On a Wednesday afternoon at Lebanon Middle School, Principal Sara Brady is sliding a chair and a student desk out of an unused classroom and into the hallway to create an impromptu meeting area. A few moments later, after being called out of his class, sixth-grader J.T. Yates has a seat across from Brady and the two launch into a one-on-one conversation.
The interaction is called a “Minute Meeting” -- a brief sit-down between a student and either Brady, Assistant Principal Jessica Beaven, or School Counselor Erin Pittman. Questions range from those about school-related issues to hobbies outside of school, all with the intent of getting to know students better.
“They love it,” Brady said of the students. “They’ll ask, ‘When’s my turn?’ when they see me in the hallway. Even with the 8th graders, who I already know well, they’ll ask when they’ll get their turn. I think it’s just getting that individual attention for a minute.”
Brady said the plan is to meet with all of the school’s roughly 320 students by the end of the first quarter of the school year, and they’ll repeat the process in the second semester. Originally, the administrative team had hoped to meet with every student by the end of the first month of school. It was a goal that quickly became untenable in part because the interactions went so well. The name implies that the interactions will last a minute, but Brady was quick to acknowledge that the conversations often go longer than planned.
“These have taken a little longer than anticipated, especially for 6th grade -- they have a lot to say. We were thinking they’d take one minute, but the kids enjoy talking and sharing -- it just naturally flows,” Brady said, adding: “Sometimes I feel like the only question I need to ask is, ‘How’s it going?’”
The administrators have tried to reign in the length of the interactions, in part by reducing the number of scripted questions they have planned. During the first rounds of meeting with students the interviews would sometimes take closer to ten minutes, but after removing some of the standard questions, most meetings last around five minutes.
During her chat with J.T., the conversation drifts from questions about classes, to his experience as a 6th grader in a new school, to his interests outside of school.
As they talk, Brady types notes in a Google document that’s shared with the other administrators to keep a record of students’ answers. Some questions are simply an avenue to get to know students better while others play an important role in building a safe school culture.
For example, during their interaction, Brady asked J.T. what goals he has outside of school (“Hit a home run during baseball season”), but also asked, as she does with every student, if he had a trusted adult in the school he felt comfortable going to if there was an issue.
The “Trusted Adult” question is one that has elicited a pleasant surprise for Brady.
“All of the students I’ve spoken with have said they have a trusted adult in the building -- I expected that with our 7th and 8th graders, since they’ve been here for some time, but I was surprised to find that our 6th grade students have already identified someone in the building they can trust this early in the school year,” she said. “I think that’s a testament to our 6th grade teachers how they’ve already developed relationships with kids.”
The interviews are also useful for learning about things they may have changed over summer with the student’s home life. “It’s nice to have a minute to know if there’s something special going on we might need to be aware of,” Brady said.
J.T. said he’d seen other students having their meetings, but didn’t really know much about them before Brady pulled him from class. And afterward he acknowledged he thought it was a good initiative to “get to know people.”
“I think it’s a good thing because if anything important happens, they’d need to know what’s comfortable and what’s not comfortable for students,” he said.
He also told Brady that so far 6th grade had been “pretty fun” in large part because of the increased freedom that comes with being a middle schooler.
“You get a whole lot more freedom to go around the school and go to different classes,” he said.
To avoid interrupting instructional time, the Minute Meetings only take place during students’ What I Need (WIN) class, which is intended for enrichment and intervention. However, Brady admitted that some days the meetings are “hard to prioritize, and step away” from other responsibilities.
Overall, the Minute Meetings have been enjoyable and productive for Brady, but she also said she’s found them useful in unexpected ways.
“I had a meeting with a student who I had known for some time, but through this conversation I found out his future goal is to be a computer technician,” she said. That led Brady to connect the student with the district’s IT department. “If we hadn’t done those meetings, I wouldn’t have known that. It just opened up a door that we wouldn’t have otherwise known.”
