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READING, Pa. (AP) — Reading's Southern Middle School students aren't visiting the principal's office as much this year, and that might be because the principal is visiting them more.
Principal Geina Beaver has begun the year without an office, preferring instead to circulate the school with her laptop on a wheeled cart that she calls the "Beavermobile."
In her prior four years on the job, Beaver found herself only occasionally observing a teacher or visiting a classroom to deal with unruly students. Now, Beaver is dropping in on 10 to 15 classes a day, she said.
Discipline cases are way down, she said, and students seem more eager to see her, the Reading Eagle reported Sunday (http://bit.ly/1rm7Fsh ).
"I was never the huggable one," Beaver said. "I was the one (students) wanted to stay away from."
Beaver said she largely got the idea for a "principal on a cart" from hospitals. Doctors, she said, do not diagnose a patient without first seeing them.
"It's hard for us to know what's going on in the classroom if we don't actually get in the classroom to diagnose what's happening," she said. "You can't really fix a problem if you don't see what's happening."
Beaver said her classroom visits have given her more insight into how kids learn and that can help her help teachers.
"We're supposed to be the instructional leader of the building," but it is hard to fill that role when the principal can't see what's happening in classrooms, she said.
Beaver said she plans to continue the practice for the rest of the school year, and possibly beyond.
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Information from: Reading Eagle, http://www.readingeagle.com/
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