The New Principal. Margaret Carter
there a staff union?
What are the sources of income for your school?
Are there resources that can be accessed?
How does the school function within the neighborhood?
Does the school have a history of constant crisis or is it a calm oasis of learning?
Asking and getting answers to these questions (as soon as possible) can lead to success for the new principal. Thoughtful observation and consideration of these questions takes time. But it’s time well spent. Block in time on your schedule just to think. Spending your valuable time being busy with constructing schedules and outlining programs at this point will not lead to success. The successful administrator will calmly and patiently wait for a team of teachers or other stakeholders to help formulate plans and schedules.
Find out who was involved in scheduling during the previous year and try to make contact with the persons involved. You can work with this person or team to set a specific time to plan. Do not try to do it all yourself. Not even a draft. The best thing you can do is jot down talking points, questions, and ideas. Don’t share proposals for change too prematurely. Be cautious with ideas. Word can get around that you “want it this way,” because remember, your team is gathering information about you, too.
It is tempting to do as much as possible “in advance” because there truly is a lot “to do.” This is particularly true in “high-challenge” schools. But unilateral plans, plans that you’ve thought of in your own mind, are failure plans. The school is like a family. In well-functioning families, each member has the other members’ best interest at heart. A family is a closed system. No one is going to come in from outside that family and fix the problems for the family. The principal must find a way to develop or enhance a close relationship with the entire school family or team.
The impact of a principal cannot be underestimated in “high-challenge” schools. As Martin Haberman discusses regarding the principal’s impact, “Recent research has shown that urban school principals have an even greater impact on student achievement than principals in less challenging schools. The constructive direction of a superior school leader is not limited to academics but has far-reaching consequences on teacher performance and turnover. Additionally, many studies argue the positive connection between quality principals and student academic outcomes since principals impact various student outcomes beyond test scores” (Haberman quoted in Stafford and Jackson 2016, 66).
If the administration consists of several assistant administrators, the need for team closeness multiplies exponentially. Dysfunctions within your team will only grow. Your job is to make sure your team stays on the same page, and that you are not unwittingly growing factions.
Conversely, fostering good feelings and developing open communication will only strengthen the team. This is not the time to go along and “tolerate” neutrality or accept lukewarm relationships. There needs to be a virtual love fest among administrators. Go for building unbreakable bonds between the members. Having a willingness to learn from others and an open mind can help a new principal find success and create lifelong positive relationships and even friendships. At the very least, openness and honesty will help avoid the principal developing a negative image.
A negative image, which is often obvious to everyone (but the principal), can make for a very long and frustrating school year. A negative image that goes unaddressed can ruin entire careers in educational leadership. A wise principal will make every effort to learn and keep learning while doing the job. Learn about emotional intelligence or consult with an image expert to help you get a better view of yourself and your interactions with others. With this in mind, spend time considering and analyzing the school situation. Focus on solutions, and remember to bring others along with you. You’ll better enjoy the ride you take, not alone, but with others!
Personal Experience
I had been assigned to a tiny school located in a rural setting. After spending my entire teaching and administrative career in large city schools, I was failing. Big time. I had one friend on the staff. The other teachers were either mad at me for making changes or neutral cautiously because they were new and needed the support of other more seasoned teachers. Almost the entire staff had taught together for many years in this isolated location, and many lived in the immediate area. After three long years of struggle, my supervisor hired two consultants who polled and interviewed the staff. Their conclusion, as one said: “The staff has declared war on you.” That one phrase was a wake-up call I needed.
I immediately began to evaluate my behavior, which was “nice”—courteous but standoffish and dictatorial. Without reading or researching relationships (which I should have done), I started to really listen to people and changed the way I went about my job. No, I was still far from perfect, but this realization changed me and helped me to learn and grow. I had thought I had it all together with my near perfect grade point average, and quickly gaining advancement. I thought I was ready, but I learned that book smart does not equal or overcome people ignorance.
Whatever your assignment, remember, relationships do matter. The job of principal is complex and a huge responsibility, but it is ultimately about people.
To What Type of School Has the
Principal Been Assigned?
Obviously, there is a difference between early childhood, elementary, middle, and high school sites. Each kind of school has its own unchangeable elements, such as age group. Spend time evaluating exactly how the school functions. Include as many programs as you can think of. You may review past schedules and memos or discuss items with your secretary or an assistant administrator. He or she will know, well, basically everything.
This exercise will help you to see the overall school and how it functions. It will help you to determine the overall structure and help you to budget your time for each task, program, or department. If you taught at one level, such as middle school, and are assigned to another level, say elementary, spend time reading about current issues at the level to which you are assigned. Don’t rely on your memories about your time at that particular level or school. Yes, the basics are the same (layout, staff, programs), however, much will have changed over the years about students, teachers, customs, and so on at every school setting.
How Large or Small Is the Staff?
Is your staff large or small? Is it a homogenous group where teachers all teach the same subject, or grade level? Or is the staff heterogeneous with a mix of subjects or grade levels?
Personal Experience
Are small staffs or tiny schools easier? Please don’t believe this. Before being promoted to principal, I had been an assistant principal at the largest elementary school in the district with over eight hundred students, forty-five teachers, and twenty-five non-certified staff. Moving to the smallest school in the district, with one hundred students and one teacher per grade level, I thought it would be an easy assignment with time to spare. Unfortunately, this tiny school scored lowest in the district in reading and math. I set out to put things in order so I could focus on the student’s academic needs.
When I asked about programs, committees, and schedules, the lead teacher replied, making a circular motion with her hands, “We all do everything!” What? How is that possible? Well I found out how possible it was! Determined to do as I had successfully done at the large school, I plowed ahead and tried to form teams (one teacher and myself). After all, a team of two is still a team. It would be her responsibility to get the word out about what “we” had decided. Well word indeed did get around about everything we’d decided, the informal leaders took over, parking lot meetings were held, and the plans exploded—right in my face.
In a large school, with many programs and teams, the principal’s job is, in many ways easier. Because of the sheer number of people available to do the work, the labor and the leadership is distributed. The principal’s