Problem-solver clears path to school success.
By: Jeff Milgram
Caroline Mitchell is a people person.
As the Princeton Regional School District’s home and school liaison for more than two years, she serves as an ombudsman for students, a mediator between parents and teachers and a guide to the inner workings of a school system that can be daunting to the uninitiated. So being a people person is definitely a good thing.
"I have to do a lot of listening," said Ms. Mitchell. "I think about what we need to do (to resolve a problem)."
Her job is to help minority students participate fully in school life, to provide parents with the resources they need to get more engaged in their children’s education and to serve as a bridge between parents and the schools.
Often that role means helping solve problems between students and teachers or among parents, teachers and principals.
"If that issue has not been resolved, I would get a call," Ms. Mitchell said.
And because she is so well known in the community, that call can come at nights, on weekends, or when she is out shopping, she said. Not that she is complaining.
And sometimes that help means connecting parents and students to outside community resources.
"I can direct them in the right direction," she said.
She knows that the common denominator of most issues is miscommunication or poor communication and that is what she works on first.
She also knows that issues should be resolved quickly before they become worse and that parental commitment is an important part of the solution.
"Most of the time I’m successful," Ms. Mitchell said.
She credits the support of Superintendent Claire Sheff Kohn and Assistant Superintendent Jeffrey Graber for much of her effectiveness.
Born in Clarksville, Va., Ms. Mitchell moved to Princeton, where her aunts and uncles have lived since the late 19th century. She arrived in time to enter Princeton High School as a freshman in 1968, graduating in 1972.
She went on to Drexel University in Philadelphia, studying business communication. She only attended for two and a half years, but has resumed her studies on Saturdays "so I can finish a degree I started 30 years ago," Ms. Mitchell said.
Ms. Mitchell’s career in the district began in 1993 as an instructional aide at Community Park School. She also worked in the after-school program.
Ms. Mitchell left in 1995, working for a year in the Trenton after-school program. But she returned in 1999 as an aide and substitute teacher. She also became co-president of the Princeton Regional Board of Education’s Minority Education Committee, an ad hoc panel of parents, private citizens, board members and district administrators.
For much of her time on the committee, the panel focused on the issue of minority overrepresentation in special education. The committee’s recommendations for additional guidance counselors and the expansion of the instrumental music program were adopted by the board.
In August 2000, the board created the position of home and school liaison and hired Ms. Mitchell. Her experience in the district worked to her benefit.
"Before I even took the job I had developed a good relationship with all the principals," Ms. Mitchell said.
In addition to resolving issues, Ms. Mitchell runs monthly workshops that help parents help their children succeed academically. She also coordinates the district’s character education program and has prepared a booklet listing community groups and resources, especially for minority families.
There is not much formal training available for this untraditional job. In 1996, she attended a neighborhood program that trains grass-roots community activists. The experience gave her an understanding of population shifts and the importance of volunteer work.
Ms. Mitchell has worked as a volunteer at the Princeton Nursery School and has served on parent-teacher groups since her son, Blake, now 16, started school.
Her work in the community has paid off on the job.
"In order to be effective, people have to trust me to be confidential (with their children’s information)," Ms. Mitchell said. "I wouldn’t be able to do it if people didn’t know me."