guidance office suite was nearby. Ms. Lavender, assistant principal of
guidance, smelled the residual smoke and came to investigate. Her first re-
sponse was to ask if there was anything in the English office that could be
put up on the bulletin board—immediately, before the next period began
in twenty minutes. She explained that she did not want any students to see
the fire’s residue during change of classes. It was important to maintain
school ambience by making the bulletin board look “normal.”
Mr. Thelen quickly found materials. Ms. Lavender brought a stapler
and together they created a normal if less than aesthetically perfect bul-
letin board in under fifteen minutes. She also notified security to be on the
lookout for a pyromaniac. Ms. Lavender was minding the details, taking
time from her own important job to help a first-year teacher decorate a
bulletin board and hide all remnants of a case of vandalism to maintain
the ambience of the school.
Bulletin boards are important as they are among the first items seen
by students and visitors to the school. A school leader should ask all the
teachers he supervises to decorate the bulletin boards inside their class-
rooms before the first parent-teacher conference day. Exemplary student
work always makes for a good display.
Most schools have corridor bulletin boards and display cases. Twenty
years after the incident just described, Mr. Thelen found himself principal
of a school that had scores of them. He began an Adopt–a–Bulletin Board
program. At the beginning of the school year, he allowed any teacher to
lay claim to any corridor bulletin board or display case that was empty
or contained out-of-date materials. Once claimed, it was the teacher’s re-
sponsibility to maintain up-to-date displays throughout the school year.
This plan worked very well. Some club advisors seized a bulletin board
as a way to keep students up-to-date on club activities. Some teachers in
nearby rooms created stunning displays related to their subject areas. The
college counselor used bulletin boards outside her office to list college
acceptances. The visual display teacher claimed most display cases for the
work of students in his vocational classes.
In later years, the culminating project of graduating art students became
the creation of permanent artistic displays outside department offices. These
displays creatively illustrated each department’s subject area. Over time,
such projects also provided art works for the student and teacher cafeterias
as well as school lobby areas. A special program that paired art instruction
160 Chapter 12