Bayfield Middle School officials are keeping tabs on staffers as they form and strengthen working relationships, similar to a doctor or a nurse checking in with their patients.
School employees are doing rounds, so to speak, just like medical workers. It’s all part of the school’s new Rounding Program.
“Rounding and Continuous Improvement is a constant reminder that we need to check in with people. It is a pretty cool way to get feedback from everybody in this building at any moment, and our conversations really focus on situations and improvement,” BMS principal Marcia Hoerl said in a news release on the district’s website.
The Rounding Program is entering its third cycle. And even though the school’s leadership team members started their positions over a year ago, they brought educational experience from their careers and are getting acquainted with staffers, according to the release.
The leadership team is also “building a framework for growth” based on the following questions:
- What's working well?
- What has been challenging?
- How could I be helpful?
- Do you have the resources that you need?
- Who has been helpful to you?
“I love the question from rounding about who has been helpful,” Hoerl said. “They get to acknowledge that person through me, and I get to hear from people who were thanking other co-workers for things I did not even know were going on.”
The release said the program has helped bring generations of teaching experience together, all while providing a structure for problem-solving.
“My role is helping them find the right resources,” Hoerl said. “Where there is a problem, I can usually support a fix.”
Hoerl hopes the rounding meetings can eventually be tied back to the district’s goals and targets to improve staff understanding of the big picture, the release said.
mhollinshead@durangoherald.com
