LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

"Why is Anita James a LifeChanger? If I had to describe Anita James in three words, they would be driven, caring, and selfless. When I hired Anita as Assistant Principal at Alliance High School, I gave her one thing she absolutely had to accomplish during her tenure: fix our chronic absenteeism problem. At the time, 59% of our students were chronically absent. In Nebraska, that means missing 18 or more days of school in a year. Nearly six out of every ten students in our building were missing that much school. We were also testing at a very low level, behavior problems were out of control, and our school culture was in the dumps. We had a lot of work to do. Anita has had a hand in fixing all of those things," said Stein.

In just two years, the absenteeism rate has dropped from 59% to 21%. That kind of improvement doesn't happen because of a new attendance policy or a few extra phone calls home. It happened because she was willing to do the work. She identifies students who are trending toward chronic absenteeism before they get there. She doesn't wait until they have missed 18 days and then wonder what went wrong. She intervenes early, and that often means going directly to their homes.

Ms. James will conduct as many as ten home visits in a week, meeting with students and their families to get to the root cause of why a student isn't coming to school. More importantly, she works with those families to develop a plan to help solve whatever they are facing. She doesn't simply ask, "Why aren't you at school?" She wants to know, "What is keeping you from being here, and how can we help?" That is Ms. James. She holds kids accountable, but she also cares enough to understand what is happening in their lives. The results of that work extend far beyond the attendance numbers.

"The State of Nebraska evaluates schools through the AQuESTT accountability system. When Anita and I were hired, Alliance High School was at the very bottom, receiving the 'Needs State Support to Improve' designation. We knew no single program, initiative, or quick fix would turn our school around. Two years later, Alliance High School received an ‘Excellent’ classification, the highest classification a Nebraska school can achieve. I would never attribute the transformation of an entire school to one person. Our teachers, staff, students, families, and community all played a role in what we accomplished. But I can say without hesitation that Anita James had her fingerprints all over that transformation. She helped get kids back into school. She helped change expectations. She helped improve student behavior. She helped rebuild relationships with families," said Stein.

"Most importantly, she helped change what our students and staff believed our school could be. We went from being told our school needed state support to improve to receiving the state's highest classification in two years. Anita didn't accomplish that alone, but I don't believe we made that climb without her. Her impact on our school culture has been just as significant," Stein added.

Ms. James introduced "Be a Good Human" into the daily language with students and staff. She has intentionally defined and posted what being a good human looks like in the school, but the most important part is that she models it. It isn't just another slogan hanging on a school wall. It has become part of the building's language and expectations because she lives it every day.

She also took something as simple as student eligibility and changed the way her staff talked about it. Instead of focusing on negative eligibility requirements and what students weren't allowed to do, she created the "Good Standing" policy. To be in good standing, students must pass all their classes, have fewer than four tardies in a week, have no office referrals, and have fewer than seven absences in a semester. The expectations really didn't change. The message did. Instead of constantly identifying what students were doing wrong, she and her team began celebrating what they were doing right. Ms. James took something that had always carried a negative connotation and turned it into something positive that students could work toward and take pride in. That is a perfect example of the way she thinks. She doesn't lower expectations for students. She finds better ways to help them meet those expectations.

Statistics, programs, policies, and state classifications don't fully explain Ms. James' impact on the school. What separates her is how much she invests in people. She knows every single student in the building by first name. If you asked her about those students, she could probably tell you their parents' names, too. That doesn't happen by accident. She has decided that knowing the students and knowing their families matters. The students aren't numbers on an attendance report, names on a discipline referral, or test scores to her. They are kids she knows, kids she cares about, and kids she refuses to give up on.

That commitment doesn't end when the school day does. Ms. James attends almost every event at the school, and most of the time, nobody has assigned her to be there. She comes because she wants to be there, and she is genuinely excited to support the kids. Students see their Assistant Principal in the stands, at performances, and at activities. They know she is there because she wants to be. She brings that same commitment to the staff.

"One of my favorite examples is something she created called the Teacher Appreciation Cart Walk. Anita dresses up in some ridiculous attire, loads a shopping cart with treats and drinks, turns on a boombox, and makes her way through the halls, handing something out to every staff member in the building. The cart doesn't have a committee organizing it, or a line item in the school budget. Anita buys the treats and drinks out of her own pocket. On the surface, it is funny. People laugh when they see her coming down the hallway. Underneath the ridiculous clothes, music, and shopping cart, though, is something that says a lot about Anita: she wants the people around her to know they matter," Stein added.

She also gives every staff member her personal cell phone number and makes herself available whenever they need her. Ms. James doesn't spend much time worrying about whether something technically falls within her job description. If a student, parent, teacher, paraeducator, or colleague needs help, she will do everything within her power to help them. That is what selfless leadership looks like.

"Anita's impact on me as a principal is just as significant. She is so good at her job that I can focus on mine. I don't have to micromanage her. I don't have to constantly check her workload or wonder whether something will get done. If Anita tells me she is going to handle something, I know it will be handled, and it will be done well. That level of trust between a principal and assistant principal is invaluable. She sees problems and works to solve them. She sees students struggling and finds ways to help them. She sees staff members who need encouragement and apparently decides the solution is a shopping cart, a ridiculous outfit, a boombox, and treats she bought with her own money. She doesn't wait for someone to tell her what our school needs. She sees the need and gets to work.

When I hired Anita, I knew I was hiring an Assistant Principal. I didn't realize I was hiring someone who would become such an important part of our school and such an important partner in my own leadership. The greatest compliment I can give Anita James is simple: I don't want to do my job without Anita with me. I was lucky she accepted the Assistant Principal position at Alliance High School. If I ever went to another school, I'd want Anita coming with me as part of the deal. That is how much I trust her. That is how much I value her. And that is the impact Anita James has had on our students, our staff, our families, our school, and on me," Stein concluded.