Poor principals. They’ve got it rough. Serving as the administrator of a complex organization with thousands of moving parts, they also have a responsibility to be compassionate towards kids as well as be the “lead learner” in a building dedicated to improving learning. They have to coach employees to improvement while at the same time disciplining those who don’t. They’re the head of public relations, human resources, research and development and quality control. Yet despite the wide range of hats the typical principal is asked to wear, all excellent school administrators share three key characteristics.
1) An unwavering commitment to
Earlier today, my principal did a really cool thing for our faculty. She handed out those silly “coupon books” like the kind you make for your parents when you’re a little kid that has things like “one free night of dishes” and stuff like that. Ours was all cheap stuff – jeans days, candy bar, stuff like that – but spending money isn’t the point. The point is, as a teacher, it felt kinda cool to have a principal say “Hey, thanks for all you do for students. I appreciate it.”
This sort of thing goes a LONG WAY towards