‘Disciplinarian’ Honored Post Falls High School’s Carol Carlson Named Idaho Assistant Principal Of The Year

She calls herself the resident bad guy. The enforcer. The one whose office you never wanted to end up in when you were in high school.

But to Post Falls High School’s Carol Carlson, recently named the top assistant principal in the state, it’s all a part of the job.

“I’ve learned not to take things personally,” Carlson said. “Kids don’t hate me. They hate the job I do. I’m the disciplinarian.”

But she’s an innovative one. And last month, the Idaho Association of Secondary School Principals named her Assistant Principal of the Year for her willingness to help students and creatively solve problems.

Since taking over the bad cop job in 1991, Carlson has created a block scheduling program for academically troubled eighth graders entering the high school. She’s started a study hall and in-house suspension program for students with disciplinary problems.

She has also organized a school watch program that allows students to anonymously provide information to administrators about vandalism or theft.

An inventive youth court program begun during her tenure lets students who are first-time offenders be tried and sentenced by a courtroom of their peers.

“My biggest success is not any one thing,” she said. “It’s trying to provide an atmosphere that’s conducive to learning. A place where teachers can teach and students can learn. It’s that simple.”

Post Falls High School Principal John Billetz, who nominated Carlson for the award, said he has been lucky to work with her.

“She’s done a lot of good things for our school and for kids,” Billetz said. “Carol is the consummate professional. She’s hard working. She’s dedicated to the students and the school.”

Carlson was born in Lewiston and moved to Spokane when she was 15. She studied nursing at Eastern Washington University, but soon switched to teaching - a move she always knew she’d make.

“In third grade I told my principal I wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “I liked learning.”

So she spent 13 years teaching biology and chemistry at Post Falls High before making the difficult transition into the front office.

As a teacher, she said, every minute of the day is carefully planned. But as an administrator, you never know what’s going to happen.

A fight could break out in the hallway. A sink might overflow. A mischievous student might decide to pull a fire alarm.

“There’s a lot more variety in administration,” she said.

Carlson said the school is holding its breath, waiting for the bond referendum vote March 24. The controversial $17.97 million bond would go toward a new high school, with the option of tacking on an additional $2.89 million to build an athletic complex and fix the heating system at the existing high school.

“I don’t think we know what we’ll do at this point if it doesn’t pass,” Carlson said. “We really want our bond to pass.”

In the meantime, Carlson will prepare for a trip to the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook in May for a leadership conference for the top assistant principals from each state.

As the bell sounds and students file from one class to the next, some say hello to Carlson. Others meet her eyes with a guilty gaze and quickly look away.

Most say they’re happy she got the award, but they don’t plan on hanging out in her office for fun anytime soon.

“Being the disciplinarian, you can’t like her a whole lot,” 16-year-old sophomore Ty Monette said. “But you can like her because she’s a nice person.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo