Chances are, as you’ve wandered around the building this year, you’ve seen or spoken to our school’s new principal, Mr. Alan Strauss. So what is he about? Well, The Flying Onion was able to sit down with him. In the interview, he outlined his goals, plans, and much more for Danvers High School.
“Danvers High School has everything it needs to be a top school in the commonwealth,” Strauss told us. “We are a great school, but we can become an exceptional school. We need to work on granting more programs, privileges, and opportunities to the students.”
Danvers High School has experienced a few changes of leadership within the past couple of years, and Mr. Strauss acknowledges that. In his words, “This is, for seniors, their third principal in four years. I get it, change is always difficult, but this is an outstanding senior class, and my reception has been lovely.”
Despite the continuous change in leadership, athletes can rejoice at the hiring of Mr. Strauss. As a former coach and athlete, he plans to support various student athletics by making sure there is a strong faculty presence at games, including himself, to show support for the various teams and students.
On the other hand, Strauss commented that, “High school is too often simply seen as a question of ‘how are your athletics’. There is a lot more to high school than just athletics; we have to make sure the experience is good for everybody.”
Mr. Strauss recognizes that it may be hard for the high school community to initially trust him. However, he believes that as he spends more time getting to know students and staff and has more conversations about what they want in the school, Danvers High School will start to become the best it can be. He plans to observe during his first year, and told us that he’d like to focus on getting more acquainted with the staff and student body.
We also spoke about the new phone policy in depth, and broke down what next year might look like.
“The end of last year was about introducing the cell phone policy,” he explained. “This year, it’s been rolled out, and students have been exceptional about it. What we have to look at is the possibility that the state of Massachusetts may tell us that phones are to be confiscated bell-to-bell,” he continued. “School is a very different place under those conditions. That’s something we will have to talk about as a building.”
Being a principal brings Mr. Strauss the most joy in the world. He knew of Superintendent Bauer, and had heard of the opening for the job through friends of his. But when we asked why Danvers, specifically, appealed to him, he had a lot of praise for the school, specifically its kindness.
He also highlighted the importance of the kindness legacy, Vocal Alliance, DECA, the music department, and other programs which help spread the ideals of kindness throughout the school.
In addition to his professional roles, Mr. Strauss is a dad, and that shines through in his approach to educating.
“Everything that I think about is about how I would want my kids to be treated in school,” he said. “The student experience is really important to me; visibility is really important to me.”
This perspective greatly affects his view on education. He stated that “I have a special needs son, and one thing I always question about a school is this: would my son be welcome in the school I’m walking into?”
In the case of Danvers, he feels there is no question that his son would be welcome.
It’s clear that Mr. Strauss is kind, intelligent, has a strong appreciation for the student body, and carries a natural air of leadership.
In his final thoughts during our interview, Mr. Strauss wanted the student body of Danvers High School to know that his door is always open for questions, comments, ideas for senior privileges, and introductions. We’re happy to have him joining us. Welcome, Mr. Strauss!
