Arts & Entertainment Editor
Diann Kearney began her
position as principal on May 1. Upon Kearney’s arrival, she has found herself
faced with many challenges. “It’s been really busy, as you might imagine.
Coming to a new school the beginning of May, the busiest time of the year, it’s
been a little bit challenging,” said Kearney. “I’m trying to walk around, go
into every class several times, and meet teachers; then, remember what their
name is, what they teach, and where they teach.”
Kearney expressed her
impression of Apex so far, saying “I like how everyone is very friendly and the
entire community is welcoming. They seem to be very patient and understand that
it's going to take me a little while to learn the ‘Apex way.’ So far, it’s been
really good.”
As far as changes go,
Kearney doesn't have anything too dramatic planned. “At this time, I don't have
any major changes on my list of things to do. We are talking about some
adjustments, just to make things go more smoothly. I’m sure that after we go
through this month and graduation that we might have some reflections of things
that we can adjust, but I don't anticipate any significant changes.”
Kearney is thinking of
smaller adjustments that could benefit the school. “I think certainly any
administrator that comes into a building is going to look at student
achievement and think about ‘how can we improve, not only the number of
students who are going to graduate, but student achievement, student grades,
student performance?’ So, there are some things, certainly, that we can adjust.”
Apex High School is
planning to lose 250 students to Apex Friendship High next year. “There will be
some things that look and feel different just because of the transition to
Friendship. We are going to make some adjustments when people leave. There will
be some new staff members, somewhat fewer students.”
When asked about dress
code, Kearney said “that question always comes up.” Kearney said she doesn't know where the rumor, that she is banning leggings and Nike shorts came from
but she “encourages good judgement when getting dressed to come to school.” She
expressed that her biggest issue when it comes to dress code is shirts being
longer than shorts. “I encourage female students to dress appropriately, so I
should be able to see the shorts under the shirt.”
Seniors have been
concerned with the graduation plans since former principal, Matthew Wight,
announced his move to Friendship. “We are working on the program right now. Mr.
Wight is going to be there with us and he is going to assist with the distribution
of the diploma covers actually,” said Kearney.
“There will be a couple
other special guests- school board members, our superintendent, and other
members of the leadership team. I’ll be there,” assured Kearney.
