Monday, June 23, 2008

See You In September

The singer Brian Hyland popularized the song "See You In September" back in the 60's and the first 2 lines of the song summarize my sentiments exactly... "See you in September. See you, when the summer's through." I enjoyed writing this blog and look forward to continuing my posts after what I'm certain will be a very restful and rewarding vacation.

Best of luck to all my colleagues who are retiring. On behalf of children everywhere, thank you for your support throughout your career. Your contributions cannot be measured but their effects are profound and will impact our society forever. I wish you a very fulfilling retirement. For those of us who are continuing their administrative career, make sure you take a break this summer and recharge your batteries.

Lastly, best of luck to all the new graduates. May your life be full of happiness and success.

Sincerely,

The Principal-guy

Thursday, June 5, 2008

A Few Words About Micro Managing Your Staff

Let me begin by saying that some of my best friends are Micro Managers. Having said that, I don't understand! I get the part about wanting to ensure that every task that your staff members undertake is done correctly. I also get the part about being in control. But how are your department supervisors and teachers supposed to take ownership of their little kingdoms when they think that you have them under a microscope and are second guessing them at every turn.

Contrary to popular belief, the opposite of micro managing is not anarchy! A senior administrator once told me "Never give any responsibility away that you don't already know inside and out." If you want your staff to buy into your goals for your school then you have to give them the opportunity to take ownership of their work. Being active participants in the decision making process is critical in turning observers into stakeholders. This will only happen when your staff members are given the chance to try out new techniques and learn from their successes and failures. By your remote monitoring of their activity you can hopefully keep the failures to a minimum.

Another point to consider is that we are supposed to be identifying and training future administrators. I don't see how you can do that if you don't give your staff the opportunity to take a leadership role and make some decisions on their own. Just remember that the title Principal is an abbreviation for Principal Teacher. How successful would a teacher be if they did everything for their students and didn't give them a chance to work on their own?

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Reflective Practices and the End of Another School Year

As another school year stampedes to a close it would be easy to focus all of our energies on final exams and graduation rates. In many school districts this is the measure by which a school year is deemed to be successful or not. Many of our colleagues gauge their own professional self worth by these various exit measures and to do so would greatly diminish all that had been accomplished during the preceding 9 months.

There's no score that measures all the daily triumphs and personal growth that takes place for our students and staff. There is no percentile rank for the teacher who has gained his / her confidence after successfully teaching a new and challenging course. All the small victories on and off the athletic field doesn't always make it into the record book. The student who volunteered to work on the stage crew and discovered the world of acting may have gained more from that experience than from all the classes in the world. If you've spent even one year working with young people in a school then you know what I mean.

Sure its important that your students pass their exit exams and graduate from your school but there is so much more that goes into determining whether or not your school had a successful year. As we enter the final month of school and you gear up for that last great push, don't loose sight of all that you and your staff have accomplished during the other 9 months.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

School District Politics Is a No Win Situation

In New York State this past week every school district voted on their respective budgets and the selection of new Board of Education members. A very stressful process in these difficult economic times. What is less stressful, but equally important to a school administrator is the selection of Board of Education members. In a well organized district, the role of the Board of Education is to set policy. Unfortunately, in even the best organized district with the strongest Superintendent, Board Trustees usually want to get involved in the management of the schools in their district. Whatever you do, don't participate in this process.

Although you might view a Board Trustee as a potential benefactor for your school or as a confidential assist in your move up the professional latter, don't get involved. Many school districts have written policies regarding the interaction of Board of Education members and school administration. In some districts this type of communication it is strictly forbidden. In other districts, informational requests made by Board Trustees must be forwarded to the Superintendent's office. Just be careful. Often times, conversations which appear to be innocent between school administrators and Board members are really fact finding missions for the purpose of embarrassing your Superintendent.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that every time a Board Trustee speaks to you that they are up to no good. But unfortunately it only takes one inadvertent slip of your tongue, or one of your subordinates to make your life miserable. The last thing that you want to be is the ping pong ball between your angry Superintendent and a contentious Board member.

So my advice to you is simple. When you are approached by a Board of Education member, be courteous and respectful and always direct their questions to your Superintendent for a response. This policy may annoy your Board Trustee in the short run and save your professional ass in the long run.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Mind Numbing Meetings Must End

I just finished attending another mind numbing 2 hour administrative meeting. The purpose of this meeting was to summarize a series of other mind numbing meetings that were held during the course of this school year. This meeting was a huge success and also a colossal waste of time. We reviewed the decisions made at previous meetings and everyone congratulated everyone else for a wonderful collegial job. Before I knew it 2 hours had past and exactly what had I accomplished?

Everything that was discussed in this meeting could have been conveyed via e-mail or a written memo. How many times have you had to attend one of these administrative wastes of time when you could have been in your school working on the instructional program or dare I say it, interacting with students and staff!

I firmly believe that the only way that Central Office types can justify their existence is through these never-ending meetings. I don't know if they don't realize how much time we have to spend out of our school by virtue of these meetings or they just don't care. In my own case I have taken my objection to these meetings one step further. I have never subjected my teachers to unnecessary faculty meetings when I could accomplish the same task through memos. I realize that it is my right to hold these meetings and sometimes they are warranted but most of the time they aren't.

So if any of you Central Office types are listening, minimize the number of administrative meetings we have to attend and let us remain in our schools where we belong.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

End of Year Staff Evaluations

Well, it's getting to that time of the year when staff evaluations are due. Have you completed all of your classroom observations yet? Probably not which means that during the next few weeks you will be running around observing your senior, tenured teachers as these are the observations that are usually left for last. I'm certain that many of you are wondering about the value of this annual ritual.

For new teachers it is a time for you to evaluate their performance and make note of any corrective measures which needs to be instituted. In cases where you will be asking for a new teacher's resignation, the observation provides the rationale for your decision not to invite the individual back. It also provides a framework for improvement should the new teacher wish to continue his / her career in another district. It is important to remember that often times it's not that the person is a poor teacher, but instead it's just a bad fit.

While I don't believe that class room observations are the only criteria for evaluating your teaching staff, I do believe that it is one of many measures that should be considered. I'm of the opinion that as Principals, one of our primary responsibilities is to create the best instructional staff possible. Therefore, the decision as to which teachers we retain falls squarely on our shoulders. Whether it means asking an nontenured teacher to resign or beginning the paper trail to remove a tenured teacher, these responsibilities cannot be minimized.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Reducing Teacher Absences

I just read with great interest an article in this week's "Education Week" (April 30, 2008) entitled "District Experiment With Cutting Down On Teacher Absence" in which several strategies to reduce teacher absence were discussed. An overall strategy mentioned in this article, and one that I have had a great deal of success with deals with the effect of school climate on teacher attendance.


Lets face it, teachers are people too and they have lives outside of their teaching responsibilities. I mention the obvious because some people often forget this fact. It is a given that young teachers with young children will be absent from time to time to care for a sick child. It is equally expected that teachers will get sick or have to deal with personal tragedies during the course of their adult lives. These are not the types of absences that I'm referring to. The discretionary absences of teachers that I feel can be minimized are generally due to mental & physical fatigue and a feeling of not being appreciated by school administration.


The first step is to make certain that both students and staff feel safe in your school. Even if its only a perception, being concerned about your personal safety is draining and redirects energies away from the classroom. You don't want your teachers dragging themselves out at the end of the school day looking like they've just been through a war. You also want to empower your teachers so that they become stake holders in the future of your school. This way when situations arise, it's not the administration's problem, it's everyone's problem.


Inclement weather is a perfect opportunity for you to improve your relationship with your staff and therefore improve teacher attendance in the future. During inclement weather many teachers travel long hours to get to work. In order to limit the stress that this causes make certain that if you provide parking for your staff that the parking lot is clear. Don't reprimand teachers who arrive late. In fact you should greet them when they arrive. Provide a free, beverage i.e. tea, coffee, juice for them in the teachers lounge with your complements. Don't punish the teachers who came to work by piling on extra coverages or cafeteria duty. As Principal it might not be a bad idea for you to cover a few classes yourself. This helps to reinforce the "we" mentality that you are trying to foster. On snowy days I would always issue xeroxed "Snowbird Awards" as my way of thanking my staff for braving the elements to come to work. While they viewed there award as cute, many teachers told me that they appreciated the recognition.


Sometimes, a teacher will ask you if it's o.k. to bring their child to school. While often the answer to this question is dictated by district policy, you as Principal may have some descretion in this area. Your answer may mean the difference between a teachers program being covered by a substitute or the regular class room teacher.


These are just a few suggestion for building staff morale and as a result reducing decretionary absences. Providing a safe environment where teachers feel that they are a valued member of your team will go a long way to improve staff attendance.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Vacations Are Good

We all entered the field of education for various reasons. For some it was the desire to mold and nurture children. For others it was the opportunity to share our love for a particular subject area. However, I must admit that one of the reasons I became an educator was the vacation time There, I said it and I'm glad.

I just returned from an 8 day cruise in the Southern Carribean and I loved every minute of it. Warm sunny days, visits to very colorful friendly islands and a never ending supply of food. Whats not to love? More importantly this trip gave me an opportunity to recharge my educational batteries for the final Spring push - exams, graduation, prom, awards assembly, staff hiring, Spring concert and student schedules. This will translate into numerous 16 hour days and 6 day work weeks.

When I decided to enter the field of education I knew that I wasn't going to be rich although I can finally say that after 30 years I do earn a nice salary and benefits package. The trade-off for me was the extensive vacation time. At the beginning of my career, I like many other educators held several part-time jobs in order to pay the bills so vacations were few and far between. I was also taking Graduate level college courses at nights and during the Summer to advance my career. Now that I'm in a better place financially, I look forward to being able to travel and relax whenever possible.

To our detractors who think Principal and other educators should work longer days with less vacation time I say "try walking a week in our shoes!" See what its like to be responsible for 1000+ students and the supervision of several hundred adults. Not to mention that at any moment 25 parents can be on the telephone requesting your undivided attention. In the corporate world, anyone with this level of responsibility would be making a salary that is twice what we make. So since you don't want to pay us more, then don't complain about our vacation time. In the meantime I will be planning for my next trip which will be to Alaska this summer!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

It's Not Worth Dying Over

I recently read in my local newspaper that 2 prominent bloggers had died of heart attacks. These fatalities were attributed to their nonstop blogging activity. This brings to mind a medical event that happened to me when I first became a Principal.


I was the newly anointed Principal of a very large, failing inner city high school. The school was violent, in a poor state of repair, with high absence rates for both students and staff, and a very low graduation rate. The Superintendent expected me to turn the place around and I was determined to be successful. For months I put in 12 - 15 hour days and even when I was at home I was thinking about the school. Not uncommon for a type - A personality who couldn't get things done fast enough.


After 5 months of this self imposed pressure I ended up in the hospital with a bleeding ulcer. I was 44 years old at the time and thought I was invincible. I had exercised 4 - 5 times each week, never smoked, drank in moderation and was at an ideal weight. In fact, I had never been a patient in a hospital before! During the 3 days that I lay in that hospital bed I tried to put my professional life in perspective. I wasn't going to change things at my school overnight. It had taken years for the school to get into its current condition and it would probably take years for my new initiatives and programs to make a difference. During an unexpected visit by my superintendent, she reminded me of all the progress I had already made in a relatively short period of time.


After one week I was allowed to return to work, but I did so with a slightly different outlook. I was still going to turn my school around. More students were going to graduate and go on to college. The broken plumbing and leaking windows would still be replaced. What changed for me was the way I was going to approach my job. I tried to limit the number of extended work days. I left the building for lunch everyday even if it was only to walk around the school track once. When I was home I tried to leave my job responsibilities behind and enjoy the company of my family. I also accepted the fact that things were not going to improve at my school overnight.


I've been able to maintain this philosophy for 13 years now. By all accounts I've been a very successful Principal who has supervised very successful schools. I've never experienced another job related medical situation and I remain in excellent health. We all want to excel in our profession whatever that might be. But however you choose to measure your professional success, it's not worth dying over.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

It's Okay Not to Know Everything

Very few people know everything and fortunately even fewer know nothing. The rest of us lie somewhere in between. It would be great if we came to every job with a complete knowledge base but that's not likely. Unfortunately, a great many novice school administrators are under the impression that whenever they are asked a question, no matter what the topic, they are expected to come up with the correct answer immediately. Part of this reaction is ego and part is the misconception that administrators are supposed to know everything.

The late great Country Western singer Johnny Cash once said "know your limitations". This idea is as important in life as it is on the job. School administrators are not born knowing the correct answer to every question they encounter during the course of their work day. It is also important to remember that very few decisions that an administrator makes are a matter of life & death and must be acted upon immediately. So I suggest that you take the time to find out the correct answer.

That's why its very important for novice administrators to develop a support network of senior administrators and other like minded neophytes whom you can seek out to answer your questions. Scheduling regular meetings to discuss ongoing concerns not only helps to build your knowledge base but also helped to reaffirm that prior decisions that you made were correct under the circumstances you were given.

Most importantly, and probably the most difficult aspect of this process is admitting when you made a mistake. Hopefully it won't happen too often, but when it does, act quickly to correct your error. The worst thing that you can do is to stonewall the situation and continue down the wrong path just because you are too proud to admit you were wrong. Contrary to what our current President thinks, you don't get extra credit for being stubborn.

Remember, learning to be a school administrator is as much about growing as a person as it is about learning your craft.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Home Grown School Leaders

The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics recently indicated that in the next 10 years a large percentage of current school administrators will retire. With this fact looming on the horizon, school districts are beginning to look for future administrators from within their own schools instead of looking outside the district. This brings to mind the conundrum, are leaders born or trained?

In my experience, I would say that its a combination of both. Intelligence, self confidence, an ability to listen to others, good written & oral skills and self direction are some of the basic ingredients of a good leader. There are some leadership skills that can be taught, but the basic instincts have to be present. While not every teacher is interested in school administration, leadership abilities are also an important component of good teaching. It's not difficult to identify teachers who could be future administrators, it just takes a little effort.

Clearly a love for the profession is a must. I have never hired an administrator who was fleeing the classroom. A good relationship with colleagues and a willingness to go the extra mile for the students are important. Once I've observed these traits I usually schedule an informal meeting with the teacher and ask if they have any interest in the area of school administration. If they show an interest I usually look for opportunities in the school organization to place them on a committee or give them some responsibility in planning an event. These trial runs give me the opportunity to see the potential school leader in action.

It's important to note that this process takes place over several years including the additional schooling required for certification as a school administrator. This process also requires the Principal to play a very active role in the training of the neophyte. Regular meetings with the budding administrator and a mentoring arrangement are a requirement for success. Not every teacher who starts the process will be recommended for an administrative post and this point is made clear from the beginning. There are no guarantees.

In my opinion the administrator who is selected in this manner has the greatest chance for success. To begin with they already know the culture and customs of your school. They are aware of who the informal and formal leaders are in your community. They are familiar with your style of leadership and have already decided that they can work well with you. They are knowledgeable of both the long and short range goals for your school and have already been involved in the process by virtue of your mentoring program.

Selecting a new administrator is increasingly becoming a more difficult process. The pool of potential applicants is shrinking. Taking a chance on someone who you may have only met in a series of interviews is difficult at best. Your chances of selecting a successful candidate for your administrative vacancies increase markedly when you have the benefit of selecting, training, and observing the individual over time.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Dealing With A Reduction In Force

Every year at this time Principals begin the process of planning for the next school term. A major part of this process is determining your staffing needs. When times are good, minor fluctuations in enrollment data will not adversely affect your staffing needs . However, during times of fiscal constraint, which many communities are now facing, the result could be major staffing reductions and thus place the financial and professional lives of many young educators in jeopardy. So the question arises "How do you go about reducing the size of your work force and at the same time maintain a positive school climate?"

To begin with, schools are giant rumor factories where the least little bit of information can be turned into a 3 day melodrama. Therefore, you must try to keep a lid on any incorrect information from getting out to the public. Failure to do so will just heighten the anxiety level of your young teachers and redirect your student bodies attention away from their studies.

While you are waiting for your Superintendent to give you your budget there are several things that you can do. First, make certain that your staffing seniority lists are accurate and up to date. Review with your guidance department the course offering for the next school year to determine the number of classes that you will need to schedule. Keep in mind current staffing ratios and contractual limitations.

At a faculty conference make your staff aware of the general economic climate that you are facing . Try not to be an alarmist and provide realistic information in your discussion. The earlier you are able to share this information with your staff the better prepared they will be for any future news.

If you anticipate budget cuts than be pro-active. Review your operating budget and determine if you have any options to cut supplies or equipment. Look at your extra curricular program and review your offerings. Remember minor adjustments in these areas may allow you to keep a valuable new teacher on your payroll.

When the time comes to notify your teachers of any staff cuts make certain that you carry this out as quickly as possible. There' s nothing worse than being on the bottom of the seniority list and not knowing your future. Bring each teacher who will be terminated into your office and give him/her the bad news in person. Be prepared for an emotional reaction from your teacher. Be as supportive as possible at the time of your meeting and in the future. Make every effort to help your teacher find another job. Contacts with neighboring districts and letters of recommendation are a good start.

Being considerate and humane during this difficult process will go a long way to help these teachers and in the process you will gain support from the rest of your staff during this very difficult time.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Community Members As School District Employees

In many suburban and rural communities, the school district is one of the largest employers in the area. As a result, local parents are often employed in your school district as educators, aides, secretaries, food service workers, bus drivers and custodians. This arrangement has several pluses and minuses which are important to note.



When community residents work in your school they have an immediate connection and vested interest in your school's performance. They are able to observe first hand your successful programs and innovations and as a result become goodwill ambassadors to the community. This can be very beneficial around budget time when you are asking for additional funds for new programs. Community based employees are generally reliable and have good attendance records. As I have mentioned in other posts, parents in the school tend to have a calming affect on the students.



On the other hand, having community members employed in your school can also be problematic. If the employee has access to confidential information by virtue of working in the guidance or attendance offices this may present a problem. Confidential information about a student or their family would be available. By working in the Main Office they may become aware of a personal situation regarding a staff member which otherwise would also be confidential. The community based employee may be tempted to give special privileges to their own children or their friends children. Difficulties with the Instruction program or student discipline could quickly become common knowledge.



In my personal experience some of best employees and some of my worst have been members of my school's community. If you are going to employ community members in your school then I suggest that you and your Superintendent formulate a Letter of Professional Standards which would be given to all of your employees each year. This letter would help to delineate how matters of confidentiality and professional decorum should be handled by your staff. This approach might help to cut down on the amount of confidential information that leaks out of your school.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Transgender Teachers and Other Monday Morning Suprises

Monday mornings in the Principal's office can either be a warm cozy way of easing into the work week or a bucket of cold water in the face. The meeting I'm about to describe took place several years ago and could easily be the basis for the underlying theme of this blog "Things They Never Taught Us in Principal's School".

I remember sitting at my desk, on a crisp November morning, going through some of the accumulated paperwork that was sitting in my signature folder when my intercom buzzed. My secretary Paula was calling to inform me that Fred, one of my senior teachers was waiting to speak to me. Fred was a 30+ year veteran teacher and rumor had it that he was going to retire at the end of the school year. Fred had lost his wife several years earlier and it appeared to all that he was having a difficult time moving forward with his life. I really thought that Fred wanted to tell me that he was retiring and that this would be his final year. I was only partially correct!

Fred entered my office carrying a large pile of papers and pamphlets which he was barely able to manage. I invited him to take a seat and I began our conversation with the usual pleasantries. Fred was an unassuming man who had a small group of friends at school. He pretty much kept to himself and spent most of his free time at his desk in his classroom. I really didn't know much about him outside of school but that was about to change.

Fred began by telling me that he had decided that he was going to retire at the end of the present school year. He said that 34 years was enough and it was time to start his "new life". I had no idea what the term new life meant. Fred let me know that for several years, possibly decades, he was aware that he was at heart, a women trapped in a man's body. With the passing of his wife several years earlier he had begun explore these feelings and finally last year decided that he was going to go ahead with gender reassignment surgery.

All I could think about while Fred was confiding in me was "Wait until the Superintendent hears this!" Fred continued to explain that he had already gone through the psychological counseling that was required and had also begun to take female hormone injections to begin the process of change. His plan was to schedule the surgery following the end of the school year and begin his new life as a women. Fred also shared with me that over the last few months he had started to wear only women's clothing when he was not at work. Fortunately, he lived in another county, several miles from our very conservative and insulated school district.

After several seconds of waiting for the blood to return to my brain a stream of questions began jumping up and down in my head. Doing my best to maintain my composure, I asked Fred if he planned on wearing women's clothing to work? Waiting for Fed's reply the legal phrase disruptive to the educational process kept passing through my conscience along with several possible headlines for our small town newspaper. Fred acknowledged that he would maintain his "male"outward appearance for the remainder of the school year however it was his intention to attend the faculty end term party dressed as a women! If that wasn't enough, the next item was the icing on the cake.

Fred had decided to go ahead and legally change his first name in anticipation of his new life and his retirement. His new name was Sandy and he was going to have to inform our district payroll department of the change. Fred / Sandy quickly removed his / her new drivers license from his wallet to show me the name change, He had also gone ahead and ordered a personalized license plate for his car imprinted with the name Sandy to commemorate the event.

As it turned out, the pile of handouts and pamphlets that Fred brought to my office were articles discussing transgender issues and the surgical process of change. Fred offered to speak to our students on this topic at an upcoming assembly, if I thought it would be appropriate, but I graciously declined the offer. I asked Fred if it would be alright for me to tell our Superintendent what we had discussed and he agreed.

After Fred left my office a lengthy conversation with our Superintendent followed. Among other things that we discussed was the potential impact that this information would have on my school should this information become public. Instead of taking any pre-emptive actions we decided to monitor the situation as discretely as possible. For the next six months I was placed on "Fred watch" paying special attention to any rumors that might filter through the school.

True to his word, Fred maintained a very professional and masculine appearance for the remainder of the school year. A few rumors surfaced along the way but without support they evaporated just as quickly. Word had gone out among our staff that Fred would be unveiling his new look at the faculty party and it was a sold out event. Sandy arrived at the party wearing a flowing blond wig and a floor length evening gown. It was quite a sight.

As is often the case, the anticipation of what could be, is far worse than what actually happens. But it never hurts to be prepared.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Making Parents Feel Welcome In Your School Every Day

Most High Schools invite their parents into the school building 4 - 6 times each year. Once for "Meet the Teacher Night", a few times for Music Recitals and Plays, and at the end of the year for Graduation. The rest of the time, parents only come up to school when their presence is requested by a teacher or counselor or in an emergency.

I have found that providing our Parents Association with their own office has greatly increased our ability to work together and has broken down many barriers that existed in the past. Now before you start sending me a list of reasons why this is not a good idea, let me explain.

Providing an office does not mean allowing parents to have free run of the school building. Nor does it mean that they can stop in an see their children's teachers whenever they feel like it. The office that I have provided is 50 feet from my office in the front of the building. Parents who staff the Parent, Teachers Association office (P.T.A) must sign in when they arrive at school like any other visitor. They also wear Visitor I.D. tags to identify them to the rest of the staff. Their movement is generally confined to their office and the General Office.

We have found that having parents in my school has a calming influence on student behavior especially between instructional periods. I have also made use of my P.T.A. parents whenever a new family arrives at our school. While the new student is going through the intake process my P.T.A. representative provides the new parents with community information and makes them feel comfortable. This is also a great time to get the new parents to join the P.T.A. This arrangement has also been very helpful when I want to get accurate information out to my community members in a hurry.

When we welcome parents into our schools on an ongoing basis, the term "stakeholder" takes on a whole new meaning in the discussion of school improvement. With this arrangement, parents tend to have a more positive attitude toward their school and are more supportive of the entire school community.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Helping New Teachers Survive

New teachers continue to leave the field of education at an alarming rate and with them go the future of our profession. If we are ever going to change the current course of public education then we are going to have to retain our most qualified novice teachers. As we all can attest to from our own experience, being a new teacher is no day at the park. Yet year after year we continue to throw these young educators into the deep end of the pool without the proper support and wonder why they leave the profession in droves.

As Principal, I have always made it a point to try and provide an extensive safety net for my new teachers beginning prior to the first day of school. As soon as a new hire is approved by the Board of Education I ask the appropriate department supervisor to set up a meeting with the novice teacher. During this meeting the new teacher will receive copies of the curriculum & text. They will also be shown their room or rooms as the case may be. A brief discussion of lesson planning and first day of school activities will take place. Next, the new teacher will meet with the Assistant Principal. This may take place on an individual or small group basis. The Assistant Principal will discuss the mundane but very important attendance and referral procedures. The neophyte will also have an opportunity to review the new teacher handbook.

The handbook was our attempt to provide the teachers new to our school with a reference guide. It contains an explanation of all the day to day procedures that are followed in our school. It also has a directory and map (very important) of who's responsible for a particular activity. The directory also contains copies of all the forms that are used as well as the student discipline code. This meeting concludes with a tour of the entire school campus. We don't want our new hires getting lost on their first day.

Once the school year begins, regular weekly meetings are scheduled with department supervisors. Neophytes are teamed up with senior teachers for mentoring as required by state law. In my meetings with the department supervisors I'm constantly inquiring about the progress of our new teachers and also reminding my supervisors to be supportive. After approximately 4 weeks of school I schedule my first informal meeting with each new teacher. As the Principal I want to begin the process of establishing a dialogue with the new teachers and initiate them into the team building process.


In addition, during the first semester, voluntary New Teacher Workshops are held after school. In the beginning of the year they are held every two weeks and during the second semester they are held monthly. The purpose for these meetings is to give the new teacher an opportunity to meet with one another and to share their experiences during this very stressful time in their new career. By design, I don't attend these meetings in the hope that the new teachers will feel more comfortable expressing their concerns, fears, and early successes. The meetings are run by the Assistant Principal who is very supportive and knowledgeable in our program.


Within the confines of the curriculum and with full knowledge of the exit examinations looming on the horizon, we encourage all our teachers to creative and inventive in their teaching. We do this knowing full well that not every lesson is going to be a smashing success nor that every piece of information will be understood the first time it is presented. It has been our experience that when new teachers are given the support that they need and the freedom to be creative then their ability to survive the rigors of their first year increases markedly.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

NCLB - One of the Greatest Travesties of Public Education Ever!

As a Principal you pretty much get used to new & improved regulations crossing your desk from time to time. In fact, I've been at this long enough to see things come around twice. For example, the soon to be new high school mathematics sequence in my home state of New York. But "No Child Left Behind" is something completely different.

This unfunded fiasco does nothing to enhance the educational experience. It doesn't enrich the curriculum or provide for additional study of the arts. Instead, it focuses in on a very finite bottom line, as if schools were giant corporations turning out an assembly line product. Well in case you forgot, students are not widgets.

If you happen to have a large population of students who have not achieved in the traditional "academic" subjects, then you can all but forget about offering them anything of a cultural or technical nature because there just isn't enough time.

When the Federal Government compares our achievement levels against other countries they almost always fail to mention the following;

1. Most other countries in these comparisons have a school year that is longer than 180 days and a school day that is longer than 7 hours.

2. In many countries students must pass rigorous examinations to continue in an academic school setting past the 8th grade.

3. The school curriculum is set at the national level and not at the state or local level as it is here.

4. In other countries, instruction is only provided in one nationally recognized language.

5. Lastly, in other countries, educators are well respected and properly compensated members of their respective societies. Therefore, it is much easier to attract and retain qualified people interested in the field of education.

Nothing bothers me more than to have to tell a student who shows an interest in music, or art, or technology that we had to cancel those classes to provide another remedial English or Math or
Social Studies section.

If you want schools to do more than provide a longer school day and a longer school year and we can get it done. Otherwise, allow NCLB to expire and let the educators go back to teaching a well rounded curriculum and not just to some ridiculous test.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Things They Never Taught Me In Principal School

Greetings and thanks for stopping by. Over the coming days, months, and years I hope to be able to share with you some of my experiences, victories, and frustrations as a school principal. My entries will probably range from single questions to lengthy postings. Please feel free to add your comments and questions.

...One of the questions I've always told my students to ask their teachers was "Why do I have to learn this? " I think any educator worth their salt ought to be able to answer this question without hesitation. Similarly, any school administrator should be able to explain their actions to their faculty, students and parents. Sometimes that's not so easy. Sometimes your directions were not your decision nor your idea.