Mr. Diaz Promotion Interview

As the year comes to an end, a new surprise for the Mayfair campus arises. Mr. Diaz, our principal, is going to move up in positions and now move to the district office and serve the Bellflower Unified School District. You and the rest of the school most likely have questions about this promotion, so I interviewed Mr. Diaz with some questions. 

1. What is gonna be the new position you're gonna be working at?

“I think the exact title is not necessarily yet determined, but I can tell you the general idea behind it is student support services and guidance. Typically, the district has somebody who oversees student discipline and guidance from kindergarten to twelfth grade. When you talk about guidance, you're talking about behavior, attendance, grades, all of those things. When some of those things come out of alignment, it's my job to try and support schools in being able to support the students on the school site. It's really trying to provide guidance and leadership of some of the disciplinary proceedings, some of the attendance proceedings, and some of the things that we're doing with guidance, meaning counseling and support services. So it's all really geared to focus on students who need support.”

2. What are the new challenges you expect this job will bring?

“I think the new challenges will be expanding the understanding and knowledge of the district as a whole. I think I understand things at Mayfair pretty well. I know the players, I know all the people, I know the teachers, I know several students like yourself. But I think I'm just jumping into a new role, and I certainly know all the principles, but there are other people at those school sites that I'm going to need to support that I don't necessarily know. I think the challenge is just getting to learn a little bit more about the other schools outside of what we hear in a meeting. It's like going to help and support those schools and being on campus and available for those sites.”

3. When were you notified of this promotion?

“It was a couple of days ago. And so we always have to wait for timing and certain things to happen. But I was notified that we were going to make the decision on Friday.”

4. Is there anything you are going to miss from mayfair? 

“Yeah, I'm going to miss this stuff. I'm going to miss supporting the programs that we have here, whatever they may be. I really do love being at a high school, so I'll miss the students' interaction on a daily basis. I'll miss the interaction with the teachers on a daily basis. I will still get that and have the opportunity to interact with a lot of students, but it's not to the level of frequency, so I'll miss that piece. But I have done a job like this before. I enjoyed my time there. I felt like we had made a significant impact in that district and went through a period of a lot of change. And so I'm excited about that piece, but I will miss watching the instructional piece on a daily basis when I get out. So I'll miss that piece.”

5. What is something that you want to accomplish with your new position?

"I just want to be the ultimate level of support from the district office to the school sites, because the work at the district office is critically important, but the real work is done on the campuses here with the students and the staff. I want the feedback that I get from the schools that I'm supporting, that I'm always available for them, that I have a good understanding of how to help support them best. If I don't know how to support them best, then I'm going to find a way to support them best. For me, I think success in that role looks a lot like success at a school, just a little bit different levels. Metrics should improve, attendance should improve. We should have some newer or redefined systems that have support for our students. When I look at what success looks like from a data-driven standpoint, I want to see students at school more frequently. I want to see fewer and fewer discipline events occur at every campus. Ultimately for me, the way that that's going to happen is by being that support at the highest level possible for all the schools. It's not just Mayfair.”

6. What are you most proud of here at Mayfair?

“I think there's a lot of things that I think that we can be proud of as a team. Because the last three and a half years here on this campus has been a team effort, working with students and working with our staff. I'm proud of where the school is now compared to when I got here. And yes, we're a typical high school. We have all sorts of typical high school issues. But I think that one of the biggest things that I've noticed when I first got here is that I didn't see students wearing a lot of Mayfair gear. I didn't see a lot of school pride. And now I see a lot of kids wearing the swags, and I see a lot of positive things. I think the implementation of the MINGA store has been something that's been pretty cool. The transition to digital IDs has been I'll do that I'm proud of. It still has a long way to go.”

One thing is for sure, Mr. Diaz is going to bring his positive and great attitude to the rest of the district and help more students and families. Finally, I want to thank Mr. Diaz for giving his time to answer these questions and for more updates about the principal or anything at the school stay tuned to The Windjammer.