RHS rules will stay

RISD REPORT

This week Rockdale High School’s New Principal Brent Hasselbach would like to share some thoughts and ideas:

Many of the students have already been asking which rules I am going to remove. Others have been offering ideas as to what I can add or change. What they don’t realize is that many of the policies have been in place since I first started teaching in Rockdale nearly sixteen years ago.

So what can they expect?

As part of the transition process, I am going to evaluate what we are currently doing. I am going to visit with teachers and students to get their input and review our systems and policies. I expect this to take some time but will ultimately reveal the direction we need to go.

So the answer is no, there will not be any major changes right away. However, I hope to start changing the culture and attitude on the campus. I am going to focus on four principles that I believe will create a championship culture at Rockdale High School: build relationships, maintain high expectations, be accountable to self and others and take care of the little things.

What exactly does this mean?

It is the relationships we build at RHS that we will remember the most. I hope that we can all have positive relationships that will last far beyond graduation. Relationships built out of caring for each other will only develop with the understanding that we are all different and we are all valuable.

Staff members should expect our students to perform at a high level. They are capable and we can’t sell them short. Students need to set goals and believe they can take on any challenge without the fear of failing.

Staff members and students have to be accountable for what the students take away when they graduate. Are we giving our best effort each day?

Finally, sometimes we focus on one thing that makes it seem like a task is impossible. When you look at all of the little things and take care of the little things you can control, the big things will take care of themselves.

When we focus on these principles, there is no limit to what we can do. By building a championship culture, we will prepare our students to be successful now and after they graduate.