Monday, June 6, 2011
Interview with the Superintendent
The amounts of information I learned not only by interviewing him, but by working alongside him these past two years were immense and that knowledge will transfer over to any new job I have. Aside from the highlights of the interview stated above there were a few additional questions discussed in the interview that are worth reflecting on:
What does ethical leadership look like?
Asking the Superintendent this interview question also answered the one dealing with board relationships. Ethical leadership is something that is challenged much in schools. In small schools in particular a Superintendent is under the magnifying glass and can be influenced much by the school board. In our conversation the Superintendent spoke about various confidential situations in which his ethical principals were challenged. He was faced with a difficult decision that could cost him his job, but in the end always made the ethical choice. He did talk about maintaining a positive relationship with the school board to avoid all issues. He also stressed the importance of being fully aware of the law. “You see this right here?” as he pointed to the big blue school law book on his desk. “This is always on my desk and I refer to it a few times a week.” He mentioned that if you follow the law and remember the number one rule of taking the students interest into account every decision would be easier and you could sleep at night. This was one of the most interesting questions as we could’ve talked for hours about different situations he has been through with the board as well as with other people in the schools he has been in.
How do you work to develop a shared vision?
Here he actually asked me to answer this question. “Tell me what you have done here in two years?” After I briefly answered he took over and talked about the importance of a site based team, involving all stakeholders in decision making, etc. From hiring of new staff to a revamp of the dress code we have done a lot to develop a shared vision. He talked about how communication is very important with both English and Spanish speaking parents and that schools needed to try all avenues to reach out to the parents and community.
How should a superintendent evaluate the effectiveness of communication strategies in the school district and encourage the engagement of the community to benefit all students?
Schools must make extra effort to communicate with the community. Although traditional methods do work, he talked about a number of ideas ranging from making one of our soon to be vacant wings into a head start program and another area of the school as a community health center. The superintendent is very good at attaining grants so he thinks these ideas would be possible. I applaud him for having such grand vision. By implementing those programs, the school would not only be serving the students but the community as well thus engaging and creating a relationship that will ultimately be beneficial for all.
How does a Superintendent promote and sustain a district culture that emphasizes student learning and professional development?
A superintendent should promote a collegial district culture that has high expectations for all including students and staff. I feel that the response to this question was not quite there. Although professional development is important and should be continuous he admits that it is very difficult to make it happen. With limited resources teachers get only a few professional development opportunities a year and when it is it is usually a one and done type of training. Setting high expectations begins early and having a pk-8th grade campus allows a great opportunity to change mentalities towards achievement. If you start them young, and work with your staff to teach higher order thinking skills once they reach the upper levels, they will be better prepared.
More than anything this interview helped me ask questions that I otherwise wouldn’t have asked. When talking to an educational leader with close to 30 years experience it doesn’t take one interview, it takes a long mentorship relationship in which I feel I have. As I move districts I hope that my relationship with the superintendent will stay strong and that he a can be a resource for my new job as well as for this course.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
2 Years Later.....
When I began as an Assistant Principal two years ago I started a blog attempting to record my experiences in school. Since much of what is learned in this position comes from experience, is situational, and varies from day to day I felt that to fully utilize my opportunity for growth I had to document, reflect, and receive peer input. As the blog began I wrote some personal blogs about my move as well as the transition from teacher to Principal. I started strong, recording my experiences the first few days of school, however once the school year began, I stopped. Time was somewhat of a factor but that was not the biggest deterrent. The biggest contributor to me not continuing to record my experiences was because my job was in a small school in which the staff and community are very close. As soon as someone read it, the entire community would know, and this might have caused some conflict even though I never stated names or where I worked. “The first grade teacher” is not hard to figure out when there is only one. Moving forward, two years after my last post I have collected over 30 notepads full of information. When talking to students about discipline issues, to parents about their concerns, and when meeting with teachers about their growth I would always write notes down. I am very happy to say that this blog has come back to life and will highlight my continuing educational journey. My blog will serve several purposes. I am currently working on my Doctorate in Educational leadership, am beginning my Superintendent certification courses, and was recently hired at a new school, significantly bigger than my previous one. I feel this blog will be a great tool that will allow me to reflect and to receive feedback from my cohort peers as well as from my colleagues. Whether it be to discuss action research plans, dissertation proposals, or simply to share an interesting story, this blog is full of promise.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Latex Free.....
Monday, September 7, 2009
Week 2.. In Review....
Highlights of my second week include....
*meeting with the jr high team about a few students of concern and creating an intervention for them.
*going to our first football game and it being rained out...we drove 2 hrs to play and waited an extra 2 for the rain and lightning to go away... when we decided to call it i made the announcement... my athletes were naturally down... then i said "since you guys have worked hard we will stop at whataburger on our way back." "YESS!!!" they didnt think of the game again....
*having to split the first grade class into two and telling 2 teachers they were going to have to teach an extra class...and the next day telling them nevermind...
*disciplined a few kids, gave a detention here and there...
*meeting with the sup about walk throughs and what to look for....
*starting to plan my spanish parent meeting on september 16th...
*driving a bus route full of elementary kids without knowing where to go.....
* creating a pep rally skit and finding teachers to buy into it.......
* finishing up the bulletin board i wanted to do for teachers....
* driving my car to work one day and a teacher running to the football field telling me that someone had keyed it....
* not having refs for some of our games...
* buying equipment at academy....
* looking for collaboration from the HS our kids go to...
* "Mistah H, my mom got us a babysitter last night, but we did not sit."
* Special Ed ARDS..... Spanish Interpreters Training...
*Starting my ILD Training...
I will give more detail on all soon..... I love my job... :)
Saturday, August 29, 2009
"You're Looking for Black and White"
The first day of school was great. We welcomed everyone and they all went into the gym. Once 8:00 am rolled around the Superintendent started the assembly by instructing everyone to stand for the pledge. Once done, he immediately said, "As you know we have a new face and we are very excited to meet him. He has a few words for you." Although I am not afraid to speak in public, especially to students, I was not ready. I did have my speech ready for later so I included a bit of that. I had a little speech "why am I here" which pretty much talked about the goals I have for the school...about pride and how important it is for the school and town and the last part of it said, "I am also here to make sure teachers succeed" which was my entrance into the rules, dress code, and consequences.... It went well....
A few funnies that happened during the week..
* a teacher opened a kids bag to help him with unpacking his school supplies and a dead mouse was there.... she called me, i took the bag, asked the superintendent what to do and in the calmest tone said, "just throw it away" haha its like he has been there a million times...
* all the kids saying Mistah H
* parents complaining that we gave free backpacks bc they had already bought some... (insane!)
* driving the volleyball girls to a private school for a game (the second day of school!) and getting there with them wearing unmatching kneepads, old uniforms, and NO PRACTICE! These are 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.... the opponents all had matching everything including a shinny headbands..... we beat them the second game, but lost the series... its ok though!
* 1st grade teacher in her second year having a panic attack because she could not control her class.... i talked and calmed her down, we went in the classroom and went over procedures with the kiddos..... they were quiet, but still need to improve alooot..... its soo loud in there and they are bullying her! "BOYS AND GIIIRLS GET QUIET!!!" i dont think that is a good strategy....
* Skulls everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! there are skulls on shirts, shorts, shoes, backpacks... everytwhere.... They are unofficially not allowed (not in the handbook) but there was no way I could enforce the ban since most students wear them. I sent out an email to everyone saying that skulls were ok. Below is the email...
Teachers,
As you know, we currently have an issue with students wearing skulls on almost every article of clothing. Knowing that they are popular, retailers jumped on the back to school opportunity to dress everything with them. This week I have seen skulls on t-shirts, pants, shorts, backpacks, and even shoes. From students in Pre-K to Adults, skulls are in.
Evil, no….rebellious, maybe…..accessible, affordable, trendy, and in our students closets, yes. Instead of making parents buy their children new clothes, let’s make this a transition year and allow students to wear them for now unless they have blood, knives sticking out, or anything of that sort. Use your judgment. The same will go for shorts without buttons or zippers since parents and students were not notified of the changes until the first day of school. We have had problems with that as well.
Below are some pics I got from your regular retailers. (Wal Mart, Tj Max, Kohls) These would be acceptable. Let me know if you have any questions.
The response was good... not much resistance... so we're good!
* Working with my football team all week (im also the AD/Football Coach... my title has alot of slashes ///////) Anyways I have great kids. 6 Man Football is going to be interesting....... Im having them do something every Friday and this one was to write their teachers letters thanking them... this is an email i got yesterday
I just wanted to let you know that I was very impressed by the letters that I received from 4 of your athletes that are in my pre-algebra and algebra classes. That was very thoughtful and meant a lot to me as well as to them. Thanks for making a difference!
* LESSON OF THE WEEK - "You're looking for Black and White" I had a huge incident that came up this week..... While I was at a meeting for the elementary teachers talking about different things (changing the lunch schedule since we have like 100 kids eating at once... its a mess!) a little 1st grade girl came to me and said "We were in PE in the playground and that little boy kissed me on the lips." WOAH... my stomach immediately dropped and I was being faced with my first serious situation. I asked her to describe it and she did... apparently there were a few little boys playing and egging on another kid to do it... they all went to her and it happened. I talked to the little boy, which is a great charming kid, and he denied it and blamed it on someone else. When I called the other kid in, he was taken by storm "WHAAT, I DIDNT KISS HER, YOU DID." He was starting to cry.... In response to that, the original kid said, "OK, WE BOTH DID" Baam... that was all I needed. I told the other one to go back to class, the guilty one to sit outside, and then tried to figure out what I was going to tell the little girls parents. ring..... ring.... ring... "Hello" - "Hi Mrs. A, this is Mr. H from school. There was an issue today...... " I went on to explain it and she thanked me for the way it was handled and for contacting her.... She even said not to punish the little boy much..... Now off to call the parents of the little boy.....ring...ring...ring... "Hello.." did the same as above, but this time the response was incredibly rude! The mistake I made was to tell her about the possible consequences.... as soon as the mom heard ISS, she started yelling and yelling and yelling..... She said the boys grandmother would go pick up the kid.... in 1o munutes she was there and COMPLETELY IGNORED ME! "Come here sweetie.... lets go"
Later the mom called wanting to talk to the Superintendent, not me.... He was not there so I answered the phone in an attempt to reason with her.. aside from lawyer threats and inexperience insults. I made an appointment to meet with her at 5:15 with the Sup.... 5:15 came along, she came in, and also, completely ignored me.... the meeting lasted about 2 hours and she yelled, cried, insulted, and offended me... I had soooo many things to say back at her, but I did not.... she would not have listened. When I spoke, I said nothing but positive things in a low tone of voice, honered her for being so involved in her kids life, and mentioned how everythign played out. I also told her that as far as I knew, her kid had been in ISS for about 2 hrs, had a call home, and a parent conference so as far as I knew that was 3 consequences and that would be the extent of the discipline. After I said this the tone changed.... we chatted a bit more, and she left happy although she requested that I always consult the sup for discipline problems with their kids..... whatever... haha
She left, the sup raised his eyebrows and said good job, and told me Welcome to Administration.... He then shared his crazy parent stories and this one was nothing compared to his.... When I asked him, what is the rule? The kid kissed a little girl! He said I was looking for a clear black and white line... a rule in the rulebook.... and in school, especially with the little ones, you cannot have that... the consequence should be a gut feeling...you assess the entire situation and give the appropriate consequence...
well that was a little summary of my first week... i will get on here as much as possible and share interesting things that happen... ohh!! one last thing... i got a call from a grandmother and she said I was a blessing to the school.... then she said the funniest thing ever in her country accent.... "white people like you because you look like us, and the messicans like you because you speak their language.... " funny.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sunday Night - Getting Ready for my First Day as an Assistant Principal
There will be an assembly in the morning and I will pretty much introduce myself and talk about why I am there. Ill also highlight the student code of conduct.... which is one of the main things i am responsible for.... discipline is all me... along with just a few other things.. haha
well...back to work!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
2nd Week of Inservice- Geteting ready for the kiddos
The second week of inservice was interesting. Did a whole lot. In order of events I dont remember, but the highlights were going to the houston museum of natural science for some GT training and afterwards going to teacher heaven. I drove the bus on the way back.... first time i had driven in traffic in about 2 years.... i did ok.. no bumps or anything.... at teahcer heaven teachers all had 100 dollars to spend... i think that was a nice gesture from the sup. i threw in some stuff for myself in the office.
The night before, on wednesday we had meet the teacher night. Here I met many of the students and parents. Everyone seems very nice. Since we are a pk-8 campus i had all kinds of students. Some kindergarteners were going in between my legs as I talked to the 8th graders.... everyone seems to have welcomed me pretty well... i think they are happy i am there. that day was also tha athletic parent meeting. there were about 20-30 people there and i wasnt really ready since alot of the AP stuff was priority. i did talk about the handbook, the different expectations, as well as about me.... then the other coaches did the same.... easy money...
Overall the feelining of being the "boss" is kind of weird.... teachers use "yes sir, and no sir," they come ask if they can leave early, ask about procedures..... im handling it well, but it is very new.... i consider myself a leader and i feel like i have always been one... as far as in the school business i plan on leading this school to lots of success.... the leader part that also labels you as the boss is something i need to get used to.. i know i cant be their friend friend and be totally myself around them, but i also dont want to be dry....itll take me a while to figure it out. for now i think im doing an ok job.....
School starts on monday... i am definitely excited. there will be an assembly where I will talk about various things dealing with changes in the school.... Throughout the day i plan on organizing my teacher and student files as well as make my way around the school and go to every classroom.... we will hand out equipment for football and im gonna meet the team..... stay tuned for more updates on the fun life of the prinscipal....