Sandy Garman has heard the promising rhetoric many times before.

A reading teacher at Hand Middle School, Garman has worked under 14 principals in her long teaching career.

Whenever a new leader takes over, she said, there's usually talk of boosting academic achievement, providing additional supports for teachers and improving community outreach.

But as the school years roll along, the reality often falls short of the promises.

This year, though, Garman is excited about the new principal — the fourth in 11 years — at her school, Scott Richardson.

"He is creative, thinks outside the box and has a vision of what the children can become, what the teachers can become and what the community can become, and that's exciting," she said.

"I sense that Dr. Richardson is going to walk the walk with us. He's already talking the talk."

School District of Lancaster officials are hoping Garman is right.

Richardson, 42, is a key element of a radical overhaul at Hand, which this summer replaced half its core subject teachers and administrative staff.

Hand, 431 S. Ann St., has been designated a "turnaround" school under a new state program designed to boost student achievement at Pennsylvania's weakest schools.

In 2009, about 30 percent of Hand students scored "below basic" in math and 41.5 percent were "below basic" in reading — the worst performance of SDL's four middle schools.

And Hand has never made "adequate yearly progress," the state measure of whether a school complies with No Child Left Behind.

To turn around that record, SDL has landed a $1.7 million school improvement grant — and placed Richardson in the driver's seat.

You might call it the hot seat.

As "focus principal," Richardson will function like a CEO and report directly to superintendent Pedro Rivera, who's made Hand's turnaround one of his top priorities.

Richardson said he welcomes the challenge.

Prior to taking the reins at Hand on July 16, he worked 10 years in administrative positions at Milton Hershey School.

Most recently, he established and ran Springboard Academy, a program that helped Hershey middle school students become acclimated to school life.

He also taught social studies at the private residential school, which enrolls students from low-income families.

A native of Williamsport, Richardson earned a bachelor's degree in history and sociology from Lebanon Valley College in 1990.

He received his principal certification and a master's degree in educational administration in 1996 and a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy in 2006.

Richardson and his wife, Heather, a Manheim Township High School graduate, have two daughters, ages 14 and 9.

In the six weeks he's been at Hand, Richardson has met three times with staff members and once with parents to discuss ways to better the school.

Within the first two weeks of school, he plans to poll students and parents about what type of after-school programs Hand should offer.

Getting everyone to weigh in on changes is key, he said.

One of Richardson's primary goals is "to create a culture of high expectations, one where we can create supportive relationships for our teachers and, most importantly, for our students."

He and his new assistant principal for instruction, Diane Patton, will spend much of their days out of the office, Richardson said.

"They're going to see a lot of visibility from myself and my administrative team, whether it's stepping in and modeling a lesson, whether it's serving a need outside, or in a gym class or in the cafe or in the restrooms."

Richardson said Hand administrators plan to follow a "servant leader" model that will keep them "in the trenches" as often as possible.

"We expect our teachers to model certain behaviors for our students, and I believe as a leadership team we need to model those same behaviors for our teachers," he said.

Richardson wants to improve student achievement by increasing the rigor of instruction and applying rules more consistently across all grades and throughout the entire year.

Hand has adopted a nine-period schedule of 50-minute classes that includes one daily period of intervention or enrichment.

Students also will have a 20-minute advisory period before lunch each day for an anti-bullying program, academic support, reteaching opportunities and time to get their notebooks, homework and other assignments organized.

To reduce the transition time between classes, sixth-graders will be taught in "diads" of two teachers for core subjects, with one teaching math and science and the other social studies and communication arts.

They'll also get color-coded folders for every subject and a separate folder for communications for parents.

In the carefully managed school environment, students will make better choices, and most behavioral problems should take care of themselves, Richardson said.

"If we try to manage middle school students, we're going to lose them. They've eaten up a lot of adults in their lives," he said.

"I think we just need to manage the environment and undergird that with strong relationships and high expectations."

His goal, Richardson said, is to make Hand students "feel like they're part of school as opposed to feeling like school is something that's done to them."

He is under the gun to produce results.

Rivera wants to see at least a 10 percent improvement in PSSA scores for all students in every "subgroup" at Hand, including English language learners and students with disabilities.

Richardson also must come up with a plan to increase parental involvement at the school.

Success will happen only with "a full engagement, a seamless engagement, between our school, our students and the community," he said.

How will he know whether Hand has succeeded?

Better test scores are one measure, but Richardson said he'll know the school is succeeding when he sees "confident students waiting at the door, who are anxious to be here and be engaged."

"We're going to get there," he said. "It's just a matter of when we get there."

bwallace@lnpnews.com