The older Amelon Elementary School Principal Jay Sales gets the more pride he takes in his hair. So he swallowed that pride hard last Thursday when he had his head shaved.
As strongly as he feels about his hair, he said he feels more so about his school’s heavy strides this past school year in academic achievements and working to meet full accreditation. He said he made a deal with his students as they put their learning to the test that he would shave his head if they showed improvement.
“I’m no stranger to using my head to motivate students,” said Sales, who completed his first year at the helm of Amelon Elementary, adding it was easily the best of his 26-year career.
The school came up just shy of reaching full accreditation last year after falling short in the English pass rate benchmark and initially received a “to be determined” status by the Virginia Board of Education. In October, it received “partially accredited – reconstituted” status from the state board.
Sales said based on Standards of Learning results the school is tracking it appears the school is on mark to reach its goal of achieving full accreditation. He has gone student to student giving fist bumps and encouragement in recent months and he is proud of their strides, he said.
“That’s been the mantra around here: ‘I’m just going to do the very best I can,’ ” he said.
Last year, the school missed its English benchmark in reading by two students, he said, and this year’s numbers look promising, adding the school is holding its collective breath for the final tally from the state this fall and is preparing to have the “Mardi Gras of Mardi Gras” celebration.
“We persevered, checked all the boxes and as we entered into SOL testing season we’ve been pleasantly surprised,” Sales said. “We’ve looked at it as close as you possibly could, to get over this hump. We’re very proud of our preliminary numbers.”
He said it was a difficult time last year when the school learned it did not meet the full accreditation mark and the atmosphere was akin to being at a funeral service.
“A lot of times we lose sight of the fact teachers pour their hearts into preparing students,” he said. “They were devastated. It took us a while to take that proverbial deep breath and get past that. Our folks have been the epitome of professionalism. It’s been a total school wide effort to say ‘let’s do better.’”
The school has done daily prizes and had a drawing on its final day last week for a PlayStation 4 as other incentives in getting students motivated, he said.
“They ask me every second of every hour of every day when the drawing will be, followed by: ‘When will you shave your head?’” Sales said shortly before getting his head shaved last week.
The next morning, he stood with a huge smile waving at children in buses and parents’ vehicles as they poured into the school.
“The bald head will be the beacon that something good happened with SOLs,” he said with a laugh.
Amherst County Public Schools Superintendent Steve Nichols praised Sales’ creative efforts to encourage students.
“Jay works very hard to motivate the young people in his care,” Nichols said in an email.
Sales said Assistant Principal Cindy Copp, “the best students and teachers on the planet” and the most supportive parents he has come across in his career deserve much of the credit for the school’s success.
Copp said the school had other incentives to help motivate students to do their best, including drawings for prizes, pizza parties, popsicles, water bucket challenges and extra recess.
"It truly has been a team effort," Copp said.
The faculty has worked hard to make the school year a positive one with strong academic growth, she said.
“We’ve thrown the kitchen sink at this,” Sales said of working to meet its goal, adding of the incentives: “Kids love to have fun. It doesn’t take a rocket science to figure that out.”