Scott Floyd celebrated his birthday Tuesday with his extended family – all 570 of them.
In just about three months, the new principal of Schofield Middle School already has connected with his students, faculty, staff and the community and is bringing his years of experience as an educator – and his positive outlook – to his new home.
“Everywhere I've gone so far this morning, people are singing me 'Happy Birthday' – whole classes, students in the hallways,” Floyd said. “They're going out of their way to make sure they tell me happy birthday, and these are students who've only known me five weeks.
“I tweeted three weeks ago that I feel at home at Schofield, and I do. Today is a definite affirmation of that.”
Schofield is Floyd's “second home” in Aiken.
He came to town in January 2016 to be the new principal of the former Aiken Middle School after being an assistant principal at Fort Dorchester High School in North Charleston about five years.
When Aiken Middle closed at the end of the last school year and reopened as Aiken Intermediate School just for sixth-graders in Aiken's attendance Area 1 this year, Floyd moved to Schofield, starting in July.
Working with faculty and staff, Floyd spent his first six months at Aiken Middle putting together and then implementing a plan to change the school's culture from what he called “negative” to positive.
Floyd said that positive recognition makes an impact.
“When children are positively recognized for their good behavior, well, you know, it's kind of classical conditioning: positive begets positive. So I hope to bring that same culture of positivity and recognition and awareness to Schofield.”
At Schofield, Floyd used the school's mascot, the Rams, as the acronym and model for student expectations: respectful, responsive, reflective, accountable, motivated and scholarly, noting that the R in Rams “is R cubed.”
“We have our expectations all over the building in classrooms and hallways,” Floyd said. “It's a common language everywhere. You're not going to go in one classroom and have a set of five rules and go into another classroom and have another set of five rules.
“It's not rules. It's expectations, and you disappoint me when you don't meet those expectations. Phrasing expectations like that allows you to keep a positive spirit and a positive attitude. I understand you're going to make mistakes, child; but I'm going to be here to support you when you make mistakes, and I'm going to support you when you meet expectations, as well.”
As its new principal, Floyd also is leading Schofield through its first year as a Cambridge Lower Secondary School. Schofield is the first middle school in South Carolina to earn the designation. Schofield's sister school, Aiken High, was the first in the state to be accepted into the program.
Floyd said the RAMS attributes align with the Cambridge learner attributes: confident in working with information and with their own and others' ideas; responsible for themselves and responsive to and respectful of others; reflective as learners; innovative and equipped for new and future challenges; and engaged intellectually and socially.
Read the full Aiken Standard article HERE.