Expanding Impact On Education Leadership Community | 051 Andrew Marotta
Today, energetic and enthusiastic leader Andrew Marotta joins us to discuss how he expanded his impact on the educational leadership community. He is a High School Principal at Port Jervis HS, New York and has recently released his first book entitled The Principal. Join us as he shares how he navigated and left a positive imprint in the hearts and minds of students through the creation of positive culture.
The Principal
Andrew is a loving husband to his wife, Jennifer, and a supportive father to their three young children. In his professional life, Andrew has been at Port Jervis HS for fifteen years, serving as Assistant Principal for seven years and Principal for the past eight. He has led the transformation of PJHS, helping to raise the graduation rate from a low 60% to mid and upper 80%.
Moreover, he recently launched a book entitled THE PRINCIPAL: Surviving & Thriving. 125 Points of Wisdom, Practical Tips, and Relatable Stories for all School Principals .
Through the book, he shares with readers tips, tricks, procedures, and methods he uses to juggle and navigate the educational system.
“We’re trying to create a super awesome culture that kids would want to come to. You think about school — its rules, bell and all of that kind of stuff. Yeah, we have that stuff, but we loosen up. As long as the kid is doing his work and is involved in the class.” – Andrew Marotta
Creating Culture in School
Andrew shares a lot of stories that helped him build the positive culture that they have at PJHS. The sense of community from everyone was the greatest contributor to the positive culture among students and teachers.
Andrew points out the importance of culture and relationships. It is a fact that schools need technology in the classroom, good attendance rates, high SAT passing rates and huge graduation rates. However, he points out that what matters most is the process of achieving those high numbers.
“You have a clean school. You have a safe school, you have teachers that love kids — those things are gonna happen. But if the kid is miserable, they don’t want to come to school, they’re not gonna do well.” – Andrew Marotta
Mastery, Autonomy, and Purpose
Andrew acknowledges the fact that a business setting is different from a school setting. In a business setting, there are bonuses, a laid-out benchmark to hit and there is an actual product. In a school setting, the students are the product.
He lives by the concept of “mastery, autonomy, and purpose.” He got it from Simon Sinek from a TED Talk and is proud to announce that he implements the ideology in PJHS. Through this, he respects each teacher’s autonomy on how they want to conduct classes but requires each teacher to set clear expectations from their students.
“People want consistency. People want the rules enforced and they want it consistently. But what might work for Jaime Jay, might now work for Joe Smith and might not work for Mary Jones.” – Andrew Marotta
Download and listen to Expanding Impact On Education Leadership Community to learn more. Remember to let Andrew know you heard about him on Culture Eats Strategy with Jaime Jay!
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About Jaime Jay
Meet Jaime Jay – a man who wears many hats, and wears them all admirably. He's a master connector, an entrepreneur extraordinaire, and a published author who knows how to get things done.
Before he found his way to the business world, Jaime served his country as a brave paratrooper in the U.S. Army. But that's just the beginning of his many accomplishments.
He's the founder of the renowned Bottleneck Distant Assistant Services firm, and his book "Quit Repeating Yourself" has become a must-read for entrepreneurs everywhere.
When he's not busy building his empire, you can find him on his beloved Harley Davidson, cruising through the countryside and taking in the invigorating effects of Uitwaaien – a Dutch practice that involves facing the wind to boost health and relieve stress.
He enjoys spending his free time outside building stuff with his wife, Nikita the dog and their two kittens (for now at least) Tommy and Tater.
He is ‘over-the-moon’ happily married to his wonderful wife Sara, his amazing daughter, Jessica, who is serving our country as a United States Army soldier. Jaime and Sara are the proud grand parents of two beautiful little girls.
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Quit Repeating Yourself provides guidance for entrepreneurs, business leaders, and managers to help prevent unknown challenges from ruining their business.
