The PrincipalsPage.com Blog

Lately, the PrincipalsPage.com mailbox has been overflowing with questions (okay, we have only gotten one, but let’s not get bogged down by semantics).

The question was from our friend Tim and was posted on the blog, I Didn’t Know How Much I Didn’t Know.

He asked, “Is it worth it? Leaving the classroom I mean.”

That’s an easy one. Yes.

I didn’t even have to think about it (not that I put time into thinking about much of anything).

While the answer to the question is a simple one, the reasons behind it are far more complicated.

Teachers leave the classroom for a variety of reasons. They will tell you that making the move into administration allows them the opportunity to be a change agent, to overhaul curriculum, or to be an instructional leader over an entire school.

Yeah, right.

If most administrators were honest, they would admit to moving into administration for a far less academic and romantic reason.

Most people make the move out of the classroom for the money

I am sure that many readers of this blog won’t want to believe this, but I am here to spread the truth (as I see it).

At first glance, this reason may seem a bit selfish; but I don’t think there is anything wrong about taking a new job primarily for the money.

Good teachers get to the point where they don’t want to grade any more papers, tell students to sit down for the thousandth time, or teach the same lesson for the 15th year in a row.

They need a change; and more cash.

Teachers are just like everyone else; they have responsibilities, bills, and kids who are going off to college in a few years.

So taking a new position with a considerably higher salary is often too good to turn down.

And who has ever found themselves in a position where they have too much money? Not me. Not yet (but just like retirement, keep your fingers crossed for me).

That being said; my advice is never make the move from the classroom to administration just for the money. It isn’t worth it.

You can’t put a price on your time or sanity. And if you do, you will regret it.

In a few short years, I have already seen a lot of new administrators come and go.

They take an administrative job for the wrong reasons and then find themselves making decisions just to keep their new position. And that almost never works out.

In an odd way, I think you have to treat the job as something you may not have tomorrow. And with every decision you make, you are one step closer to that becoming a reality.

So after all of this incoherent rambling my advice is; yes, it is worth it. While tiring and stressful, it is a privilege to be in charge of a group of students and teachers.

You have an opportunity to make real changes that impact the entire student body.

Every teacher should have this chance at least once in their career (more regarding my theory on rotating principals later).

Becoming an administrator is the best decision I ever made.

I am just not sure it is forever. And I am pretty sure that won’t be my decision.

I just try to remember that I went into education to teach; not write handbooks, suspend students, work on construction projects, supervise games, or evaluate staff.

It is worth it; just don’t do it for the money.

As I move into the twilight of my career (I wish), it has occurred to me that I once was a huge and complete moron.

This is drastically different from today, when I am just a medium and partial moron.

Before my long (okay, short) career as a school administrator, I was a teacher. This is before I took a very secretive oath and moved over to the dark side of administration. I could go into details, but I have been sworn to secrecy.

During my years of teaching, I had the pleasure (not really) of sitting through about 4,000 teacher’s meetings. They were quite productive and I learned a lot (again, this is a little thing I like to call sarcasm).

I realize these meetings are a necessary evil. However, I am unsure who dislikes them more; teachers or administrators?

But that is an argument for another day (and blog… as you see I am banking up material for the slower summer months).

When attending meetings as a teacher, I was impressed by how incredibly smart I was. Or so I thought. I had all the answers. Just ask me.

The decisions being made by administrators seemed so black and white.

I would sit there (half paying attention) and ask myself; how could they be so stupid? How could they make such bad decisions? Why didn’t they make choices that seem so simple to me? Why did they always make everything so difficult?

In a nutshell, why didn’t the administration have a clue?

Honestly, how hard of job could a principal have? In fact, how did they even keep busy throughout the day? You can only walk down the hallway so many times.

So, I was smart and they were stupid. I could easily do their job.

So I did.

Did I mention the part about being a moron?

Here is a small portion of what I learned in my first 17 minutes on the job; I wasn’t nearly as smart as I thought, previous administrators weren’t nearly as clueless as I believed, decisions about students and staff are rarely black and white, and I may be in over my head.

And then the rest of my first day took a turn for the worse. You will be happy to learn that I survived my first day; although barely.

I learned more in the first 4 weeks as a principal than I did in 2 years of classes while getting my Master’s Degree plus 8 years of teaching.

But I did learn an important lesson and that was…

…you should never judge your intelligence by how much you know; you should judge it by how little you know.

And in my case that was a lot.

So if you are considering leaving the classroom to become an administrator, remember this; you can do it because of everything that you know, but don’t be surprised by the immense number of things you will have to learn.

It is that time of year when schools are dealing with prom, graduation, field trips, tension over just about everything, and retirements.

I have been in education for 13 years (going on 112) and have attended my fair share of retirement parties. Sadly, none have been in my honor (keep your fingers crossed for me; only 8,089 days left… and counting).

I have learned a lot at these events. Mainly, retirements can be complicated.

I believe administrators are in a no-win situation when it comes to retiring employees.

You want to be happy for the retiree, but you can’t be too happy. If you seem too excited about them retiring, you run the risk of offending them because they may not feel appreciated.

In their last few weeks of working for the school district, you don’t want them to get the sense of no longer feeling needed. They need to move on to the next phase of their lives feeling like their time at school has been appreciated and valued.

So, each spring I find myself in this difficult spot. Sorry to see these employees go, but happy for them as they get to move on and enjoy retirement.

If my feelings towards this situation get misconstrued, trouble could ensue.

It is a fine line an administrator has to walk. A minefield really. Just like walking through gym class during a dodge ball game (how many times can those kids accidently hit me?).

I think some retirees use anger as a defense mechanism. If they convince themselves that no one really cares about their 40+ years of contributions to the school, it makes it easier to leave the job they’ve held since 1967 (seriously).

Once they are officially retired, they seem to feel better about the whole situation.

I have found that most retirees enjoy their new profession (not working… if you sense jealousy, you are quite perceptive). I have also noticed no one comes back to school looking to return to work.

Each spring, I just need to remind myself that retiring is difficult and those retiring should be treated with the utmost respect.

Retirement is very confusing to me.

Young people dream of the day when they can; older people almost approach it with a sense of dread.

I have known employees who have literally spent years contemplating the decision to retire. They think about it day after day. It consumes their lives.

Wait a second, that’s me.

You know, the more I think about retirement the angrier I get. How dare some punk administrator push me to the curb in 2030 (I just realized he or she may not even be in preschool… man, will I be old).

In 22 years, I will be ancient and angry (angrier).

That’s it. I am pulling my retirement letter (I just ripped it into 20 pieces). No one will push me out the door until I am good and ready.

I may stay forever. This guy isn’t going easily or without a fight.

There are battles to win, school board meetings to attend, eligibility to check, handbooks to write, cell phones to confiscate, dress codes to enforce, bus incidents to address, evaluations to complete, teachers to hire, hallways to supervise, games to attend…

well, on second thought… maybe I have been too hasty in tearing up that letter.

It is official. I am retiring in 22 years.

I hope people are happy; just not too happy.

It is prom season. Woohoo!!!

By Woohoo, I mean Uggh. And by Uggh, I mean someone please just jam a butter knife into my temple thereby letting me focus on a different kind of pain.

High school students think prom is 5 hours of excitement. I see prom as 300 painfully slow minutes of excruciating torture (300 that seems like 47,000).

The kids always ask me if I am looking forward to prom. This question can be answered two ways.

Answer #1: No; I would rather spend an entire day watching reruns of The Golden Girls and eating croissants than attending another high school dance.

Answer #2: Yes. As in yes, I can’t wait… to get it over with.

It is not that I am anti-prom. I just think the only good thing resulting from the “big night” is that nothing bad happens.

Up to this point in my career I have been very lucky. Students have always behaved well, sponsors have worked hard so that things go smoothly, and I have never had to call the police.

Promise me, before you read on, you will knock on wood.

Over my 5 years of supervising proms, I have gained some invaluable insight into the challenges of supervising them. There are 2 issues that can cause you to get premature gray hair (and possibly get you fired).

Dress code and dancing.

Each year it always comes down to these two things. The reason they are such a challenge is because everyone has their own idea about what is appropriate.

You can have 20 adults look at a prom dress and 10 will think it is beautiful and tasteful. Unfortunately, the other 10 will think it is obscene.

As the supervisor of the dance, both groups will be more than happy to share their thoughts with you.

So, if all goes well, at least half the people at the dance will disagree with the administrator who is in charge.

It is even more challenging because the dress in question was purchased, approved, and photographed by proud parents only moments before someone walks up and tells the administrator, “That dress is not appropriate.”

As much trouble as enforcing the dress code can be, the dancing is worse.

Throughout time, every older generation has believed the world is coming to an end because of the way the young people are dancing.

As someone who is forced to watch high school dances (I need the money), I must say that I agree.

If kids continue to dance the way that they do, there is no way we can hold our society together.

It is just a matter of time before everything we hold sacred comes crashing down around us. And I will blame the dancing.

It’s just not right. Man, have I gotten old.

So my advice to other administers in regards to prom is the following.

Keep an eye on the dress code and try not to keep too much of an eye on the dancing.

And most of all, try not to think about the fact that one day you will be battling the dress argument and the dancing argument with your own daughter.

Uggh. I am going to see if we have any clean butter knifes.

The working title of this Blog was “School Administrators Are Fat”. My wife thought it was unusually mean, so hence the change.

I almost always follow her judgment because it is impeccable (expect for her choice of spouses, but that’s a decision with which she has to live).

During my extensive travels last week, I noticed some things. Examples of my observations include the rattling air conditioner in my room, the general awkwardness of riding in an elevator with total strangers, and the fact that my Master’s Degree in Administration is of no help to me when I am struggling to open a hotel room door.

By the way, who knew that if you put your room key card next to a credit card it will no longer work. There is so much for me to learn in this great big world.

The number one thing I noticed on the trip is school administrators are fat.

That may sound a little harsh (or a lot harsh), so I take it back. Please forgive me, I didn’t mean fat.

No on second thought that is exactly what I meant. But when I use the word fat, I am saying it in the nicest way possible.

I base this latest theory (and trust me I have a lot of them) on a couple obvious clues.

One; school administrators love the free food. A lot.

A buffet for administrators is as special as a teacher discovering cake in the lounge or a coach being handed a free t-shirt.

The look of joy on a ballroom full of administrator’s faces when they are staring at a line of 27 tables of free fried food is enough to bring a tear to your eye (by the way, try to say “free fried food” 3 times fast… if successful your speech pathologist will be quite proud).

My second clue was the workout room at the hotel. Between 5:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. it was a ghost town. It was so quiet in there that I could hear myself sweat (sorry for the graphic description; I apologize if you just ate).

This leads me to believe that administrators don’t exercise or their arteries are so clogged from the free chicken strips, onion rings, and the assorted hor’ dorves that they couldn’t fall out of bed.

And yes, I did have to look up the spelling of hor’ dorves and no I did not try any.

I have two rules about food; one, never eat anything a high school boy has cooked in class and two, never try anything new.

Judge me if you want, but these hard and fast rules have kept me alive.

So the basis of my “school administrators are fat” theory is we love the free food and we don’t like to work out.

I don’t really mean say that we are all fat, but I am attempting to make a point.

For the type of lifestyle we lead, we need to exercise. All administrators should have the goal of being healthier.

Too much stress, long hours, and boring meetings make an administrator susceptible to… well, everything bad.

I have heard administrators say they don’t have enough time to exercise, but we all have the same 24 hours in a day.

Each one of us should set aside 30 minutes each day to exercise by walking, running, doing aerobics, playing golf, or something besides answering emails, handing out detentions, trying to figure out who was smoking in the girl’s restroom, and fixing the latest crisis.

The healthier we are; the better job we will do for students, staff, and the entire school.

So my goal with this Blog is to disprove my own theory. Maybe we aren’t as unhealthy of a group as I think.

There must be an administrator out there who is healthy. There has to be at least one.

I am hoping someone can email me about an administrator who climbs mountains, runs 4 marathons a week, swims 15 miles a day, or wrestles bears and still has time to be in charge of a school.

If you know this person (especially a bear wrestler who is also an administrator), please email me their story. Maybe they will win a prize (or not; the PrincipalsPage.com budget is very tight towards the end of the school year).

I want to believe one of us is in great shape (and not fat). Please help me prove myself wrong.

To come up with a theory and then to come up with another theory to prove the first theory wrong takes a great deal of time and effort. But I am willing to go the extra mile for you the reader.

Teachers and school administrators continue to expect that cell phones not be turned on during the school day.

I wholeheartedly agree.

This is a fight schools have been waging for close to 10 years and we must not give up now. If we quit, it will be viewed as weakness.

Cell phones can be a disruption to the learning process, an overall annoyance, and may even provoke larger problems when used as a camera or an MP3 player.

Administrators and teachers are well within their rights to demand that they not be on during school time.

We are trying to educate, not provide time for social interaction. What possible benefit could there be to using cell phones during school time?

They certainly couldn’t be used as organizers, internet connections, note taking devices, or calculators (has an IEP been written yet with a cell phone in it… if it hasn’t; it will and should be).

Cell phones are most likely a fad and will simply go away if we fight them long enough. We must hold our ground.

In elementary school, I remember one of my teachers telling us that people would soon get bored with calculators and at that point they would disappear (how is that working out for you Mrs. Crazy?)

To older people like me, cell phones are an evil example of progress. And we don’t need that. The future scares us and it should be avoided at all costs.

This whole technology thing is getting out of hand. We need to hold kids back as they try to move ahead of us with these new fangled ideas (after all students are nothing more than our replacements).

Much like cars, indoor plumbing, and the SMARTBoards; cell phones are just another way to ruin the way of life of which we have grown comfortable.

We need to hold our ground. No cell phones.

And as administrators we need to lead this fight. We must be an example to young people in living a “cell phone free” life. A life where we put common courtesy ahead of convenience.

Who is with me!?

I say as administrators we start by setting the ultimate example.

Simply put; turn your phone on vibrate when attending a meeting. You are annoying everyone around you.

You expect students to do it. Practice what you preach.

The school you work at will survive for an hour. None of us are as important as we think we are.

You want students to be attentive and polite; how about we try it first.



Just in case you are a little slow… this is what we like to call sarcasm… I am a huge proponent of the benefits of using a cell phone in the classroom as a “learning tool”. But for the love of Pete people…, turn off your cell phone when you are in a meeting or presentation! It’s called vibrate… try it. You just might like it.

Thank you for letting me vent. I feel much better.

I have only been blogging for 9 months. It seems more like 8 ½ months; how time flies when I am wasting it.

When I started writing (or slopping down) the blog, I only knew one thing - you typed your thoughts or opinions. Seemed simple enough. I’ve taught keyboarding and have both thoughts and opinions, so how hard could it really be?

As I look back over these last few months, it hasn’t been too difficult. Luckily for me, I have very low expectations about the quality of my blogging (and I am proud to say I think my work has the potential to reach mediocrity … keep your fingers crossed me!).

Blogging for me is just jotting (typing, slopping… whatever) what has been rattling around my head for the past few days.

The real challenge in writing a blog is that I had never read one. Not a single blog. Why do I get the feeling that 27 people just said to themselves, “That explains why the quality of his blog has yet to rise to mediocrity.”?

Let me remind you; no one likes a hater. And if you continue with this type of attitude, I am going to have you to ask you to leave.

The truth is - I still don’t read very many blogs.

Occasionally, I will glance at one if someone has been kind enough to link to PrincipalsPage.com or the PrincipalsPage.com Blog (thank you Google Alerts).

My problem isn’t that I am anti-blog; I just don’t have the time.

Well, that’s a lie. I do have the time, I just prefer to spend my free time big-game hunting, recreating Civil War battles, collecting antique porcelain dolls (the ones sold on Home Shopping Network and their eyes follow you as you move around the room), painting (mostly in the style of impressionism), volunteering to read to the deaf, and translating the classics into Latin.

Alright, you caught me. Those are also lies.

I spend all of my free time mowing my yard or snacking. I really should do something positive for society; but I have a love/hate relationship with Oreos that takes up a good portion of my time. And since time is so precious, I don’t read as many blogs as I should.

I am still appreciative of the people who take the time to blog about far more serious educational issues than me.

So, I think it is important to stop (shut off the mower and put down the cookies) to recognize the blogs that are actually trying to contribute to the betterment of education.

They are all very good (the ones I have read) and they do have some things in common; they have all been kind enough to stop by my blog and leave a comment, or some have actually taken (or wasted) the time to mention PrincipalsPage.com in their blog.

All are unique and unlike me, they are actually trying to solve educational challenges and have ideas to make things better.

Please take a moment to visit the following list of blogs, but you are on your own; I have to go mow.

Keep in mind that I don’t know any of these people and have not been paid to list their blog (although I am open to bribes, no matter how small).

THE LUCKY 13 (or unlucky 13 if they prefer not to be associated with PrincipalsPage... they can be the judge).

The Essential Blog

Mr. Moses

Moving Forward

kwhobbes

PHSprincipalBlog

NJTechTeacher

Human Voices Wake Us

Out of My League

Not So Distant Future

Bircher’s Banter

Parental Guidance

Continuities

Successful Teaching

If you have any suggestions for blogs to visit or one worthy of being featured as Page 2’s Blog of the Week on PrincipalsPage.com, please send them to my assistant Carl Spackler at micsmith@principalspage.com.

I survived my first business related travel experience. Barely. There were a couple of bumps in the road (get it… travel… bumps in the road… you don’t get this type of 5th grade humor just anywhere… well, maybe from a 5th grader), but for the most part the trip was okay.

And by okay, I mean just okay. As in I didn’t die or cry myself to sleep. Not that I slept well in a strange place.

I still don’t understand how people do this all of the time. The hotels, finding someplace to eat, the hotels, the messed up routine, and the hotels. Did I mention the hotels?

It is just not natural to sleep in someone else’s bed. Especially if 1,237 “someone’s” have slept in that same bed before you. And by sleep, I mean… well, never mind because if I say it you will never go back to a hotel (and I could open myself up to legal proceedings in Alabama… so says the PrincipalsPage.com legal department).

So, I will keep these thoughts to myself, much like I try not to think about how many students and parents touch the door handle of the school office on a daily basis.

While I was at the conference, I decided to ask salespeople (did you know salespeople in Latin means; evil bloodsucking devil children…. I’m serious… Google it) who were there how they liked traveling for their job.

They all had the same attitude when I asked them questions about business travel (I not only have a Blog; I am a miniature Ron Burgundy).

The nice salespeople (not really… see devil children) got a glazed look in their eyes, cocked their heads to the side, and mumbled something to the effect of, “Travel is okay and I never get tired of breakfast at McDonald’s, dinner at Applebee’s, cold showers, and sleeping in a disgusting hotel bed.”

The glazed look told me they would rather be home with their families.

I felt the same way after only a couple of days. I missed my wife, my unemployed daughter, my pillow, my bed, my shower, my computer, my refrigerator, my TV, and my routine. I even missed school (any chance that changes by about 8:27 on Monday morning?).

But the important thing is I survived.

One good thing that came out of the week was attending a conference presentation that was actually good. And not just good, but great.

I listened to Alan November for 2 hours. It seemed like 12 minutes and 14 seconds (I have a stopwatch in my head).

He talked about the future of education, technology, and how as administrators we need to change the way we think about teaching our students.

This includes classroom technology, the internet, teacher evaluations, testing, length of class periods, etc. He has a strong belief that educators should be using resources that allow them to interact with teachers and students from all over the world; not just down the hall.

As an administrator who has the opportunity to sit through 37 meetings a week; this was the best presentation that I have had the pleasure of hearing.

He had just the right amount of information, sprinkled with a little sarcasm and just a hint of anger.

Who am I kidding? He may be my biological father (I wonder if he has an alibi for New Year’s of 1967?).

Anyways, he was excellent. After sitting through 14 sessions, this was a welcome and much needed surprise.

Our school district won’t be able to implement everything he talked about at once, but we can work towards it slowly but surely.

I was so excited after listening to him, that I briefly considered flying to Boston to thank him. Then I remembered the hotel bed thing.

Maybe I will just call. Or Skype. Or maybe, he can just read this blog.

He is correct about one thing; the world is getting smaller. And the people that understand this best are our students.

I wonder if they understand the hotel bed thing.

If you get a chance to hear Mr. November present, run don’t walk. You won’t be sorry. Unless you have to stay in a hotel.

Something odd is happening this week. Actually in education, something odd happens on a daily basis, but this is unusually odd. My wife and I are both traveling for work.

What is so odd about that? You see, neither one of us has ever traveled alone on business before (by business, I mean school stuff not actual grownup business… we could never get one of those jobs).

One would think at our advanced age this would have happened before.

Before we move on let’s take a moment so I can explain… by our advanced age, I mean I am incredibly old and decrepit and my wife is unbelievably youthful and vibrant.

She is often asked for a hall pass as she walks around her school during her prep time.

So this will be the first time we have been out of town on business. Odd enough in itself; but it happening for the first time to both of us on the same week? The planets must be aligned just right.

Things are so weird that the junior high kids were doing their homework in study hall and I overheard a teacher say, “I wish the school day was longer. Maybe I could voluntarily give up my prep time?”

I am sure there are people who enjoy traveling for work, but I am not one of them.

Although, admittedly I am not an expert on this whole business travel thing (you see I haven’t done this before… you really should pay more attention).

I like my routine. Get up. Go to School. Work. Come home. Exercise. Go to sleep. While this may strike you as boring, I thrive on it (by thrive, I mean that I am difficult to live with, extremely grumpy, and looking forward to retirement).

You can count on a routine. It never lets you down. There aren’t many things you can depend on in life, but a routine is one of them.

I am finding travel messes everything up.

You have to plan ahead, pack, get directions, sleep in a strange bed, and eat out. It just doesn’t sound appealing to me.

And being gone makes me nervous. My daughter has already called my half of the bed and my wife is giddy with the idea that she won’t have to cook.

I am not sure what to make of this, but I may be expendable.

I have a feeling that I should have just stayed in the office.

What will I do when 8:10 comes around and the bell doesn’t ring? Will I be able to buy chocolate milk for a quarter out in the real world? How will I know when 4th hour is over and it is time for lunch? Who is going to keep an eye on the parking lot after school? What happens to the 79 emails I get everyday if I am not there to answer them?

School administrators should stay in the office where they belong. The entire school district could fall apart.

Or worse, they could not even notice I am gone. I swear I saw people decorating the lounge with balloons and streamers as I left the building.

In the last few weeks, I have been following stories about different situations happening in schools. These have been all over the newspapers, websites, and television stations.

These stories have one thing in common. They contain nothing but bad news about education and educators. And I mean really bad news.

Bad news that makes you feel sick to your stomach. The same feeling you have moments before you get your class list for the new school year. The dread you feel as you make your way to the school mailbox.

The overall sense of despair that covers your whole body because you might find out that you have the worst kid in school in your class (again…he was held back… again).

And just to top things off, he had perfect attendance last year.

Why is it that those students have the ability to show up every day like clockwork?

Anyway, none of these stories that have been in the news shine a good light on education. They focus on the worst possible incidents. These things unfortunately do happen, but it is always a very small percentage of school employees and students who are involved.

The 99.999999% of quality people in education get lumped in with these few nuts. I know this is true because when I tell someone what I do; they invariably pull back in a combination of horror, sadness, and pity.

I refuse to even provide links to these stories because they don’t deserve any more publicity.

And you know who I blame? Not the newspapers, internet sites, or local television stations. They are in business to provide the news we will read and watch. Evidently this is what the public wants.

The media is more than happy to report on bad situations in schools and I think they should.

After all, these incidents are news. And when things happen in education it is always a bigger news story.

If an employee does something inappropriate, they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law (or shot… in most cases I am okay with that).

When school districts or employees make these bad decisions they should have news stations reporting their stories. It’s not the media’s fault.

It’s ours. I blame us. Everyone involved in the running of schools on a daily basis needs to do a better job.

While we deserve a great deal of blame for letting these different types of situations happen in our schools, I think there is a larger issue at play.

Too often, the only publicity schools receive is the negative variety.

Schools have specialist to handle technology, coaching, scheduling, attendance, cleaning, cooking, and curriculum. Why don’t we have someone who specializes in publicizing what we do well?

Why are we not getting our positive messages across?

Why do we sit around and wait for newspapers and television stations to swarm us when something goes wrong? They always want to interview the principal or students when thing aren’t going well.

If the school refuses to talk, they find someone in the community who will (and for the record, usually not a person who had a good experience in school).

Why aren’t we more proactive in sharing all of the good things that happen in education on a daily basis?

Maybe I am naïve. Maybe no one cares about the good things.

Maybe there is a reason the local news always has a lead story involving a crime, or fire, or an accident.

I just think it is sad that they only thing some people know about schools and education is what they see on the news.

And it’s not good.