Thursday, August 23, 2007

VFHS principal wants students involved in 'high school life'

by Clarke Davis

Jacques “Jack” Molleker told the school board members at the last meeting that helping students attain higher test scores will be a priority in the Valley Falls High School this year.

Molleker, 55, is the new principal and has been acquainting himself with the community and the staff since the first of August.

Valley Falls students have been meeting the test criteria, but just barely. He said the bar continues to be raised by the federal and state testing requirements and Valley Falls will have to notch it up quite a bit.

“We have to raise our test scores a lot and keep them up there,” he said. “It’s the nature of school improvement under the state and federal mandates to increase each year.”

The principal talks about adequate yearly progress—AYP—under the No Child Left Behind Act that is pushing the higher and higher test requirements.

To help high school students, mostly sophomores and juniors, a number of preliminary tests will be given to the students for two main reasons. First, to teach them how to take the tests and get used to it, and second, find out from the results where learning gaps might exist so they can be taught the material.

The areas to be tested are math and reading comprehension and for the first time, science and social studies will be added.

“These are not easy tests. People would be surprised at what is expected of the students,” Molleker said.

The principal said he would be proactive in getting to know each student personally and will work to encourage more of them to participate in extra-curricular activities.

“Some feel the need to work to buy that iPod or whatever, but they have a lifetime ahead of them to work,” he said.

“High school is only four years and I think they should be more involved in actual high school life,” he said.

The principal believes more involvement in the school leads to a better experience, stronger loyalty and greater pride in the school, which ultimately extends to the community as a whole.

Being the head disciplinarian—the guy at the end of the line—was not something he dwelled on, but the main reason he wants to get to know each student.

“I prefer to know a student before he or she gets into trouble,” he said.

Most discipline problems are handled in the classroom, he said, but he thinks most students are reasonable and after a little talk and some reflection — maybe a little time after school — will resolve most problems.

Helping students with the transition from middle school to high school will also be a concern and something he plans on working with the K-8 principal, Susan Grey, to accomplish.

The principal said the move to the high school can be momentus, even scary for some, and he wants to make it more comfortable if possible. It’s something he can identify with looking back to the time he left a small country school north of Hays with 40 students in grades K-8 and entered the eighth-grade in Hays with upwards of 400.

“That took a real adjustment,” he said. Molleker grew up on a farm prior to moving to Hays and attended St. Joseph’s Military Academy, which is now Thomas Moore Prep.

He received his degrees from Fort Hays State University and Barton County Community College. He has been with the Larned school system for the past 33 years. He taught math and was an assistant principal.

He and his wife, Joan, have a blended family of five children: Scott is a teacher at Larned, Jacqueline is a federal agent and a supervisor on border patrol in New Mexico, Tiffany, is a Larned school secretary, Blake is a telecommunications specialist in Syracuse, and Eric is a highway patrolman in Sedgwick County.

Joan is a legal secretary and soon to be a candidate for magistrate judge in Pawnee County. The couple takes turns commuting on weekends and will maintain two households.

Molleker described himself as a “workaholic” who puts pressure on others to work hard, too.

“It’s both good and bad, but if you look at the community you see everyone else is hard at work — it’s a Midwest value — and I think it should be instilled in students, as well.”