these are tools to deliver the academic competencies," Alexander said. "Academic competencies are necessary for post-secondary success, but this is a vehicle to make sure that they deliver their academic competencies, because these are 21st century skills that are necessary for the workforce."

The start of a new school year post-pandemic brings with it its own challenges, Alexander said — something all staff are cognizant of to help ease their students back into the school setting. But they also have ground to make up, he said.

"The pandemic is a barrier, it has caused some trauma within family, within students, staff members," Alexander said. "The state has encountered a learning deficit based on COVID-19, so we want to be the first to recover. We feel like our legacy and tradition, and the talented students that we have, we can resurface and get back to normal. We’re on a race to get back to normal because our kids benefit the most from that."

Some adjustments made to learning and teaching methodologies during the pandemic proved useful to students, Wakeley said, and that's something they will keep in mind moving forward.

"One of the things that has struck me is that ‘normal’ didn’t work for all of our students," Wakeley said. "We want to make sure that the new normal meets the needs, because old normal didn’t meet the needs of all of our students. Resetting to a new normal that all kids feel valued, feel heard, feel a sense of belonging."

The new year will include a refreshed look at mental and psychological health among students and staff.

"When it comes to that safety psychologically, that we can provide our students to feel comfortable again," Alexander said. "We’re looking at the whole child approach, social-emotional. We want to really encourage them to increase rigor, raise that bar again, so we’re all comfortable getting back to the normal way of doing things."

Staff will work with students to ensure they have coping mechanisms in place to deal with stressors and challenges, some that might be unique to their year in school. Coping mechanisms will help students meet the demands of the school's rigorous curriculum. School leaders will be purposeful and focused in their communications and work with students.

"Our resiliency, hope and optimism get us through the hard times," Wakeley said. "We have to be intentional."

The most prominent thing they've learned from the pandemic, they both said, is how resilient and adaptable they are as a district, leadership and student bodies.

"We had to pivot," Wakeley said. "Part of the learning was, we can do things when we need to do things. And one of the hardest things to do in public education, is make changes.

Alexander agreed that the district learned a lot from weathering a pandemic.

"The pandemic showed us how resilient we are," he said. "And so, some of the modalities that we acquired through the pandemic and the urgency that was surrounding it, we know that we have more resources we can use when it comes to blended learning.

"So as we expand our pathways and we do different things academically, we know that we have other resources at our disposal. … It brings that excitement because we level off and level up, we have more things to incorporate."

The overall focus will stay on shaping the students' academic and interpersonal experience to prepare them for college and adulthood.

"We’re not creating experiences to prepare these kids for OUR adulthood," Wakeley said. "We’re preparing them for THEIR adulthood, which might need new ways of thinking."

While remote learning had its challenges, it also highlighted the different ways students learn, and how the district and school can work together to better accommodate different learning styles.

"How do we learn from that, to say yes, we know putting kids in front of a computer screen all day everyday without a human connection is not good, but maybe there’s somewhere in the middle where we can leverage this for kids who, this works for them, but also know that they have to work with people," Wakeley said. "In the real world, you’re going to have to talk to people at some point."

Wakeley praised that so much of the student experience at Homewood-Flossmoor High School is possible because of the taxpayers' support.

"It’s because we have a supportive community, because this stuff isn’t free," Wakeley said. "And not everybody has it, because not every community is willing to do what our community is willing to do. Much is given, much is expected.

"In Illinois, it’s the level of impact that your community wants to have, and we recognize that there’s a burden to providing these resources, and it’s unfortunate that it falls to local homeowners, but ours have made a commitment to students at HFHS beyond any place I’ve ever seen."