In schools, the Principal sets the vision and direction, controls the budget, and often has the strongest ability to empower teachers. Assistant principals have a unique role. In some districts all they do is student attendance and discipline. In some schools RTI and PBIS gets added to the mix. Very often, despite the desire to do otherwise, assistant principals have minimal influence over the awesome that can go on in schools.
As an assistant principal at DC Everest Senior High School, I feel truly blessed. I do deal with student attendance and discipline, RTI and PBIS, teacher and paraprofessional evaluation, liaison to the English, School Counselor, Music, Art, and World Language departments, Co-Teaching Trainer of Trainers, Social Media Manager, and “other duties as assigned.” In addition to these “duties” I also try to get into classrooms and have conversations with teachers.
As with any job, some relationships are collegial with limited but cordial interactions. Some relationships feel strained due to a lack of understanding on both sides. Some relationships forge outside of school duties and can result in long-lasting friendships. Other relationships, though, make it worth continuing to work at the long list of duties and less-deep-than-desired relationships.
One such relationship I have like this is with @MatthewCepress. Over the past three years, we have talked so often and bounced so many crazy ideas off of each other that we now have to schedule time into the day because we realize that “It’s never a five minute conversation.”
I wish I had video of today’s fevered discussion because it captured the essence of our working relationship. Even now, I can only share so much because in addition to Matt sharing a vision for his creative writing classes and student book publication work, I challenged Matt to “walk the walk.”
I’ll go into more detail in a later blog post, but our conversation today encompassed much of what I love about my AP role here at DC Everest Senior High School. When my listening and support allow a teacher to think about their work in a new way or want to make changes that they asked about in the first place, then I feel as if I have made the kinds of connections that allow us to do the real work of schools.
Stay tuned for more details from this conversation. As I tweeted earlier, we were hatching up crazy plans.
Learn To Lead 