Garner Juggles ResponsibilitiesSYRACUSE - Jim Garner is in charge of hundreds of adults and students in his role as Syracuse Elementary School's principal.
His responsibilities include everything from hiring and firing to curriculum and discipline. And being a self-proclaimed clown, he can juggle - both literally and figuratively."Actually, this place runs incredibly smooth, so I don't have to spend a lot of time on discipline," Garner said in an interview Dec. 16.
"Basically, I'm in charge of 75 adults and 530 kids. I don't think too many factories run that way," he said.
Garner carries a pad of paper with him everywhere he goes to stay on top of everything. With 15 to 75 e-mails received a day, he said the pad of paper isn't as important now as it used to be. However, he still uses it.
Syracuse Elementary has students in grades kindergarten to fifth grade. At one point, the school had as many as 630 to 640 students. As the area lost jobs, the school lost students, Garner said.
Now, more than 55 percent of Syracuse Elementary are free and/or reduced lunch students. That is continuously increasing, he said. The school has an English as a second language program, but the number of students in that program has decreased. Currently, there are about 39 students in the ESL program at Syracuse.
"I guess the biggest challenge is trying to meet the academic challenges of all kids," Garner said. In a perfect world, all the students would have their needs met, he said.
Garner has been in administration for the past 18 years, and 34 years in education.
"I've always been kind of an organizer, even in high school," Garner said of why he became a principal.
His father, Charles Garner, was the principal at Leesburg when it was a K-12 school in the 1960s and '70s. Charles also was the assistant principal at Warsaw High School in the 1970s.
Asked if his father being a principal had any effect on him choosing to be a principal, Garner said, "In some ways, yes, because I've always heard people speak very highly of him."
Garner's two older brothers also were teachers. Between Garner, his two brothers and his father, they have more than 160 years combined in education. Other relatives of Garner's also are in education.
"We have a lot of educators in the family," he said.
His first two years, Garner taught art and physical education in grades kindergarten through sixth grade. That was back in the 1970s, he said. He didn't have a classroom, but had to roll a cart from room to room. He had a half hour for lunch, but had recess duty during that half hour.
Garner earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Ball State University. After graduating BSU, Garner said he taught at Perry Elementary School in the Liberty Perry School Corp. for two years.
After leaving there, he went to teach fifth grade in Cromwell for five years. When consolidation occurred, he taught at West Noble Elementary School for seven years. He took a year off to teach elementary physical education, then spent the next 18 years at various schools as principal.
"That's how I know it's changed a little bit," he said
