New WTHS Principal Jonathan Strout Returns Home to Assume Role as "Servant-Leader"
If anyone subscribes to the theory that getting students to learn should not be like pulling teeth, it’s newly named Washington Township High School principal Jonathan Strout. Most especially since Strout, while a student in the West Deptford Schools, had long dreamed about becoming an orthodontist.
Instead, while an undergraduate at Muhlenberg College, he shifted his focus to psychology, and soon found that teaching was a career he could truly sink his teeth into.
After one year as a seventh-grade language arts teacher at West Deptford Middle School, he spent five years as a fifth-grade teacher at James Johnson Elementary in Cherry Hill. He ventured into school counseling after earning a master’s degree in counseling in educational settings from Rowan University and assumed a counseling position at Cherry Hill East High School from 2006-09. Strout spent 17 months as a supervisor of guidance in the Edison Schools before coming to WTHS in November of 2010 as director of guidance. He was elevated to WTHS executive assistant principal in March 2016. Welcoming the challenge of running his own building as an elementary principal, he relocated to Southern California for the 2017-18 school year.
When the opportunity to lead WTHS surfaced following the retirement of principal Ann Moore, Strout jumped at the chance to return home.
“You don’t regrow roots,” said Strout, who came back with his wife and three children, who will be attending Whitman Elementary School. “There is nothing more important than feeling like you belong. When I was named to the position, I received a lot of text messages, emails and phone calls that meant a lot to me and that I will never forget. These connections, roots and relationships are why I came back. I’m honored and flattered by the welcoming because it could have been easy for people to say, ‘Well, you left, and so we had to go in a different direction.’ I’m humbled that – while I left – there’s recognition that there were factors in my leaving, mainly family dynamics. This community’s loyalty to me will be returned for sure. This is an important job, and I don’t take it lightly.”
Tops on Strout’s list of priorities is to establish himself as a “servant-leader,” as a person who is willing to put in the work to do whatever it takes to get things done. A close second is an emphasis on the culture of the school.
“Everything is about culture,” he said. “An emphasis on social-emotion learning – taking care of kids’ hearts first – is what is going to lead to healthy minds, and minds that grow can be enriched and educated. It all starts with the heart. I want to build culture through relations - staff-to-staff, staff-to-student, student-to-student relations. I want kids to be inspired to come to school and to learn along with their teachers. I want teachers to be inspired to come to school to learn alongside their students. I want our staff meetings and professional development opportunities to be fun. I want our students to be engaged in the classroom and in how they interact with each other outside of the classroom. I want to help teachers feel comfortable and earn their trust to try new things.”
From his stint in Southern California Strout hopes to transmit the concept of shared leadership by creating an administrative structure where teachers’ voices can be heard more easily. He hopes to be accessible to the community through planned times where he will be able to share what is working, field questions and listen to concerns. He expresses a willingness to be transparent, to partner with parents and to have difficult conversations.
Is he feeling nervous, as if he is scheduled to see the orthodontist that he had once thought he’d be? Admittedly, yes. But mostly, as the principal at Washington Township High School, Jonathan Strout is feeling fulfilled and inspired.
“I love kids – whether they are one or 21 – I love kids,” he said, “so I find a way to commit to all kids, to meet kids where they are. I love Washington Township High School. I love the staff here. I love the school spirt. I love everything that Township is about. I am so grateful to be back. I am definitely Township for life.”