The Husky Huddle
This is the 'Husky Huddle,' the podcast that brings you closer to the heart of Olean City School education. Whether you're a parent, student, teacher, or a proud member of our community, this podcast is dedicated to providing insightful conversations, expert advice, and a closer look at what makes our district truly exceptional.
The Husky Huddle
From Military Discipline to Academic Excellence: The Leadership Evolution of Assistant Principal Jennifer Palaszynska-Mellott
Meet Jennifer Palaszynska-Mellott, the Assistant Principal at Olean High School with a story that's as unique as it is inspiring. As we chat, you'll be drawn into Jennifer's journey from the disciplined life of the military to the vibrant corridors of education. Her tales aren't just captivating – they're a masterclass in leadership adaptability. Witness the transformation of military precision into academic finesse, and discover how these skills are essential for nurturing a school environment where every student feels valued and part of a triumphant team.
This episode is a vibrant tapestry, weaving together the challenges of policy enforcement with the heartening pursuit of student engagement. Ever been caught between loyalty to your sports team and the joy of a family rivalry? We share a slice of life from the stands of a section championship, where school spirit and family fun collide amidst the excitement of the game. It's not all about the laughs, though; we dig into the essence of communication in education, the significance of building a positive school culture, and embracing our shared human moments of learning from mistakes. Join us for an exploration into the essence of what truly makes a school a hub of learning and growth.
Thank you so much for joining me on our next full-length episode of the Husky Tuttle, and I am here with our assistant principal from the high school, jennifer Kalosziska.
Speaker 2:Malop, not bad on the pronunciation. Thank you, thank you. So it's a mouthful for everybody Pałaszńska, pałaszńska, pałaszńska.
Speaker 1:All right, so tell me a little bit about yourself and why you are the best Husky daughter team.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I'd want to claim the title best. I'm a bit more modest than that, but anyway. So my background and I know when we did the intros in the beginning year to the community some of this information was in there, but throwing that back out there, I'm from West Seneca, new York, borne and Buffalo, and education is actually my second career. Although it's been my second career for a long time, it's still my second career. I graduated out of Kinesius College with an undergrad in German. Yes, Konesius, but you can get away with majoring in German when you know you're going to be commissioned as an Army officer. So I was on the Army ROTC scholarship at Kinesius and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army in 1996 and served five years in the regular Army or as active duty, full-time Army. There was a point that I decided to that I wanted to come back to my hometown in Buffalo and stay in the military in terms of being in the National Guard, which I was in for 12 and a half years, and then I've been in the reserve since January 2013,. I continue to serve and I'm a colonel in the reserves, but I got into education. So I went home, got a master's degree in history and did my teaching certifications in then German and soul studies and worked at the Western New York Maritime Charter School. For a right place, right time, military background, you know. I ended up there and that's where I taught and then worked my way into administration while I was there and got my administrator coursework at Buff State and just worked there for a number of years and it was kind of a nice environment for me because I was able to, being a military environment school. I was able to blend. It was an easier transition, you know, from military life to civilian life when it was like a half step transition. Nonetheless, there were still transitions that I had to do in terms of understanding how one builds and sustains culture with adolescence and youths as opposed to soldiers. I mean, you know there's similarities yet there's differences, right One would imagine. So there were some, you know, adjustments that I made in terms of that career and my career there culminated with the, where I spearheaded the building of the middle school project there from Grant to operating it for four years and I decided then to put uniform on again full time for a couple of years. So I resigned my position there because I didn't want to leave them short-handed and then coming off of my active duty orders and I landed here and only in.
Speaker 2:One of the things that I've always done in my, that I've always been proud of in my military career is the ability to establish a healthy climate and culture at a unit and establishing cultures that gear towards everybody understanding that they're part of that group and that group is successful and they want to be part of a winning team. And that was something I was always done pretty well at in the military. I was recognized in the New York Army National Guard for my ability to do that when I was in command in Jamestown and had was New York State's nominee for the MacArthur Leadership Award because of that. That translated into educational leadership, particularly in my time at maritime where I had to build an entire culture from scratch and we were able to do so in short order. And those experiences really is what I wanted to bring to bear here at Olean that ability to to a through proactive, through present leadership to be able to forge the right path towards a better culture in the school. There was a path that I did. This Now I also taught Commendant General Staff.
Speaker 2:College Sounds fancy, right, kind of like the master's degree of the Army. I taught Commendant General Staff College for some time as well, and a lot of what we taught because we're teaching in that course young field grade officers, you think about like captains, like younger captains and brand new majors we're teaching them how to do what we call a paradigm shift, a major change in how they view their role in the Army from that smaller level Now they're getting to that organizational level, leadership level. So think of it like the difference between teacher and now we're getting to administration or a building leader, and you have to view things differently. You have to view a much bigger picture. You have to understand organizational dynamics, you have to understand people, and this is a lot of what we taught in that course and that really translates over pretty well into educational leadership and as such, then I'd been informed of what, not only my experiences, but those things that I taught. There's things out there like the Cotter organizational change model and there's all these other you know four models that come out of the business world and such that the military is using, and you know education, any of these professions you know, adapt these things, these models and these theories and leadership into their profession.
Speaker 2:And so here I assessed okay, I'm new to the school and I'm walking in, right, and actually I'm down in Texas when I get the call, because I was out of town for a month or so and I'm like, okay, so I'm new to the school, I'm an outsider, right, I'm not from the community. Yes, I'm from Western New York, but I'm not from the community. Down here in the southern tier, there's long standing ways of doing things. This school's been here, you know, and it's the central school and it doesn't seem like the same major flux of the focus of the community. The focus of the community has always been, okay, there's this high school, right, right, even if there's been certain changes in the community and certain changes in the high school, it's always this Right exactly. And there's staff that have been here for a very long time and some really good staff that have been here for a very long time but nonetheless been here for a very long time. Long standing ways of doing things. And I had come from a very different environment, being in a military oriented charter school.
Speaker 2:And so I realized, okay, you know one and I'm the assistant principal, so I'm not going in as a principal even, and about one of the worst things you can do, unless, unless some places in crisis mode, one of the worst things you can do is like you can't come in guns ablaze and I'm going to change everything right away. And look at me and you just make it even worse. So you step back and I started out by just trying to understand the goals and intent of Mr Andriano and then yourself, you know what are you trying to, what are your concerns? What are the long standing goals? What are the goals of the board? And that was, if you recall, those were some of the first questions I was asking, because I wanted to be able to what we call nesting within. So I want to like okay, I'm going to understand those goals so I can see what can I do at my level to help reinforce those goals. It won't be, it might not be the exact same goals and certainly won't be the same actions, but it'll be things that nest within and support into that like pyramid type, coming to the tip of like hey, this is what brings us all together. And this is we're going, focused on the mission of the school, focused on the vision of the school, and then with different goals and lines of effort that feed into that, and I wanted to understand that structure that I was walking into as much as possible before I did anything else.
Speaker 2:And then I observed, I learned, I assessed, I was looking back. What is? You know? What did I notice? What is effective? What is an effective, what might? What are areas I might want to shake up a little bit, you know when, when I get enough credibility to do so, enough understanding to do so and that takes time, typically, even like in a military command, and I always go back onto my military service, but it really was foundational to my professional life and who I am as an adult. And even as you come in like a commander to a military unit again, unless something's in crisis mode or you're in some high-tempo environment or something, generally speaking, you take about the first three months. You don't do any major policy changes, right, and that is in an environment where you only have so much in time and command, you know. So it's the same here.
Speaker 2:I'm not, I'm trying to just see what's going on, not trying to make too many changes, trying to get my face out there, being present, being around the building, talking to people. I'm not just observing passively. I'm engaging with students. I'm engaging with staff around the building. I'm engaging with not just teachers. I'm engaging with aides. I'm engaging with cafeteria staff. I'm engaging with the maintenance. I'm talking to people that I probably not even used to being talked to very often, particularly by the school administration. I talked to everybody. It was like and that was how I did with the military I talked to privates I talked to.
Speaker 2:I was always a very present leader like that and that was part of my ability to assess and learn was through that just all the time, as much as I possibly could be in being around the building, understanding what concerns are, gathering ideas and, quite frankly, building a coalition.
Speaker 2:So what you want to do is and that sounds like that could be misconstrued like, oh, you're going to lead a coup or something right. So building the coalition is to understand who in the building can be an agent for positive change and who in the building is open to these processes and who in the building could be cheerleaders for different initiatives that are as long as those initiatives are thought out well and as long as they make sense, and that kind of thing. But different people that you're like OK, well, these are people that are going to when I'm not in the room. They might be like hey, that was a really good idea that they did, or that's hey, this stuff's going well and understanding those dynamics around the building and in the organization and that's part of building that coalition understanding.
Speaker 1:Has that been difficult?
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 2:No, I don't think so. There was a number of people that were. I've gotten a lot of good feedback from various staff and I know that there's even been times where I sat down with one teacher and I helped them work through a conflict they had with a student. They're like, wow, nobody's ever done that exactly that way with me before. I was like, well, it can work if the students open to it and willing to be part of that actively and such and different sides. No, I'm not as hard as you would think, but then again, we're also starting small.
Speaker 1:So but hopefully those people who are part of that coalition can share with others, right yeah, fact of it is.
Speaker 2:Exactly how to inspire others to join Exactly In terms of like, hey, let's get on board and let's train move in. These are some things that we can do, and to do that, a lot of times you want to generate what we call grabbing the low hanging fruit. So, are there things that need to be improved that can, with a few couple tweaks, can maybe be improved pretty readily, yeah, and are they likely to be successful? Right, and if you can generate those short-term goals that you can accomplish and show near-term victories, that helps strengthen and build that coalition right, and it gives people confidence in what's happening. And then they feel like that can help with morale and it feels like, hey, things are moving and you know a better direction here, a better direction there.
Speaker 2:And that was part of what I had, you know it focused on. And that's when I, you know I've done things where I saw there was because too many students in the hall. Yeah, yeah, all right. What are some things we can do within normal? You know, I completely. You know run-of-the-mill school kind of Pass control, like things that we, you know any school, would do. How can we tighten that up to help this issue, to make some of the environment better? And you know so we executed on that In the January time frame and you know, I know some of parents in the community and stuff remember when we pushed out hey, these are some things we're doing here because we want to tighten some things up. That's what that was about, and about making sure, trying to help have students in the class more often and you know not not in the hallways and more better safety and better control, and it's not that hard to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it was that hard to get across.
Speaker 2:I don't think it was really hard to get across. There is a certain segment of students who don't like that. They're a little more restricted. I think there's more students that Would like to be a little bit less restricted, but they go along because they're good students and then, and then they realize, oh, wait a minute, oh, I mean, maybe this isn't so bad, yeah, and then, of course, you know I mean. But there is a small segment of students who's who have other difficulties as well, who you know. Anytime their question like, hey, do you have a pass or where were you supposed to be? They get defensive about it. Yeah, you know, which is part of why I put in the the training that I had asked the first period teachers to do across the building when we were rolling this out to the students, one of the bullets I put in there is like teachers, you know students, part of your responsibility is understanding that teachers should be questioning where you're supposed to be and that there's no reason to get defensive about it.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, and but there are, you know, certain segment of students that I think you know because they've had difficulties in school for years. Probably they get defensive because, well, they're always garnering a little bit negative intention, unfortunately.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wonder if they ever had it explained to them. This is the dynamic, and here's why I wonder if this is true the first time.
Speaker 2:And I and I've done you know when I, when I do the, I do my best to try to make sure the students understand. Yeah, and they may not be even receptive at that moment.
Speaker 2:Sometimes I follow up like, hey, remember, when I was talking to you, you got the detention. Yeah, do you understand why? And then when I'm like, well, no, not really, I will, let's talk about that real quick. You know we're, let's walk and talk, I gotta go to the next kid. I try to do that as much as I can and I, you know, I think part of that's because that's what my parents did with me. Yeah, yeah, and they were. I Remember, like my dad told me that when I was very little, if I got a, I was very stubborn and Very headstrong little kid and that, like you know, if he gave me a little smack on the butt, I would just look at him with this like look up like you know, like this, yeah, like.
Speaker 2:And he thought, oh, that doesn't work. Uh, it worked with my older brother, doesn't work with me, yeah, so you know. And they said, oh, but when we explain something to you, this is why you'd be like, oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah you know.
Speaker 2:So maybe that partly influenced why you know I know what I do here is In terms of trying to explain that to the students.
Speaker 2:I trying to communicate these incremental changes to parents, staff, students attain those short-term progress and then continue to be present as leader, taking an interest in students and staff, while promoting accountability, being out and about.
Speaker 2:I told you that sometimes it's things I would like to look at more and I can't because I've got to focus on helping to build that culture out in the building and that takes time, but I think it's important and trying to get the culture onto the track that we want, where it's a culture focused on classroom learning ultimately, and being part of that. If you don't have that in place, all the other initiatives that you might possibly try they're gonna have limited effectiveness. You've got to get those basics down to make sure that you have a well-functioning school focused on the classroom and being in the classroom to be able to then bring things to the next level, because otherwise you'll be spinning your wheels and that's why culture was a big focus and I know that's a lot of what I talked about when I came in and the interviews and such. So I've been doing my best trying to do that.
Speaker 1:I don't wanna continue to try to do that Well it brings me back and that's a past snake, and it's good to hear kind of the thought process behind it, because when this is shared then people realize it's part of a larger systemic effort and it's not just working from the gut, it's just look, we're trying to set these things in place so that we have a safe, high performing school environment for our students and staff.
Speaker 2:And I think sometimes that, yes, my military background definitely influenced me, but it has been tailored appropriately to the world of education and it's not about being controlling.
Speaker 2:It's not about, oh, I'm gonna exercise military discipline or anything like that.
Speaker 2:It's about trying to set the best environment for the students so they have the best opportunity for success in their lives, because, for them to be successful, their job here is to learn.
Speaker 2:Above all, their job is to learn, be able to set themselves and learning, not just the reading, writing, arithmetic, as we say, but learning how to properly function within a democratic, republican society, which requires an active, educated populace. To vote intelligently, however, it is that they will vote but to be engaged and to be good citizens and understand how a society should function well. These are things they should know for our country to continue on which, I will admit, this is part of my driver. I have a deep love, as one of your imagine, for my country and for my community, and having a well-functioning schools is vital to sustaining those things, and we all make mistakes along the way students, staff, administrators. We all make mistakes along the way trying to do that. But that focus is really to try to get improve our community, improve our country by making success possible for the students as best as we can.
Speaker 1:And then it's a key function of public education here. Absolutely right, it's get cornerstone to prepare our next wave of populace for that huge role of sustaining the politics I was gonna ask. So we got feedback from a lot of parents who wanted a lot of things like additional things in place to help ensure the safety of the students in the building.
Speaker 1:Have you had any tension from those parents who don't quite understand what we're doing systemically to address their concerns but also to make sure that it's done equitably and it's done in a way that is fair and it's also in alignment with our policies and expectations of the building?
Speaker 2:So generally not Generally there's not really been pushback. There was a gentleman who asked for an audience just to get some more clarification. When I explained to him what the intent was behind, he's like oh, that makes sense and that's exactly what you should be doing. There have been a couple of instances, say for cell phones, where and I would imagine, maybe the parents are younger and they're used to, you know, they may have had phones from an earlier age as well and they're used to having that ability to have their children right there with the phone and it just seems second nature to always have a phone with them. And sometimes if their student got you know, just fun for like, oh yeah, they had their phone during the day, so they're going to have a detention.
Speaker 2:Sometimes in that conversation the parents would be like, well, and you hear them question a little bit, and I think that is, you know, there is a certain level of generational thing to that. Yeah, I mean, you know, when I went to high school there was one pay phone. Yeah, right, or you could go to the office and use it, or to the office, right. And when we were, you know, growing up, we would, you know, go out from. You know dawn until dusk and you know actually come back for dinner or something, and when the street light Right and then nobody can, nobody is contacting you at all and you used to have to use the pay phone to try, hey, I need a ride. And that was so.
Speaker 2:I think there is. You know there is a little bit of a generational difference in terms of what they're used to, but the research really shows and in my personal experience of the years of maritime, it's better not having the cell phones for the students for multiple reasons, and I know there was a number of parents in the community that they wanted that as well. And it does and it's, you know, it's funny about that from you know what I'd heard, been hearing. You heard it from students as well. Sometimes they're reluctant to admit it, but they're like it's really better. I wish I had my phone, but it's better in the classroom, right In the classroom, we're not, people aren't pulling the phones out all the time and getting on them and distracting the class or distracting themselves, and then students are actually talking with each other more.
Speaker 1:Right, especially at lunch, right Like everybody talks about. That's just been the great equalizer in the cell phone policy that you can go to lunch and you can observe students talking with their peers, with their friends and with staff that are in the morning, and before that was not happening at all, so it's good to see that it's before.
Speaker 2:it looked like a Starbucks or something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, where everybody's hunched over a device, kind of shoveling the food in, and you know, the bell rings and they're off to the next with the phone in front of them.
Speaker 2:Right, you know, and it's funny too, because that's important for culture to me and they start to I mean, yeah, sometimes you might get conflict out of as well, but they start to congeal, you know, as like, hey, we're all people here, oh, wait a minute, we're all students here. Oh, we're all Huskies here. We're all part of this. So look at that, and that can help for that sense of like you know what they're a part of. So that is part of the puzzle. You know one piece of the puzzle there for helping to build a culture.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, okay. So is there anything else that you'd like to mention on the podcast?
Speaker 2:Yes, okay. So last night I went to the section championship, right. I went there and I was very embarrassed because my children were cheering for Williamsville South. Oh no, because that, of course, is the school that they're going to go to. We live within a half mile of that school. Yes, so I was like fancy, you don't have to be obnoxious about it.
Speaker 1:That's right. Did you make them sit on the other side? No, no, I had them with me Okay, because we first came in and we realized quickly we were in the wrong side of the arena, so we all moved on the other side.
Speaker 2:I sat behind the bench.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, we were eventually there. Yeah, First we were on the other side.
Speaker 2:No, last night yeah last night.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we had to get there and I thought he's did a great job. They did, they did, they played with their heart and they went out there and they have absolutely everything to be proud of. They did a great job.
Speaker 2:You know, some of us, the Williamsville players there was more size there. Yeah, they were all you know, on the average they were all taller players. Yeah, we had a hard, that's right it definitely. Then, you know, that causes an uphill battle a little bit, you know, with the size, pure size. Then you saw things like, you know, dwayne Motley, some of the plays that he made when he went in and it was, you know, and he's not super tall but he just like he's got some skill and he was also he's driven. Yeah, he's driven, but yeah, so it's. But that was. You know, that was interesting. But I did it, especially Vincent, my son Vincent. He was very, very vocal about, you know, he tried to keep my hands from clapping when we would score a basket. Yeah, if you're like they can't do that.
Speaker 1:Like no, you gotta sit over there. They go to middle middle. So which is?
Speaker 2:yeah, and they're gonna. That's Dominic's in sixth grade and Vincent's in fifth. Sophia wasn't there. She's in fifth as well. Yeah, and so they're getting ready to. You know, not too much longer They'll be at the high school, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I tried to engage with Trash talking with the Williamsville SuperMedics there, oh, good job. But he has a lot more muscles than I could even understand. So he was able to say, no, we're gonna win. I was like, no, you're not, we're gonna win and it doesn't matter who wins. We're Huskies and you will never be a Husky. So that was my attempt at Trash talking. That's as good as that, Very dignified. I gotta work on it. I gotta work.
Speaker 2:Okay, cut your dignity. That's the, that's the important part.
Speaker 1:You're a Husky's in it, okay, well, I appreciate this. This has been fantastic.