Off and running!
This week, I had 17 staff 1-to-1s, met with 13 students in two listening sessions, attended a Board Committee and Regular Meeting, joined in on a joint meeting of the 50th Anniversary Committee and the Sports Booster Club, met for 7 hours with Aaron, Laurie and Shane, talked every day with Marcia, met with Cliff for breakfast, discussed the relative benefits/pitfalls of including students on interview teams with Ted, and traveled up to the Sauk County Fair to see our FFA students in action preparing to show their beef, dairy, swine and goats. What a great week!!A couple common themes for the week:
- Be Visible
- Show you care
- Listen to our input
- Involve us in decision-making
- Have high expectations
- Hold us to high expectations
- Make us better
Those highlights came through in all of the meetings I had this week, from administrators, staff, students and the community. I'd say that it looks like the start of a pretty good list in terms of what I need to do for you to be satisfied with my performance as your principal. If you haven't yet scheduled a time to meet with me, please consider doing so. I want to respect your summer as much as possible, and if you are absolutely unable to meet with me before the last week in August, I understand. However, I really want to hit the ground running in September, and I don't feel like i can do that unless I have an opportunity to hear from every last staff member. This is more your school that it is my school right now. Over time it will become our school, but I need your help for that to happen.
Have a great weekend and thanks to all of you who have been so accommodating, welcoming and informative!!
What I'm Reading and Thinking About this Week...
"The Older ones? Maybe Quilting...or bowling. If I was a teacher, I'd go bowling on the weekends" once you've seen a kid make that statement, I think the whole profession suddenly makes more sense. :-)
Gallup-EdWeek Poll: What Superintendents Really Think?
I mostly fascinated by the title of this article. Has it ever been a secret what superintendents think? ;-) (Joking Cliff!) I'm a little worried about the results of some of these questions. Not sure this show our top district level leaders, nationwide, to be very on top of their game. Might be the way questions were asked, might be because it was the first time it's been done (Really? First large survey of district leaders?) When I get some more time, I'll take a look at the entire survey (there is a link in the article) and see if I can't learn something about the world there.
Three Reasons Why Next Year Could Be Your Best by George Couros
It's a great time of year to focus on the future and on improvement.
Tougher Requirements Ahead for Teacher Prep by Stephen Sawchuck
I've been hoping for better teacher prep for a while, but as someone who didn't do very well in school, but who I thought he was a better than average teacher, I'm not sure I'm very excited about raising the GPA bar for teacher prep programs. Do we really want only teachers who've never themselves struggled in school? Will that element even result in that outcome? I don't know, but it's one of the things I am thinking about when I read this.
Principal Evaluation and Professional Growth by Christy Guilfoyle
I didn't have time this week to read this whole article. I've bookmarked it though and skimmed it because, just like teachers, I am always hungry for feedback on how I can improve my school leadership. I want each of you to know that about me. I am committed to improvement, all the time, and I try to seek out the feedback that makes that improvement possible wherever I can find it. Will you be one of those sources of feedback?
Teen in Jail for Months over 'Sarcastic" Facebook Threat
Thanks to Shane Been for sharing this article with me. It highlights a problem that school and community leaders seem to confront all too frequently. Where is the line between appropriate response to keep our kids safe and overreacting to typical teen behavior? It's not an easy problem to solve. We've dealt with this problem before, most recently with zero tolerance policies for weapons, drugs, etc. I've never been a big believer in zero tolerance. I believe I get paid very well to make tough decisions; if we have a decision making algorithm, an "if this, then that" kind of policy, we don't need to spend six figures on the person who applies the algorithm. What types of "if this, then that" policies and practices does SPHS have that we should look at?
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