And even before that, she was a student at the elementary school. She became a teacher there in 1964, then was assistant principal for 15 years, and has been in charge since 1996. She is open, amiable, direct and clear in her principles of teaching and learning. She told me that those principles are centered on Dr. William Glasser's psychologically based management system, called Control Theory and Reality. What those formidable words come down to is basic common sense.
People have to learn to control themselves.
Early on, you have to teach children that they are responsible for themselves . By way of example, she told of an exchange she frequently has with students. Some parents have to be taught more than the kids. As she spoke, I was looking at a set of perky self-portraits on a wall of her office. They were drawings by students at the school.