CC#110: Relationships, Clarity, Routines w/ Dawn Chase - Horton Elementary School - USD 430

Episode Summary In this episode of Cool Coffee with Kansas principals, host Rick Sola speaks with Dawn Chase, principal of Horton Elementary School. They discuss Dawn's journey in education, the challenges of school consolidation, and her transition to principalship. Dawn emphasizes the importance of establishing relationships with staff, creating clear procedures and routines, and managing time effectively. She shares valuable advice for new principals, highlights the significance of self-care, and celebrates the supportive community at Horton Elementary. Connect with the Principal Dawn Chase (mailto:[email protected]) (email) Connect with Cool Coffee Host Rick Sola: [email protected], (mailto:[email protected],) [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])   Chapters (timestamps are approximate) 00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Horton Elementary 02:39 Dawn Chase's Journey in Education 05:23 Challenges of School Consolidation 07:48 Transitioning to Principalship 10:26 Establishing Relationships with Staff 13:10 Creating Clear Procedures and Routines 15:41 Managing Time and Responsibilities 18:21 Advice for New Principals 21:21 The Importance of Self-Care 23:50 Celebrating the Community and Staff 26:26 Closing Thoughts and Fresh Starts   The mission of the Kansas Principals Association (https://www.ksprincipals.org/o/kpa) , an organization committed to educational excellence and the lifelong success of all students, is to develop and support all principals through optimized learning, collaborative leadership, networking, and service. Read more about the KPA HERE (https://www.ksprincipals.org/o/kpa) . Provide Cool Coffee feedback! Click HERE (https://forms.gle/nSVj4nNw1Yn74WVu8) to share thoughts and suggestions--including guests to have on the show! Click for ALL Cool Coffee (https://coolcoffee.podbean.com/) episodes! Connect with Cool Coffee on... Follow us on X: @KSPrincipals (https://x.com/KPACoolCoffee) ; @KPACoolCoffee (https://x.com/KPACoolCoffee) Facebook: KSPrincipals (  / ksprincipals  ) Contact the host: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected],)  or [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])   Episode Transcript (timestamps are approximate) Rick Sola (00:02.401) Hello and welcome to Cool Coffee with Kansas principals. Today I'm here with principal Dawn Chase from USD 430 Horton Elementary School, home of the Chargers. Hello Dawn. Dawn Chase (00:15.128) Hi, how are you? Rick Sola (00:16.541) I am good. We are just wrapping up here where I'm at. It's our first day back with students as we get back from the holiday break. I don't know if that's the same for where you're at. Dawn Chase (00:28.694) Same here, this is the first day we welcomed students back and it was a great day. Rick Sola (00:33.771) Yeah, was the energy was high. seemed like a lot of students were glad to see each other. And I always wonder what tomorrow is going to look like because I think they'll realize how early they got up today and they weren't used to that. But it's a fun time of year as we get going with the second semester. But before we get started, I just want to remind listeners, give the show a like and a follow. And also a reminder to check the show notes. There'll be contact information for both myself but also our guest. And so make sure you're checking those show notes for more information about the show. But Don, you are principal of Horton Elementary School. Let's start there. What can you tell us about Horton as far as where you're located and the size of your school? And we'll go from there. Dawn Chase (01:25.816) Okay, Horton is a wonderful little place. It's like a diamond in a rough, a perfect little small town school, but it's not small town ideas and attitudes. There's a lot of things going on here that are very exciting at all the levels. But Horton is surprisingly, I'll tell you, I'm from Meriden. So I grew up as a Jeff West USD 340 girl. So this job puts me about 50 minutes from home. And so I drive each day, 50 minutes each way and it's a great time to get a lot of things done. It wasn't until I actually looked at a map that I realized how close to the Nebraska border I am. I did not realize how close Brown County was and that's terrible because I've lived in Kansas most of my life. But more about 15 minutes from Hiawatha, 20 or 30 from Holton. Horton's just a little nestled place that's just, it's a diamond. So school size, we have about 220 students. I have a building that is pre-K through fourth grade. And we have some students that are outreach. We have a special education portion of our preschool. We also have our general education and actually we're in the process of fully making those integrated. So that's exciting to see both of the sides together. But about 220 students and like I said, it's a wonderful place to work ...