Mrs. Keipp: principal extraordinaire, even during COVID
Updated: Oct 29, 2021
One of the best things, in my opinion, about going to ERHS is that we have the wonderful Mylene Keipp as our principal. I’ve never heard a single bad word about Mrs. Keipp in all my years at Eagle Rock, even during the uncertainty of quarantine and the unpleasantness of online school, which is a testament to her amicable nature and the kindness that she shows to every student.
I keep this at the forefront of my mind as the two of us set out on a walk around campus so that I can ask her about how she’s been feeling about being back on campus with students; it makes me less nervous. Knowing that Briana Garcia, one of the Eagle Scream’s lovely photographers, will be shadowing us also helps.
I start by asking Mrs. Keipp about what she enjoys about being back at school fully in person. She takes a moment to think, and then:
“Seeing people past a screen, and knowing that we're all working together. When we were on campus without students, it didn’t feel the same. Y’know, it was just like a place without students, it was weird. How do you have school without students?”
I nod, and ask a follow up question: how has it been seeing how students have changed after not seeing them for a year and a half?
“Hair colors, hair style, height — you don't see that in a camera, and lots of students have their camera off. I historically teach 7th grade and so my 7th graders are all like —” She gestures, and I know that what she means is that they've grown up. “So the students that I taught in 7th grade are now juniors and seniors, y’know, the ones last year, are eighth graders, obviously, two years ago, 9th graders. So it's exciting.”
I tell her a story about not recognizing one of my classmates on the first day of school because of how much they'd changed, and she laughs. I ask about things and people who have made her less anxious about reopening, and Mrs. Keipp immediately brings up the school’s administrators, demonstrating how highly she regards them.
“We have an incredible administrative team. So Ms. Cisneros, Ms. Leonido, Ms. Tsu, Mr. Lord, the four of them are incredible leaders. Ms. Cisneros’ organization for just the whole school, Mr. Lord's history, Ms. Tsu’s ability to categorize things that we need in terms of athletics and textbooks. Ms. Leonido is the head counselor. They do everything to make our eight period schedule run. These four are just an incredible part of our team, and then our teachers wanting to learn and grow, our families wanting to support us.
“Again, we don't have a school without students. And so folks say things like, ‘How do we support students?’ We have to talk to students and ask students what they want. And so we interviewed groups of students about what they're excited about, what they're nervous about, what supports they need. And overall, it was that they just want to know that they have a connection and they feel safe. I feel like that's the Eagle Rock way.”
It definitely is the Eagle Rock way. My next question is more personal: how have you been dealing with the stress of opening back up fully again?
“Again, it's teamwork. Knowing that it's not me doing everything, it's all of us working together and over communicating. One of the things that we've been doing is really saying we need to focus on our mental health and our interdependence. That we all need to talk with each other, especially with weekly COVID testing. We were in the North Gym, we were in the South Gym in one room, we were in two rooms. And I feel like it’s better now.”
I assure her that weekly testing has gotten a lot better.
“Right? What's hard, too, is that it changes. Monday, Tuesday, Monday, Tuesday -- well, next week is Wednesday, Thursday! And some teachers, and some families are saying, ‘Well, why don't we use these classes and not these classes?’ And my thing is at our eight period day school, every class is important. I will never say one period is less important. They're equal. And that's the beauty of an IB school: every subject is important. So we're just learning how to spread the wealth.”
I mention that students I’ve talked to about weekly testing have been appreciative and pleasantly surprised by the consistency of weekly testing, and it’s clear that she appreciates the knowledge. We pass Mr. Biscotto as we loop back around the bungalows by the North Gym, and Mrs. Keipp stops to say high to him before answering my next question about what students could be doing to make things easier for administration.
“One is continuing to check in with each other a