- September 19, 2024
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Updated 3:09 p.m. Feb. 9
Anyone with a child who attends Indian Trails Middle School knows the principal’s familiar voice from frequent robocalls: “Good evening, parents! This is Mr. Peacock.” He gives updates on their “scholars” in a Southern drawl that is distinctively DeLand.
Paul Peacock, who has a white flat-top hair cut and a white goatee, grew up in DeLand and still lives nearby, on a 26-acre farm. But he also surfs, to the surprise of students who bump into him at the beach.
In former lives, he was a baseball player at Stetson University and even raised Arabian horses for several years. One day 31 years ago, he met Tonya, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and they got married four weeks later (still happily married).
His love for his wife and his home town led him to give up on his dream of becoming a college baseball coach, and instead he became an educator. Because of his experience with middle schoolers, I asked him for an interview so we could talk about the rising generation’s challenges.
Emotionally and physically, there’s a lot of transitions that are happening at that time. I believe they need a place that is going to allow them some space to grow and make decisions. They need guidance if they’re making choices that aren’t positive, and we can offer that.
I enjoy taking them through that journey.
To see what our kids are subjected to now in regards to technology, social media — it can create a very volatile situation. I’m not anti-social-media. My mom, who’s 92 years old — it allows her to stay in touch with so many people.
But as a parent, I would treat a cell phone and social media as cautiously as I would someone having a loaded gun. I’ve seen some of the meanness and destruction it can cause if it’s left unfettered.
I might be alienating some people by saying this — people might think, “You probably fell off a dinosaur.” But I’ve talked to parents and said, “It’s OK for you to tell your son or daughter no. Do you pay for the cell phone? It’s not an invasion of their privacy — it should be understood that they shouldn’t be doing anything in private that they would be ashamed of were it to come to light.
Students will say things and even take pictures to send that you would think they would never do. Before you know it, they’re being published in every format that you can imagine. It’s very disconcerting.
Absolutely, yes. Our stance in Flagler County is abstinence, but the parents are necessary to also educate their kids.
"As a parent, I would treat a cell phone and social media as cautiously as I would someone having a loaded gun."
PAUL PEACOCK
We have a policy in place, and we ask all of our teachers to equally ensure that students are complying with that. And that means, if they are unable to social distance, they are to have masks on at all other times.
So we have supervision in the hallways, and we do provide masks for those who don’t have them at ingress and egress points. We try to aid the teachers to set the tone.
If it came to light that a teacher was not complying with our policy, then there would absolutely be a conversation and a caution given, because it’s not optional.
We have some kids who are going through iFlagler, but I still consider them to be Mustangs. Were it not for the COVID situation, they would be here in our building. We tell them they can submit their pictures for the yearbook because we don’t want them to be left out.
I don’t want to disturb parents at night, but I do more phone-call announcements than maybe some other schools do. But communication starts with the teachers. We want them contacting every single parent, not just when there’s a slip up-in homework but to find out how can we help you with your son or daughter, to help them have a good experience.
Any parent can call and meet me for a cup of coffee somewhere. That’s how you get valuable feedback on changes that need to be made.
I hope we are a very open school, a very welcoming school.
If you’re paying attention to those details, it contributes to the overall culture: that we care about the money that taxpayers have spent to provide the buildings, to be a good steward of what we have.
I haven’t had any “Don’t walk on the grass” signs, but do you know that kids, at dismissal, they wont walk across those areas. Take that for what it’s worth — it’s just part of the culture and climate you create.
Everything we do outside has an impact on the environment. We have to be good stewards of what we have.
You remember in elementary school: You’d get a Dixie cup and plant a seed in it, and when it starts to germinate, it’s something that they can take pride in, to say, “Hey, I planted that.” And it takes a couple of weeks before you see any evidence, so it teaches that things that are satisfying and enjoyable, sometimes they come with hard work and aren’t just put in your lap.
Developing relationships by being approachable, not taking myself too serious.
I’m also proud of the leadership development that I’ve been able to provide for teachers and administrators. There’s several people that have been picked from the classroom, believing they can impact more people. Right now, there are three principals that are my former assistant principals: Katie Crooke at Old Kings, Marcus Sanfilippo at Bunnell, and Cara Cronk at Buddy Taylor. They all sat at our table as part of our team, and they were given opportunities to learn and grown.
You better be humble. It’s the servant-leadership role. I’m not afraid to pick up trash, or to help process a referral, or work with a teacher in a classroom. If you think you’re better than the people you’re working with, that’s a divisive environment.
There are times when you have to make a decision, but individuals are going to respond if you explain why. “Do it because I said so” doesn’t work.
Every human being should feel valued. Find out what there strong points are and set them up for success, and then help to round them out.
It starts with your mindset to put those kids first. So the first thing we do in developing a schedule is we hand place every one of our special needs kids, after we have reviewed their individual education plans. We take time to research the teachers they’ve been with, talk to parents.
We have support facilitators, but if I need to, I go to the district and say, “I understand what the budget is, but we had X students come in with needs, and I need additional support staff.”
Absolutely. 100%.
We just met today to talk about providing those sports opportunities for our kids next year.
One of our issues is having competition to play.
I think it’s extremely healthy for kids. As a former coach, I recognize it’s probably one of the foremost factors in helping your graduation rate — not just sports but band and drama, music, the arts. We need performing arts, no question.
If you say, “We have to cut the budget,” where you start is at the top, the hierarchy of individuals that are overseeing other individuals. I believe in putting all of our assets in the school buildings.
We call our students “scholars” and our teachers “professional educators.” To me, it says everybody that walks through those doors has the ability to learn at a very high level
Aspire to be a scholar. It’s a respect thing. When I can say to them — “Hey, scholars” — I believe that they rise to the occasion. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
