Maine schools are spending too much on administration, Gov. John Baldacci has said. Statistics show the number of Maine students are going down and are projected to continue to decline.

And high schools have fewer students than they used to. So why do we need so many assistant principals?

To get a glimpse of what assistant principals do, we interviewed four, two at Auburn’s Edward Little, two at Lewiston High.

Paul Amnott, Lewiston High School

Between 6:45 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Paul Amnott was at least six different people.

Boss. Confidant. Enforcer. Event planner. Traffic cop. Go-between.

Actual job: assistant principal.

“I knew what I was getting into,” said Amnott, who served as athletic director for over six years before becoming Lewiston High School’s assistant principal three years ago. “But I didn’t realize how hectic and how many different directions you get pulled in.”

The 56-year-old husband and father has an attentive but no-nonsense air about him. When it comes to kids, the attitude garners respect. When it comes to the business end of the job, it helps him get things done.

And he needs to get a lot of things done.

As one of three assistant principals at Lewiston High (the school has a principal as well), Amnott is responsible for about three dozen teachers and 466 students, a large chunk of them seniors. He can have 20 duties scheduled on any given day, from evaluating teachers to planning for graduation. And then there are the unscheduled events, like getting help for runaway teenager.

“I can walk in here with a to-do list and I can guarantee you it goes out the window in five minutes,” he said. “You never know what’s going to happen in the building and you never know what’s happening to kids the night before.”

On Wednesday, Amnott’s nine-hour day included both scheduled and unscheduled events: teacher evaluations, cafeteria duty, teacher observations, student discipline issues, parent e-mails, student attendance issues, special education meetings, meetings with seniors in danger of not graduating, lobby duty, exam schedule finalization and a faculty meeting.

Amnott, who graduated from Lewiston High in 1969 and taught math there for more than 20 years, has seen his school change. Increasing numbers of kids work now, he said. Federal and state mandates require more of students and their school. Peer pressure is greater than it ever was. The high school is more diverse.

Despite those changes, Amnott said, Lewiston’s students are good kids, the kind who excel in athletics, shine academically and care about their community. As assistant principal, he sees it as his job to keep it that way.

Even if that one job, he said, is often more like six.

Rob Bennett, Edward Little High School

Rob Bennett walks into Edward Little High School around 6:30 a.m.

Sometimes he forgets to go home again.

Last week, his wife called him at 6:30 p.m. – 12 hours after he started his day – to see where he was. Bennett had planned to join her for dinner, but then an upset student reported a stolen MP3 player and instead of going home Bennett stayed at school to help.

“If there are kids here it’s hard to get away,” he said. “It’s not an obligation. It’s not a hardship. It’s something I feel I should do.”

The 57-year-old has been an assistant principal at Edward Little High School for six years. As one of four assistant principals (Edward Little has a principal as well), Bennett oversees about 20 teachers and 257 students, all of them seniors. Like assistant principals at other schools, he has dozens of responsibilities, from teacher evaluations to tracking student attendance, but it’s his work as de facto social worker, security officer and mentor that mean the most to him and keep him working long after classes are over.

In Bennett’s windowless, broom-closet-sized office, an old futon has been shoved against one wall to provide a comfortable place for students to talk. The room is filled with family and students snapshots, Labrador retriever puppy pictures and inspirational posters to serve as conversation points. He keeps a stash of food – pretzels, soup and breakfast bars – under his desk for hungry students. (Edward Little does not participate in the federal lunch program and he worries about the teenagers who don’t get enough to eat.)

On one recent day, Bennett’s schedule included a meeting with students, a meeting with other administrators, paperwork, lunch duty, parking lot duty, attendance duty and various correspondence with parents. In between, he sat with any student who wanted to talk.

Some days, students’ needs conflict with his meeting schedules, with paperwork, with dinner. Often, it’s the students who take priority.

“There’s a lot of triage that goes on,” he said.

Leslie Morrill, Edward Little High School

Leslie Morrill is one of four assistant principals at Edward Little High School.

In the fall, she’ll be one of three.

An assistant principal’s position was cut to balance the school budget. Currently, each assistant is assigned to a class. Next year, each will take a whole class and a third of the seniors.

As the assistant principal for this year’s freshmen class, Morrill meets with students and parents and helps them choose programs. She helps them understand credits and standards, and explains why they need to be in school.

“That’s a huge issue,” Morrill said. “We spend an awful lot of time keeping kids in school.”

Assistant principals spend the bulk of their days dealing with disciplinary issues and crowd control, monitoring behavior in the cafeteria, the halls, at events and games.

“It’s all about climate and making sure kids feel safe,” Morrill said. “If they don’t feel safe they can’t learn. If they don’t feel safe they won’t come to school.”

Last Thursday, she and other administrators dealt with eight major discipline issues, including theft and vandalism. Police were called and parents were notified. “It just eats up the day,” Morrill said.

She administers programs designed to help kids be successful and stay in school, to help them feel connected: the Unity Project, designed to address biases that lead to violence; a mentoring program that matches upperclassmen with freshmen; and a program that encourages community service and giving to others.

Without assistant principals and the programs they oversee, dropout rates would be higher and the schools would be less safe, Morrill said. “Ten years ago we didn’t have kids carrying knives. That’s not uncommon today.”

When asked if Auburn is different from other Maine towns and cities, Morrill said some students don’t feel safe in the community.

“The drug scene is significant here. We’d have a lot more kids coming impaired (on drugs and alcohol)” without programs and caring staff. “The vast majority of parents want their kids in school, but there are some who are so involved in their own lives they don’t notice,” Morrill said. “Someone’s got to notice. That’s my job. I notice.”

Beth Bradley, Lewiston High School

Beth Bradley has been referred to as a den mother and a mother hen.

One of three assistant principals at Lewiston High School, she is in charge of each incoming freshmen class.

The other two assistants share the remaining three grades. More time is devoted to freshmen because it’s a big transition year. If students are successful the first year, success is more likely to follow, Bradley said.

She arrives at school at 7:10 a.m. and leaves between 4:30 and 5:30. “The day goes by like that,” she said, snapping her fingers. Her nights are often filled with sports games, school events or meetings. It’s all part of fostering the Blue Devils community, she said.

She starts her day checking on students who were absent or tardy. Students are allowed to be late twice; after that, they face detention.

“I tell them, ‘We want you here every day, on task, doing your work, getting your credits,'” she said. “Even if I have to suspend a kid, I let them know it’s the least favorite part of my job.”

Each day she greets students as they arrive to ensure that everything’s OK. She supervises lunch for 25 minutes.

A big part of her job is discipline and helping kids through problems. She keeps a box of tissues and chocolates nearby for when students get upset.

Fights over the weekend and other issues spill into the school.

“If they’re dealing with heavy personal stuff, they’ll have a hard time focusing on algebra,” Bradley said. “Who cares what ‘x’ is if mom and dad are getting a divorce, or I just lost my dog, or my boyfriend broke up with me.”

When Bradley senses more help is needed, she contacts counselors. Her office may be a first stop for a kid. “We hope we can help them get through it so they can focus on what they’re here for: education, building a future.”

If the high school had no assistant principal, some students would make it; some would not, she said.

“Major concerns of teachers 50 years ago were talking in class and chewing gum,” Bradley said. “Major concerns of teachers now are kids on drugs, violence, premarital sex. Society is a different place.”

A day in the life

6:45 a.m. Assistant Principal Leslie Morrill arrives at Edward Little High School and does absentee checks

7:15 a.m. Greets students in the hall and keeps an eye out for problems

7:45 a.m. Finds out which freshmen are not in first-period classes and tries to track them down with phone calls or trips to their homes

10:40 a.m. Lunch duty; one of two assistant principals supervising 300 students

11:40 a.m. Hall-monitor duty as another lunch period begins

12:40 p.m. Back in her office: She may visit classrooms to check on kids who have changed programs, coach some of the 18 teachers she oversees or schedule bus trips

2:10 p.m. Hall-monitor duty, then meets with students, parents or staff; goes to IEP (individualized education plan) meetings or works on programs she oversees

5 p.m. Goes home to eat and retrieve her dog, then often goes to an athletic game or other event

7 p.m. Home