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Dr. Charles McLean, the principal at Shawnee Mission West High School, has been named KSPA’s Administrator of the Year for 2013.

McLean is in the final year of a 44-year career in education, the last eight of which have been spent at West. Prior to his time at West, McLean served as principal at Shawnee Mission North High School for four years. He came to Johnson County from Wichita, where he worked as a teacher and administrator, most notably as principal at Wichita Northwest from 1989 to 2001.

During those 24 years as a principal, McLean built a reputation as a supporter of students’ First Amendment rights, specifically under the Kansas Student Publications Act, which became law in 1992.

SM North adviser Becky Tate remembers the trepidation she felt when McLean took over at North in 2001. So Tate called her colleague at Wichita Northwest.

“When I told her he was coming to North,” Tate wrote in her nomination letter of McLean, “she immediately lamented the loss of an administrator who supported scholastic journalism. I took this as a good sign, and turns out, it was.”

SM West adviser Amy Morgan wrote that McLean’s personal and emotional investment in “his kids” creates a positive learning environment even in trying times.

“He understands that they are the students’ publications, and allows them to learn from their experiences,” Morgan wrote. “I know he doesn’t always agree with everything they do, but he is always supportive of them, and does not hesitate to share his perspective. They feel comfortable talking to him. He encourages them to try new things and to work hard to get the story right.”

Morgan also noted McLean’s support in building a converged media experience at West, where Morgan team teaches with the building’s broadcast teacher.

“In this day and age of budget cuts and tightened schedules, team teaching is a luxury not afforded to many, but he sees the value in our class and has made it possible,” Morgan wrote.

McLean will be honored at the KSPA Annual Meeting during the State Journalism Contest, scheduled for Saturday, May 4, at the Kansas Union on the campus of the University of Kansas. McLean will receive a plaque and deliver a short address.

The KSPA Administrator of the Year Award annually honors a school principal or assistant principal, a department chair, a superintendent or a school board member who has shown her/his support for scholastic journalism and student journalists at his/her school.

The five criteria for the award:

• Supports the Kansas Student Publications Act and the First Amendment
• Provides adequate and appropriate financial support for student media
• Understands the importance of journalism’s place in a complete secondary school curriculum
• Encourages academic and professional growth, both for students and journalism advisers
• Provides personal support and encouragement for students and journalism advisers