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Episode 47: Spring Creek’s New Principal, Jay Porter

Sup with the Sup
Sup with the Sup
Episode 47: Spring Creek's New Principal, Jay Porter
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Welcome everyone to the next episode of Provo City School District’s What’s Up with the Sup’ podcast. I am Superintendent Wendy Dau. This week I will be visiting with the new principal of Spring Creek Elementary, Jay Porter. But first, let’s go over our updates. It is officially summer. Each of our schools have summer hours.

  • If you need to visit with someone at your school, visit your school’s website for hours of operation, or you can contact our main district line and they will also have that information available for you. June 3rd through July 18th, our district provides free summer meals. Children ages 1 through 18 that live in Provo can receive a free breakfast and free lunch.
  • Visit Franklin, Provo Peaks, Spring Creek, Sunset View, Timpanogos Elementary Schools, or Independence or Provo High Schools, whichever school you live closest to, Monday through Thursday for a free meal. Visit our website for times and details. If you are interested in hearing updates regarding the construction projects happening throughout the district, please visit the district website and click on the new construction newsletter signup link.

For complete updates during the summer, visit us on our website or on social media. And now on to our guest. I am here with our next guest for our podcast this week. We have Jay Porter. Who has been the assistant principal at Wasatch Elementary and is now going to be the principal of Spring Creek Elementary.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Jay Porter: Thanks for having me.

Wendy Dau: So Jay, I know you have a long background in education. So tell us a little bit about your journey And how you ended up, now you’re going to be at Spring Creek Elementary and what your experience and background has been.

Jay Porter: Yeah. So, uh, I’ve been in education for 19 years, which makes me an old man.

Wendy Dau: Hey, don’t say that. I’ve been in it longer than you and I’m an old lady.

Jay Porter: Um, started out in Washington County as a third-grade teacher and fifth-grade teacher there, and eventually became a Title I coordinator, taught down there for 13 years, got to deal, was in three different schools there and was able to have a lot of fun, especially as a Title I coordinator.

That’s when I realized, ah, this is kind of the direction I want to go with administration and things. Um, cause it was really fun. Getting to know like all the kids, I really like dealing with behavior as odd as that sounds, but it’s a really fun thing to tackle and help those kids overcome. So after that, I was trying to become a principal and there was a job out in Blanding, Utah, which is the other Southern Utah, just so you know, that’s what they refer to it, um, out in the middle of nowhere, uh, closest Walmart was an hour and a half. And, uh,

Wendy Dau: That’s a long haul.

Jay Porter: Closest Costco was Spanish Fork’s. That’s five hours. Wow.

Wendy Dau: So no home delivery there.

Jay Porter: No home delivery there, no. But, um, when we saw that come up, uh, I asked my wife, I’m like, I know I want a principal’s job, but is this something we want to do? We did, we decided to do it and go on that adventure.

And it really was an adventure. I was a principal there for three years, school with 45 percent Navajo Nation kids, a small percentage of Ute, um, Native Americans as well. And then the rest Caucasian, uh, with a few Hispanics, uh, in our school as well. It was a real eye-opening experience that way. The Native Americans are a very at-risk population, uh, in a school setting, at least that’s what I, what I found out.

And it was just amazing to work with them and just see the progress, um, of those kids as we implemented things and tried to meet their needs. But then, as I said, Blanding’s a long way from everywhere.

Wendy Dau: Yes.

Jay Porter: Uh, we decided it was time to move forward in our career. And I found a job up here in Provo and went back into the classroom, which I highly recommend all principals do, uh, ’cause it had been nine years since I’d been in the classroom. And-

Wendy Dau: it gets to be a long time, right? Our distance from it gets to be quite great.

Jay Porter: Yeah. And I always hear stories. Oh, that administrator hasn’t been in the classroom for eight years as well. It’s true.

Wendy Dau: It is true.

Jay Porter: We, we become disconnected from, from the trenches. And so getting back in the trenches really has helped me a lot where I’ve been able to see where those things that I was asking teachers to do for three years, were they able to do them?

And can I do them as a teacher? Is that realistic? So that’s what I focused on as a teacher at Sunset View was, all right, I’m going to try some of these things that I tried there and that maybe some teachers didn’t like and say weren’t possible. And I found out some of them weren’t. So-

Wendy Dau: That’s good.

Jay Porter: Which was really good, uh, to see and, and it just got me to connect more with or empathize with teachers. The next year I went to be an assistant principal at Wasatch Elementary. That’s when I really noticed that, um, going back into the classroom helped me as an administrator because I wasn’t as disconnected and I understood where teachers were coming from more on that.

So was there for two years doing dual immersion with Chinese, working with Mr. Fuhriman as a principal and we were able to do a lot of good things there.

Wendy Dau: Yeah.

Jay Porter: And now the next adventure. So just a bunch of adventures. That’s, that’s what we’re all about.

Wendy Dau: That’s right. Onto Spring Creek. I think, I think it’s very powerful that you have been in the classroom so recently and there’s even a difference, right?

Between doing it for one day or one class period because I go in and help out versus no, I’m doing this and preparing this every single day. Like it’s a lot. That we ask of our teachers. It’s, it’s a ton.

Jay Porter: So Mr. Furman is going back into the classroom, you know, and he, he asked me about it cause I had recently experienced it.

And I said, it’s a different hard, um, you know,

it’s a different hard. And it’s, in fact, I might argue that it’s harder. Cause sometimes it is an administrator. You close your door and be like, all right, I need to chill, but you can’t do that, you can’t do that in the classroom. You’re like, I need a break, but too bad.

Wendy Dau: Too bad.

Jay Porter: You’ll get one at 4:30. Um, so that, that is tough.

Wendy Dau: That is definitely something we, we lose perspective on as to that you’re on stage all the time as a, as a teacher, for sure. So I’m excited about that perspective that you’re going to bring into Spring Creek and that empathy that you’ll have there, that’ll be fantastic.

Tell me what made you want to be a teacher? Like what is your why?

Jay Porter: So my father was in education and I really I consider him my number one mentor, for sure. And he had a job that made him available for us, yeah, where he was in teaching. And, and I was able to see as an administrator, cause he went into administration as well.

And I was able to see the impact that he had on whole communities, which just boggled my mind, right? Where here he is dealing with. 600, 800 kids and having an impact on, on individuals within those 800, as well as the group as a whole. And he would just have all sorts of stories. And it got me excited and I really wanted, the biggest motivation is I want to be a good dad and I wanted a job where I could put in the time to be a good dad as as well.

So my family’s number one for me. And then to have a job that, uh, you can have such an impact with helping kids is just, there’s, there’s no better, better place to be than in education. I say that now, but sometimes it’s really crappy as well, but, uh, for the most part.

Wendy Dau: Sometimes there are low days, that’s for sure.

Jay Porter: Yeah, yeah, you bet, you bet.

Wendy Dau: Where did you grow up, Jay?

Jay Porter: I grew up in Utah County mainly, I was in Orem and Pleasant Grove and did a stint in Morgan, Utah.

Wendy Dau: Oh, there you go.

Jay Porter: Tiny town. Yep. There, so.

Wendy Dau: And where did you go to school?

Jay Porter: I went to UVU and SUU. Okay. Both.

Wendy Dau: Perfect. Awesome.

Jay Porter: Graduated from there.

Wendy Dau: That’s awesome.

So you’re, you’re homegrown Utah County right here.

Jay Porter: You betcha.

Wendy Dau: Yes, I love it. I love it.

I love the impact that your dad had on you and, and your, your ability to see both the impact that he had on the community, but how it also allowed him to be a good dad, I love hearing that. I think our communities need to know that we’re all parents too, many of us, and that we care about all of these kids that we’re interacting with day in and day out.

Uh, what’s exciting you about being the principal at Spring Creek?

Jay Porter: Well, probably the same thing that led me to San Juan, you know, um, as a teacher, I, I loved solving problems and helping, helping kids, I’d get ideas and kind of approach an administrator about things, but they didn’t always come to fruition.

Sometimes they would. And I’m like, man, I, I need to be able to have more of an impact because I see some issues and I, I love solving problems, even though it’s really stressful to do, but once you do that and go through the process, man, what a reward you get from overcoming that obstacle. And so that’s kind of motivated me to be an administrator knowing that, yeah, I have some good ideas.

I love working with people. I love most people.

Wendy Dau: We’re not, we’re not so foolish to say we love all people.

Jay Porter: That’s right. Uh, and, and can work with even those that I don’t love. For sure. Um, and just find it very. Uh, rewarding to see, uh, that impact that you can have on people’s lives and, and knowing that, yeah, that we constantly talk about this efficacy that teachers are supposed to have collectively, but you also have to have it individually before that, knowing that you can have an effect as an individual.

And then as that, as you see that and work within a community or a, a system, you can see how that impact spreads when you work with others and can have that effect size and increase because because you’re working with others.

Wendy Dau: That was very well said. I love the idea that we have to have that as an individual first, and then we start to support one another in that larger community that we can really make a difference.

I know too, you’re excited to actually go back to a Title I school. Talk to us a little bit about your love and desire to help students that sometimes struggle a little bit.

Jay Porter: Yeah, I think my, my mom and my dad have instilled in me, you know, help the underprivileged, right? Try to reach out and help lift those who, because of circumstances, can’t lift themselves.

Um, they instilled that in me to a fault probably, where I just really look at those who have disadvantages and want to help. Overcome those disadvantages and make that school what it’s supposed to be, that equalizer, giving everybody an equal opportunity, uh, and access, uh, to education. So I look at a Title I school where you have a high population of low-income, low socioeconomic-status kids who maybe aren’t having those opportunities and they won’t get them unless, unless we, we give it to them as a school. School is really the number one place where they’re going to get those. And it’s not parent’s fault or anything like that. It’s just a victim of the circumstance, uh, that these kids are, are facing.

And so what we try to do is make that circumstance better with school by giving them access to education and not having the lack of exposure be the reason that they don’t succeed in life. Uh, you know, they can still choose not to succeed in life, but if you give them the access and you do everything you can to guarantee that you’re, you’re going to give them the skills or try to as best you can, then it’s their choice from there.

But if you give them that, uh, equal access to that education, that, that’s what’s going to help them succeed if they if they want to do so.

Wendy Dau: Yeah, absolutely. What are you most nervous about going into Spring Creek?

Jay Porter: At the beginning of today, it was my team leader meeting, um, just kidding team leaders. It was great.

We had a, we had a great meeting today, putting yourself into a community that you haven’t been a part of, right. That has all these social norms and business norms and things that you, you haven’t been a part of and you’re just put in there as the, the big cheese, you know. Uh, Here, this is your community that you’re a head of and that you don’t know anything about yet.

So just getting to know that at the same time, and it’s really the exciting part. Sometimes we get caught up in a, in a mind frame, uh, in the communities when we stay there for a long time, that this is the way it is, but there’s lots of ways to do things. And finding that out today with our team leaders, they were very, very kind.

But they also were willing to tell me what they thought, which was really awesome. And we’ll get to know each other and build that trust. So it’s nerve-wracking, but awesome at the same time, I guess.

Wendy Dau: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think oftentimes the things that make us the most excited are also the things that make us nervous, right?

And I think what you’re also articulating is that there are lots of different ways to do things and you’re just coming together to figure out what that’s going to feel like and how you’re going to work together to create the best outcomes for kids.

Jay Porter: Yeah, absolutely.

Wendy Dau: Bottom line, that’s what we want. If you had, um, an idea of like, you know, what do you want?

Spring Creek to look like in three to five years after you’ve been there. What are you hoping that will be kind of your mark or that people will say about Principal Porter having been at Spring Creek?

Jay Porter: I would like to see a school that has a collaborative culture where people are working together and this includes with the students that they are working together in their classrooms and the teachers are working together as teams to get things done.

I would also like to see an environment where people trust one another and are able to leverage that trust to be honest and get things done. I also would love to see students be more in charge of their learning. Uh, cause I think there’s a big disconnect sometimes where we feel like we as teachers are in charge of kids learning and we say, just here, I’m going to dispense it.

You get it. All right. But I really think kids are the key to opening up that learning where they are getting feedback, where they are self reflecting, where they are doing their own parent teacher conferences. They know the data around their learning, and they know where they have holes, and they know what they need to do to, to get out of those holes.

They know the struggle of learning. They know what a good learner looks like, cause to me, the content that we teach is, it’s great and wonderful, but we’re in the business of teaching kids how to be a learner and how to use those skills to be successful in our society. And it doesn’t matter if they learn about the moon or the soil to do that, uh, those are just vehicles to teach them how to solve problems, how to be a communicator, how to collaborate with others.

I would see them just taking charge of their learning and allowing them to be an integral part with decisions that they make, as well as understanding that metacognition that they need to have of how they’re, how they’re thinking.

Wendy Dau: Yeah. And that they understand how they learn best and why.

Jay Porter: Yeah.

Wendy Dau: I’m going to choose this way to help myself achieve this goal. It’s a very powerful thing when kids can do that. So those are fantastic. I would be thrilled if that would be amazing. And I think every parent listening to this is going to agree.

That’s what I, that’s what I’m going to tell you. I think so. If there was one last thing you wished the community or your students knew about you that maybe they won’t know just by looking at you and what would you say you would hope that is, they would know.

Jay Porter: I’m a lot nicer than I look. No, I’m just kidding.

That I just care about kids and that I’m willing to work with anybody, knowing with the idea that we have their child’s best interest in mind, right? And that if I keep that at the forefront of what I’m doing, then we’ll be able to have disagreements all day long, uh, but still be able to be cordial and work together and come to a consensus on things.

So I just want people to know that I love kids and I want what’s best for your kids, even though I don’t know any of them, uh, right now that I want them to succeed and believe that they can, uh, succeed.

Wendy Dau: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I just, you know, I see that when I see you interact with kids at Wasatch, just you have great relationships with students and have really spent a lot of time getting to know them and they definitely see you as someone they trust, someone that they can count on.

You’re an ally to them and a person that they can go to. So Spring Creek, will discover that very soon as well. I hope so. Yeah. Well, I’m very excited to have you at Spring Creek, Jay. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us, and I know Spring Creek will be thrilled as they get to know you even a little bit better.

Jay Porter: Yeah. I’m excited to be there. Thank you for having me on today. It was fun.

Wendy Dau: Yes. Thank you everyone for joining me for this week’s episode of What’s Up with the Sup’. As always, all episodes will be posted on the district website, YouTube, and anywhere you get your podcasts. If you have any topics or questions you would like us to discuss on the podcast, please email us at podcast@provo.edu. Join me next week for an all-new episode. Have a great week, everyone.

Alexander Glaves
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