Partnership Principal William Dunn is the principal of Arlington High School in St. Paul, Minn.

     A life-long resident of St. Paul, Minn., Arlington High School Principal Bill Dunn has found new ‘courage’ in The Principals’ Partnership and has shared that courage with others.

   Dunn, the current Minnesota High School Principal of the Year, is a strong believer of small learning communities and used that concept as one of the building blocks when he opened Arlington High as its first principal in 1996.

     “As we researched what the community and educators felt a school needed to help students transition into and out of a high school, we found three things: relationships, professional collaboration, and high standards,” he recalled. “That’s what small learning communities can bring to staff, students and parents.”

     One of the programs offered at Arlington is an Academy of Finance. A similar academy, one for travel and tourism, was also available, but Bill wasn’t excited about it. That’s where the courage came in, and it resulted in new learning opportunities for students.

     “Participating in The Partnership has made me see things in a much broader view,” he explains. “It has allowed me to bounce things off other senior high school principals and given me the courage to try some new things.

     “I was talking to some of the other principals in The Partnership, and they spoke highly of the Academy of Travel and Tourism offered in their schools,” he said. “So, we sent some teachers to visit those schools to learn more about the program, and, now, we plan to offer it.

     “Another principal came to Arlington to see how our small learning communities worked, and felt that approach might be right for his school. I told him, ‘Don’t get bogged down in all our details; just look at the program and get the courage to try it for yourself’.”

     Bill has worked in St. Paul schools for 35 years, including 28 as a secondary school administrator. In 1993 he was assigned to the district’s High School Design Team and opened Arlington High as its principal in 1996. Arlington is a comprehensive high school with an enrollment of nearly 2,000 students.

     Arlington students in grades 9 and 10 spend half their school day in one of Arlington's communities, called "houses," where they work on core academic studies in English, math, science and social studies. In grades 11 and 12, they concentrate their studies in one of Arlington's "focus areas," which include government policy making, health and environment, information technologies, and Expo humanities.

     What he most enjoys about being a senior high principal is “watching teachers grow professionally. It’s great to see young teachers develop into good teachers and true leaders.”

     Dunn clearly understands the time constraints educational leaders face today.

     “It’s tough to read as a senior high principal, but I actually have found time to read a professional book,” he reports. And it’s a book, Trust in School: Core Resources for School Reform by Anthony S. Bryk, that he recommends to others.

     Bryk makes the point that social trust improves relationships and is an important way to build positive community-school relations with parents, teachers and students.

For more information on Arlington High School, see http://www.ahs.stpaul.k12.mn.us