An Interview with Principal Tuerlings

By Amelia Kondor and Lia Low

Amelia: I know you came here from Van Tech, right?

Tuerlings: Correct.

Amelia: Have you been a principal at any other schools?

Tuerlings: No, this is my first year as a principal.

Amelia: Oh, last year you were a vice principal?

Tuerlings: Yeah, so I've been a vice principal since September 2017.

Amelia: Okay, very cool!

Lia: Before becoming a vice principal and principal, what did you do before?

Tuerlings: So, I did all my teaching in Richmond school district, so I taught Phys Ed. and Social Studies at McNair Secondary - that was where I did most of my teaching. And then prior to that I was at Cambie Secondary - which was actually the school I graduated from as well - so it was a unique experience to go back to the school you had been a student at. Amelia: Did you go straight into teaching, or did you have other jobs, or other career goals, or you knew "I want to be a teacher. I want to be a principal"? Tuerlings: Ooh, that's a good question to have. I actually started school to be a sport medicine doctor, and then just based on the coursework that I was taking, we were required to do a lot of physical education coursework, and just the exposure to that shifted my goal, and then I really enjoyed working with youth, especially around sport. So I was able to kind of marry the two things; the sport, and the teaching and coaching.

Amelia: We're wondering, what are some changes you've made this year to Templeton that you're really proud of? And some of them are pretty visible to us, like we can see the Week at a Glance every week, but what are maybe some changes we might not see every day?

Tuerlings: I think in terms of communication, like trying to communicate what's going on around the school, and the week at a glance is a part of that, that's just been a big focus of mine. Not necessarily just for students, but also staff and parents, so that people know what's going on at the school. I think another thing, that maybe students don't really enjoy, the kind of structuring of FIT, so that it's a little bit more accessible, in terms of who is available when. So there's a scheduling aspect that I would hope would be of a benefit to students, but I understand that perhaps it kind of felt like surveillance, but that wasn't the intent. The intent was just to provide more choice and more information, so that students could better use that time that's available to them.

Lia: My next question is if you have any more plans to make changes at Templeton next year? Following years?

Tuerlings: Yeah, I think honestly, like so many industries, education is like a constant refinement, so you should never feel satisfied with what you have, and you should always be looking to change your practice or improve systems and approaches that benefit students. So that's... as a teacher I was always being very reflective on what was my instruction like, and how was I delivering the content or skills to students, and taking a step back into administration, you are doing it more global scale, so how are the things that I'm doing going to impact the students, for hopefully, the better, at Templeton. And I think one piece that I was really hoping to get started here that didn't end up happening was having a student forum, so an opportunity for students to have more voice in what happens within the school. So that will be a priority for me for next year.

Amelia: That's exciting. What's the hardest part of being a principal?

Tuerlings: That's a good question. The hardest part of being a principal... I would say the hardest part of being an administrator, so not just a principal, is actually not having that connection with students that you get in a classroom. Because you're usually dealing with issues at an office level, and you don't get to have the same level of connection, or develop those professional relationships that are so awesome. Because I know students really care about certain teachers that they have; it's less so for administrators.

Amelia: This is my last question, I think. What have you learned this year, being a principal at Templeton?

Tuerlings: I think the biggest piece of learning was just how awesome this school already is, right? Students are very caring, compassionate, there's a sense of duty and community that I think is pretty unique to this school, having been at four others - well, this being my fourth school in Vancouver. Yeah, there's a uniqueness here, and being a part of that and seeing the growth, even over a short period of time, has been learning for me.

Amelia: Thank you so much!

Tuerlings: Yeah, my pleasure.