After nine years as principal at Triangle Elementary School, Marc Marinoble is excited to become the new principal at Cedar Point Elementary School in Bristow.
“I love working with kids. I love trying to be motivational for them and being an additional role model,” Marinoble said.
He noticed that most Cedar Point children are fortunate to have terrific role models at home who are also willing to become involved in the school community.
“It seems like most students in the Cedar Point community come from really strong families. I’ve been blown away by the parent and community involvement. Parents pour into the school and are willing to do whatever,” he said.
Since Cedar Point operates successfully in terms of student learning, staff satisfaction and community involvement, the new principal feels fortunate to reap those benefits without having to make any major changes right out of the gate.
“I’ve inherited a really good school, and Mrs. Miller did a tremendous job,” he said.
Rather, Marinoble wants to take the time to get to know his staff and students during the first few months.
“This community has got to get used to me. The staff has got to get used to me. Before you make any changes, you really have to build that rapport with staff, parents and the kids,” he said.
However, he is excited to eventually try out programs that have proven successful at Triangle. Chief among these is an initiative for building personal character and a cohesive community through clearly identifying what a Cedar Point student ought to be.
How the system works is that the staff portrays certain positive qualities, then encourages students to emulate those characteristics.
Typically, at elementary schools, this is done through identifying with a character, mascot or slogan. For instance, at Triangle, they learned that they are “Champions,” in which the C stood for Compassion, the H for honesty, and so on.
“One of the things I’m really big on is building 'champions.' Each student who comes in is a champion,” Marinoble said.
At Cedar Point, the students are cheetahs, so he is considering incorporating the notion of “Champion Cheetahs.”
“For me, it’s looking at what’s the current character-building piece in the building and then tweaking it and making it more uniform,” Marinoble said.
Marinoble is really looking forward to bringing pep rallies to Cedar Point. While high schools use pep rallies to get the students psyched for the new sports season, Marinoble has used them to pump up his students for the SOL tests.
At one Triangle pep rally, his staff went as far as dressing up as "Star Wars" characters and put on skits showing how the children could defeat the evil Darth Vadar by acing their SOLs.
Marinoble doubts he could ever top that experience; although he hopes academic pep rallies will catch on at Cedar Point.
Ultimately, he knows he cannot create an enthusiastic, academically and character-driven school community on his own, saying, “It does take parents, staff, community, everyone, working for that cause,” but he doubts that the Braemar community would accept anything less.
In terms of incorporating technology, one goal of his is to bring more up-to-date technology into his classrooms, starting with a mobile iPad cart. He believes access to simple touch technology prepares students for the real world.
However, he believes the most important real-world skill is critical thinking, which is why he wants to encourage teachers to create the opportunity for students to think critically and independently in their assignments and assessments.
“How does the math that they’re learning transfer to real-world situations?” he asked. “Assessments now are really gauged to independent thinking, and we have to teach our kids how to think and solve problems independently.”
As Cedar Point has a large gifted population, he wants to ensure teachers are differentiating their lessons to serve all learners.
However, as he wants academics to be challenging, Marinoble is not willing to sacrifice a fun and friendly environment.
He believes it is up to the administration to set the tone that allows school to be fun, not only for the students, but for the staff as well.
“It’s important that we enjoy coming to work everyday, that we have a smile on our faces and that we’re enjoying the trip and the journey.”
Marinoble has been an elementary educator his entire career. He is also the father of young children.
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