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.

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.

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.

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.

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.