McLean High School welcomed a new principal this fall, as Raven Jones took over the position following former principal Ellen Reilly’s appointment as the assistant superintendent of FCPS Instructional Services. On her first day as principal on Sept. 2, Jones focused on meeting students and staff, as well as learning the layout and operations of the building.
“Most of our first day was spent just getting to know people,” Jones said. “I was out in the halls greeting students, talking with teachers and admin and really trying to figure out where I was going.”
Throughout the day, Jones made her way into classrooms throughout campus, sitting in on science and language courses and joining her first administrative team meeting at the school.
“My boss came over on the first day just to check in and see how things were going, and to make sure I wasn’t lost,” Jones said. “We did a walkthrough together, and we checked out classrooms just to see what teaching looks like here.”
One of her biggest challenges was figuring out the mechanics of students’ lunch at McLean.
“Lunch is crazy here,” Jones said. “People will eat in so many places. I couldn’t figure out who was where and why.”
Like many new students, Jones had to adjust to the school’s layout.
“I got lost for 10 minutes on my first day upstairs,” Jones said. “I made the horrible mistake of going upstairs during a transition period and then I couldn’t figure out how to get down.”
Her first day coincided with the new rollout of McLean’s Ceia OpenGate security system.
“It was a crazy day to start on,” Jones said. “We actually did really well compared to other schools in the district—we actually got through pretty quickly on the first day of [metal detectors].”
One surprise Jones noted was the presence of preschool students in the building.
“Out of all my research of the school beforehand, that fact wasn’t told to me anywhere,” Jones said. “I hadn’t been told that McLean had a Pre-K program, although it really gave me joy.”
Reflecting on her first impressions, Jones said her approach to leading the school through new implementations or policies will be anything but rushed.
“There’s nothing that I’ve known that I want to change about the school [so far],” Jones said. “I just don’t believe in making fast changes; I think there should be informed decisions. I want to be very deliberate and intentional about changing things.”
