After more than two decades as a classroom social studies and English teacher, Jennifer Furkas made the move to administration, eventually becoming the Riverview Community High School Principal.
“I still am really not sure how I became an administrator,” she said. “I think God just opens doors that you really kind of least expect and puts you in places that he wants you to be in. And yeah, so here I am. I had already had my master’s degree, and I was doing some MTSS work and working with at-risk students. Because even though I taught AP history, I really loved working with at-risk populations.”
She completed three years as an assistant principal at Monroe High School, and Jennifer is now in her fourth year at Riverview as the high school principal. Lucky year seven as an administrator led her to the Innovative Leader’s Network.
Describing being in the ILN as a great experience, Jennifer said any time you have the opportunity to learn from and work with other like-minded individuals who are passionate about doing things in a different way, that can reach kids and adults, it will move people forward.
“Every time we’ve gotten together, I’ve taken something and it’s been meaningful, and it’s hard for us to get together … getting out of the building is tough,” she said.
Though she was not able to attend school site visits, she engaged in the virtual meetings, where Ryan Cayce, MASSP Associate Director of Digital Learning & Innovation, said she was an active member who asked questions and always showed interest in cohort members’ ideas.
In one virtual site visit, hosts talked about how they were working with their at-risk population through providing virtual classes with a flex, online component, for their students who weren’t reached with traditional settings. She saw how the program expanded over time to include students who were also interested in dual enrollment.
“I really liked hearing what they had to say … I’d like to see my staff be able to challenge the traditional way of not just looking at worksheets or this is what a cookie cutter unit looked like, but more of a project based curriculum,” Jennifer said.
Before starting in the ILN, Jennifer’s staff examined their senior seminar experience and started making changes.
“We took out the middle trimester for our kids, and we forced every kid, as part of their post-secondary plan, instead of taking the middle senior seminar class, which is a standard curriculum that everybody took – it didn’t have anything personalized. Students had to pick something that was in their career pathway and take an online class. That way, if we didn’t offer it in our school, in a traditional in-person class, if you weren’t in an AP Bio, or AP physics, or AP Statistics, or something like that, then you had to find something in our online platform that would substitute, and it had to fit in your career pathway,” she said. “And you would take a blended learning course that way. And we encouraged our seniors to do that, which is similar to what they were doing (at the school she found inspiring).”
She said she thinks a lot of students will see that’s what colleges look like when they go to the next level.
“Now, most students at the post-secondary level are not taking all of their classes in person anyway, so it’s helpful for them to have the initiative and the drive to learn how to do the time management, to have those executive functioning skills where they’re able to self regulate and time manage and organize their time appropriately,” Jennifer said.
Working with her team to develop more plans for how to best serve students and their future needs would be ideal, but she faces the same challenge most principals face: Time.
“Honestly, the biggest drawback to the position is there’s just never enough time … I feel like I’m just preaching to the choir. Like, that’s everybody, you know,” she said. “If you’re an educator, if you’re a teacher, or if you’re a counselor or a social worker or an assistant principal or a secretary, or a para.”
As Jennifer continues in the ILN, she will be able to share ideas about programs she’d like to develop or strategies she hopes to employ in her building with her peers.
“Nowadays, there are so many needs, and honestly, that’s why I’m having such a hard time thinking about what do I want to do. What project do I want to focus on (for the ILN, Year 2)? Do I want to focus on the needs of my students, or do I want to focus on the needs of my staff?” she said. “Because I know if I focus on the needs of my staff, then I’m indirectly focusing on my students. If you take care of your teachers, then you’re taking care of your students. Teacher burnout is a real thing, and you know, culture really matters.”
Despite the challenges of being a principal, the role brings Jennifer great joy.
“The thing I love the most about administration is celebrating student successes. I feel really fortunate that I have a front row seat to everybody’s success,” she said. “I feel like, as a classroom teacher, you don’t always know about what great things are happening in classrooms or other parts of the building.”
Jennifer shared that someone connected to their culinary arts program was going to be given a huge award while on a trip to Baltimore for a national competition.
“Our student council has been awarded at the state level by Matt Alley (MASSP Associate Director of Student Services) the last two years, twice, and our student council adviser is incredible. So when I see kids be successful, I get to see adults who love kids be successful too,” she said. “I love watching adults pour into kids. And I love watching kids celebrate kids.”
Riverview High School’s student population is almost at 60% school of choice. Jennifer said all of the kids either have to drive to school or their parents have to drive them. She shared that recently, a young man went to the school for a tour and to shadow a student.
“Miguel comes in, and I’m like, ‘You know what? I’ll just take you on the building tour this morning, and we’ll get you to set up with the kid you’re going to shadow in a few minutes.’ So I take him, I’m dropping him off at an art class after that and taking him through the whole day. We have really nice kids. I mean, I just have the best. I have the best, the sweetest, the nicest kids,” Jennifer said. “And we’re stopping and asking kids along the way, like, ‘What do you love about Riverview?’ And the last kid we asked is, like, our star basketball player; he’s going on to play Division I (…) he was, like, ‘We just have really nice kids. Like, I’m not just saying that, Mrs. Furkus, but for real. Like, honestly, everybody’s really nice.’ And I wouldn’t get to do that if I was in the classroom. I mean, I would get to see kids like that, but that’s the best thing about it. Honestly, it’s just them.”
Jennifer Furkas is already sold on Riverview High School, now Miguel is too.