The students and staff at Duncombe Elementary School have embraced that concept.

Last year Principal Ryan Flaherty and his staff began a leadership program with a part of the student body and staff. This year the entire building has engaged the leadership program.

Each quarter, students apply for leadership positions and staff picks who gets each position. It’s become quite the event, with both students and staff excited to see which positions students are given.

“The kids are just so excited to take on their new roles each quarter,” said Flaherty. “It’s controlled chaos the day we announce their new positions. I am very proud of many things at Duncombe Elementary. Leadership Roles is definitely at the top of that list.”

-Submitted photo
Members of the Duncombe School School Decorators team create a banner that says “Love, Serve, Care.” The School Decorators team is one of many leadership teams at Duncombe School this year.

According to Kelly Moline, the Leadership Action Team facilitator at Duncombe, there are a plethora of roles students can take. Most jobs are open to any grade level, though first-grade students are sometimes limited in what positions they are given.

Jobs range from birthday club leaders, to event greeters and even a nurse’s aide. There are more than 25 different positions available. Moline said all students other than first-graders use a Google form to apply for their top three choices then the staff picks which roles students will hold for the quarter.

Teachers and staff are then in charge of each of the different leadership groups.

Moline said nearly all the students switch jobs each quarter, but if staff feels a particular position is beneficial for a student, that student can continue in a role for another quarter.

“Sometimes they are put in roles that are really good for them and they are really benefiting from that position. If that’s the case, we will leave them in the same position,” she said.

-Submitted photo
Members of the Duncombe School Lighthouse team sell Valentine’s Candy Grams before school this week. Funds raised will purchase a washer and dryer for the building.

Most of the positions are out of the public eye, like library assistant or new student buddy. But some are very visible to the public, such as school decorator, event greeter or special events planner.

Flaherty leads the events set-up squad and boasted, “we can set up 200 chairs in no time.”

Moline said another benefit is students in different grades working with each other.

“The older kids really mentor the younger ones,” she said. “The older kids really embrace that responsibility to help the younger ones.”

Third-grade paraeducator Teresa Brown is in charge of the Building and Grounds Keepers. She said students help with cleaning and sanitizing the school and embrace that role.

“They recognize the importance of our janitorial staff who make sure Duncombe Elementary is kept clean and whose mission is to greet germs at the front door,” she said. “These students meet to get their sanitary wipes and head out, often skipping, eager to find the areas where they are assigned to wipe things down. We hear giggles on Tuesday afternoons when the weather is good and we get to walk around the school and playground to make sure every bit of litter is picked up.”

Flaherty said last year there really wasn’t a blueprint for the program and there were some bumps along the way. This year, he said all staff and students are on board and are embracing it.

“It was a difficult adjustment for some staff,” he said. “A lot of us just didn’t know what to do. Now, we have teachers that don’t want to give it up.”

Moline also said another positive to come out of the program is a decline in discipline issues at the school.

“We were looking at the data, and we’ve seen a significant drop from last year,” she said. “Students can also lose positions for disciplinary reasons. It’s heartbreaking for most of them to lose their job. But they all work to get them back if that happens.”

Moline is also in charge of the Lighthouse Team, which serves as a kind of student government for Duncombe. Students selected for the Lighthouse Team must have all homework assignments complete and possess a strong work ethic, she said. They must also model the 7 Habits of Leader in Me, she said.

Lighthouse Team members have shared their opinions and presented at staff meetings, among other duties.

“In their leadership roles, students learn that they have a voice and a purpose,” said Moline. “Leadership roles develop students’ skills by getting them out of their comfort zone.”

Students were assigned their new positions at the start of the third quarter in January. They’ll hold those positions until the quarter ends in late March. Then new positions will be assigned for the remainder of the year.