What motivated you to become a principal?
TB: “I started education as a teacher, when originally I wanted to do more with my life than working a corporate position in downtown Houston, I wanted to give back. So I entered teaching. I was teaching for six years, when I decided I wanted to impact more students than were in my classroom, then I became an assistant principal, I decided to be a principal after probably 10 years as an assistant and an associate, that’s when I realized I could lead faculty, staff and students in a way that I felt would grow them and grow their capacity and help them to become their best version of themselves.”
How was your first day of school working here?
TB:“I absolutely love it. There is nothing I love more than the students and the faculty and staff at Caney Creek. They are just amazing. They have the kindest hearts, the truest nature, and the most resilience I’ve ever seen in a student group in my career.”
What do you think the biggest challenges are about being a principal?
TB: “As a principal, you can’t please everyone all the time. I think the biggest challenge is, no matter what decision we make, someone’s not going to be happy with the decision. The goal is as long as we keep the needs of the students at the forefront of every decision we make, that’s the best we can do.”
How do you maintain a good relationship with the students?
TB: “Communication? I think the more we communicate, the better we maintain our relationships. I believe communication, and trust are the key components to having a good relationship with anyone.”
What are some strategies you have to make the school better?
TB: “Well, I just like keeping relationships, I think maintaining a positive environment in the school is through building trust, and having clear communication. If students and teachers and staff know kind of what the expectations are, and the why, then I believe that we become a unified organization all supporting like us all being better as a unit at Caney Creek High School. We do that, like when I talk about the student IDs, when I talk about the doors, and when I talk about everything, it’s all about, “why are we doing it?” It’s not Dr. Benson wanting to be like a person that’s like you have to follow the rules. It’s more like, “We’re doing this for the safety of you and for us and to make this a better place.” That’s kind of the clear communication, and explaining why we do things, I believe help students.”
How do you support everyone’s decision? If you do or don’t like it?
TB: “There’s some things that are beyond the control of a principal, for example, a district policy that’s written by our school board. The principal does not have a choice in that policy. They have a job to enforce the policy as written by the school board, there are times when even the Texas Education Agency, the state and the federal government and then our local government writes laws and policies that I may or may not agree with. It’s my job as a principal to enforce it, I’m called to do that job. Just like with the doors and the IDs, you know, that’s frustrating when I know you and I know you’re a student at Caney Creek, and I know your name, but I can’t let you in the building without an ID. That’s hard because especially the people that I’ve known for years, and they’re looking at me like “Dr. Benson, are you for real right now?” I cannot legally let you into the building, you have to wear the ID. So those are some of the things that we just have to do because it’s the right thing. If it’s the law, and it’s the policy, we have to enforce it.”
