When you go to Superintendent School they teach you a lot of things.

Such as, superintendents get paid more than principals (I got an A on this quiz… nailed it!).

Usually, this lesson is enough to pique one’s interest.

They also teach you about public relations, finances, and school law.

That’s the good part.

The bad part is they don’t teach you everything.  Some things you just have to learn on the job.

This is not very reassuring…for the superintendent and school board.

Lots of Responsibility + Lack of Knowledge = Ruh Roh, Raggy!

In a perfect world, superintendents would be prepared when they started their new careers, but as you might’ve heard, the world isn’t always perfect (if this is news to you… I’m sorry you had to hear it here).

The superintendentcy is a big job, so I can’t really blame universities if some things fall through the cracks.

Not to complain but… there is one little tidbit I would like to see college professors share before diplomas are handed out.

Teach future educational leaders how to say "No".

Everyone can say "Yes", but only a select few can say "No".

I think this gets many people into trouble.  It’s almost like new superintendents need a safe word.

Personally, mine is "Serenity now!" (if you see me screaming this while huddled in a corner rocking back and forth in a fetal position… please back away slowly… and notify the authorities).

Saying no sounds simple, but it’s hard.

Really hard.

Especially for people who haven’t been taught.

I want it noted this is the only blog where you get  Superintendent talk mixed in with Seinfeld and Scooby-Doo references.  You’re welcome.

Comments: 3
Tags: Educational Leadership, principal, Scooby Doo, Seinfeld, Superintendent

It’s borderline ridiculous.

Part of my job is trying to promote good discipline among a large group of students.

It’s not any easy job, but someone has to do it.

Talk nice.

Treat each other with respect.

Don’t cheat.

Don’t touch each other (this means you junior high boys).

Pick up trash.

Easy on the texting.

Use your indoor voice.

Don’t put anything on Facebook that we will all regret (and cause me to contact the school lawyer).

Basically, just do the right thing.

It doesn’t always go smoothly, but for the most part students seem to listen.

Then there’s my house.

And the two people who live in it and eat my food.

They have no discipline.

Specifically, they have no discipline in regards to the other "thing" that lives in my house and eats more food than anyone.

Buddy the Dog.

It seems that hundreds of children of all ages will at least fake respect when I’m in their vicinity.

My dog?  It’s like he’s an animal. 

And deaf.

Even worse, my wife is evidently trying to win the Mrs. I’m a Dog Owner and I Have No Interest in Making the Family Animal Follow Any Rules Because I Find Him Handsome Pageant.

Why does he get to do what he wants when he wants?

Why is there always time for his every want and need?

Why does he get to crawl inside the dishwasher and look for scraps?

Why do we call my bed "my bed" when HE seems to spend more time there?

Why does he get so much attention?

And most importantly, why does he get all of this special treatment when I work and all he does is nap?

I can’t pinpoint the exact date where I lost control of our home, but it seems to be about the exact same day in which he showed up.

Comments: 3
Tags: Buddy the Dog, discipline, school rules

Who knew?

A PrincipalsPage Blog may actually help students.

I’m shocked.

And excited.

You can find this bulletin board in Sycamore, Illinois. It’s a grade 6-8 building in Northern Illinois with 853 students.

Where did they get the idea? Click HERE.

I will gladly take credit for the blog, but I must admit the picture isn’t mine.

But I’m still very happy.

Comments: None
Tags: Blog, bulletin board, Sycamore

As I cruised around the interweb over holidays, I came across Mark Cuban’s blog.

He is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks in the National Basketball Association (and World Champions I might add…).

I thought his most recent post was perfect for educators.

After a quick email, Mr. Cuban agreed to let me post it here for teachers and school administrators.

Only in America would a billionaire respond to my annoying email.

Enjoy.

“I thought this was appropriate to start the new year.

We all have the tendency to believe that we are living in a very advanced technological period. We get all excited about the new tech we got at Xmas and what we read about that will soon be available to us. In reality, everything we are excited about today is going to be incredibly old and boring much faster than we ever expect.

No matter what year you were born, by the time you finish(ed) high school, its (was) a completely different world. Today’s high school seniors were born prior to the World Wide Web, wireless internet, smartphones,tablets, HDTVs and changes in world politics that were never imagined. Without question each of us can remember the things that were new and exciting to us when we were kids, that were unimaginable to our parents, but are now nothing more than old memories.

The rate of technological change is not slowing down. In fact, the argument could be made that it is speeding up. In our lifetimes, we will reach a point when we reflect back on the good old days of the internet, Facebook, Twitter and other tech that is ubiquitous today. We might even look back at digital the way we currently look at analog. Things change.

Of course, this isn’t a problem. It’s a huge opportunity. There is that 12 year old that is imagining what we can’t. Another that is combining elements into something new we should have seen, but did not. It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings. “If you are looking where everyone else is for the next big thing, you are looking in the wrong place”

The reality is, None of us are born in to the world we live in.”

Click to preview Mr. Cuban’s book.

Better yet, click on the book to order from Amazon.

Comments: 8
Tags: Dallas Mavericks, guest post, Mark Cuban

Another year is over.

For me, this means one thing.

The easiest blog of the year.

So here are the most popular PrincipalsPage.com Blogs (posts… whatever) based on comments from 2011.

Thank you for taking the time to visit.

I’m amazed at the number of people who continue to come back. Over 186,000 visits during the calendar year.

Readers were kind enough to stomach their way through 256,000 pages of questionable blog content.

A special thanks to everyone who took the time to leave a comment. I continue learn far more from you than you do me.

It’s been a great year.

Enjoy.

January – How to Get a Snow Day in 4 Easy Steps. (15 comments)

February – Who Wants a FREE Copy of Waiting for Superman. (66 comments).

March – Bullying Victim or Hero. Thoughts?  (35 comments)

April – School Administrators Need to Limit Access. Huh? (13 comments)

May – Are Teachers So Dry They Need Buckets of Lotion? (16 comments)

June – How Do You Hide in Plain Sight. and New Principals: If You Read Only One Blog, Make It This One. (9 comments each… slow month)

July – Goodbye Cursive. (12 Comments)

August – Hiring a Teacher to a 35 Year Contract Makes Me Nervous. (26 comments)

September – After Hiring Comes Firing. (16 comments)

October – Evidently, Delivering Undergarments to Your Daughter in Her 5th Grade Classroom is Frowned Upon. (9 comments)

November – The Secret to Being a Great Principal. (11 comments)

December – TV Show Idea: Road School. (7 comments… it’s early)

Comments: None
Tags: Blog, PrincipalsPage.com Blog

It’s time for my 2012 New Year’s Resolution.

In past years, I’ve set my goals pretty high. Watch more TV. Learn to swim. Be less fat. Run a half-marathon.

I don’t want to brag, but check – check – working on it – and check.

But now on to bigger goals.

I’ve always thought my purpose in life was to give away large amounts of money to good causes (sadly, I don’t consider myself a good cause).

It seems like a very noble way to give back and make the world a slightly better place.

Have a bushel barrel full of cash and sit around on my big behind and decide where the money could do the most good.

It sounds great.

In theory.

The problem is I don’t have a boatload of money (sorry you had to hear it here first).

Yet, I can’t shake the thought there must be more for me to do than slop down a third-rate blog with way too many readers (I’m not judging you people… simply questioning your good taste).

I’ve always resisted the urge to cash in on the blog’s nominal success.

I turn down most interview requests, guest posts, speaking opportunities, and most of all… advertising.

From the very beginning I assumed people didn’t want to visit a blog about education (and nothing) and see 17 ads from Viagra and Online Universities.

I still think that.

There is nothing worse than going to a website or blog and being overwhelmed with tasteless ads.

But I’m torn.

How can I give away money when I don’t have it?

So after over 560 posts (most of which need to be destroyed) and hundreds of thousands of visitors, I’ve decided to cash in.

Here’s my plan.

Step 1 – Start a charity (seems like a lot of paperwork, but I’m up for it).

Step 2- Get someone (any one…) to pay me for what I already do for free.

Step 3 – Take Buddy the Dog for a walk and decide where this money can best help kids, schools, or any good cause.

I’m convinced there’s no chance any of this will work.

Except, the walking Buddy part (he’s very insistent).

Wish me luck. Or call me crazy.

Comments: 7
Tags: Buddy the Dog, Charity, Untitled

I have an idea.    

An ingenious one.

It may sound like I’m full of myself, but if you don’t think your ideas are ingenious, who will?

You have to give me the benefit of the doubt because I could be delusional from the massive amounts of Advil coursing through my veins from my recent snowboarding accident (I fell… hard… on my caboose… now I must blog standing up… sad really).

In the past few years, I’ve watched my share of reality television.

Survivor. American Idol. Shows with angry unhappily married fake rich ladies. All the junk on E! and VH1.

Some of it’s good.

Most of it isn’t.

Usually, I come away with even lower expectations for the human race.

I’ll often watch and then go through a period of self-loathing and abdominal cramping.

Just recently (after my last blow to the head while snowboarding/falling), it occurred to be there is an untapped reality show market.

Education.

The great thing about a reality show about education is 100% familiar with the topic and issues surrounding it.

Most of us went to school. Some of us even graduated (8th grade counts).

It’s hard to find a family who doesn’t have at least one member who is a teacher, so the education reality television market could be a gold mine.

Here’s my idea.

A show called “Road School”.

It’s homeschooling, but in an RV.

Two things I know nothing about.

You take an average family with two educators, an Evil Spawn, a handsome beagle, big fancy motor home with internet and satellite television provided by the production company and you got yourself a show.

Hit the open road and let the high jinks ensue.

An entire school year learning from the land.

The family visits national parks, monuments, and also interacts with regular people.

They stop by the homes of astronauts, veterans, and inventors.

Each week the family goes to a new state, does charity work, has a new experience, and learns a valuable lesson.

At the end of each episode there’s a quiz on the places and people they visited and the things they learned.

The curriculum could be put out in advance so schools and homeschool students could participate along with the show.

It would be education for the next century.

Not confined to a desk or classroom, but learning by being out in the real world.

I see a blog, YouTube updates, lots of Tweeting, and possibly a Discovery Education tie-in.

The family not only learns new stuff, but grows closer.

There’s laughter. There’re tears. There are long speeches about the greatness of the American people.

It’s The Amazing Race, Dirty Jobs, American Pickers, combined with a life-long education.

It’s ingenious.

At least, I think think so.

Now I will just sit back and wait for some education organization to recognize my genius.

And throw massive amounts of cash at me and Buddy the Dog (because he doesn’t perform unless there’s money involved… or a carrot).

Comments: 10
Tags: American Idol, American Pickers, Buddy the Dog, Dirty Jobs, Discovery Education, E!, Evil Spawn/Daughter, Survivor, The Amazing Race, VH1

The Evil Spawn is 10.  I am not.

This has never been more apparent to me than when my face slammed into the earth as we were learning to snowboard (you may have heard my girl-like screams and crying earlier this morning).

I graduated from high school over 25 years ago.

I have t-shirts from the late 1980’s.

I remember when David Lee Roth had good hair (side note… Van Halen is getting back together… are you listening Guns N’ Roses?).

I know who was President before Ronald Reagan.

I shouldn’t be learning to snowboard.

I shouldn’t be snowboarding even if I knew how.

Which I don’t.

Which was very apparent to the high school kid who was kind enough to give us lessons.

He was very polite.  He even called me “Sir”.

And he helped me up the first time I fell.

Which was when I was trying to strap my boots into the fiberglass piece of death I was supposed to slide down the mountain on.

He also helped me the second time I fell.

After that his interest in my safety seemed to wane.

As I add up my injuries, I seem to have a slight concussion, a bruised tailbone, and some sort of thigh injury that will no doubt get worse as the swelling goes down and the Advil wears off.

Through the grace of God, my fingers seem to be okay which allows me to share this horrific and humiliating experience with blog readers around the globe.

On my last trip on the ski lift, I not only feared for the safety of the people in front of me, but also the 5-year old girl behind me who had no idea she was about to crash into an old man laying face down in the snow in the next 45 seconds.

During the few seconds of reflection I had before doing a face first plant into a snow bank, it occurred to me that my real age isn’t 44 (I also want to take a second to apologize to Ashleigh, the kindergartner I traumatized.  I’m almost certain she has stopped crying by now).

I have no idea what it really is, but I now have a better understanding of my athletic age.

I’m not 16 anymore.  Or 26.  Or even 36.

I’m at least 44.  Probably older. 

Much older.

This may not seem that old, but you don’t see many 44 year olds in the Olympics do you?

I enjoyed snowboarding, although I’m not sure why they just don’t call it falling.

I have come to realize, I can no longer choose my athletic endeavors based on fun, excitement, or conquering new challenges.

I first have to consider rehabilitation time and if my health insurance deductible covers any possible disfigurement.

Comments: 3
Tags: David Lee Roth, President Carter, Ronald Reagan, snowboarding, Van Halen

Another year. 

Another published article in my favorite magazine.

Principal Leadership Magazine from the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

For my money (and I’m not rich), they have as good of a digital edition as anyone.

Every school administrator should be reading Principal Leadership.

And my column (blurb… whatever).

Comments: 3
Tags: fame, NASSP, Principal Leadership Magazine

Get a life people.

Most of you probably have a few days off, and you shouldn’t be wasting your precious time on this drivel.

We all spend way too much time mindlessly staring at our computers and looking at the same websites over and over.

Trust me, what was on ESPN.com 2 minutes ago is still there (I just checked).

What’s sad is this blog has an extremely large amount of visitors every Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

How pathetic it that?

I feel somewhat responsible for the dumbing down of America.

So, if you are reading this blog, I have some suggestions.

1.  If you are enjoy reading a blog about school administration (boring), save it for when you’re back at work and need to waste time.

2.  Read an iPad (books are so yesterday).

3.  Talk to your family.  Or if you don’t care for your family, talk to someone else’s.

4.  Sleep (from the picture you can see Buddy the Dog has taken my advice on this one).

5.  Go to the movies.  Tom Cruise needs the money and we all need $12 nachos.

6.  Take a walk because in about one week we will all come to the conclusion we’re fat (in retrospect, lay off the nachos and invest the $12).

7.  Write your own blog (this would take some of the pressure off me and also give me something to read at work).

8.  Pick up trash (this just seems like the right thing to do).

9.  Clean out the junk drawer you know we all have.  As an added bonus, you will no doubt find the 47 batteries you are about to need on Christmas morning.  Plus, this will save you a trip to the gas station in your pajamas.

10.  Go shopping and get your spouse a very special Christmas gift.  They will not only love it, but will owe you for all of 2012 (I’m personally counting on this one).

Merry Christmas.  If you need me I will chasing the Evil Spawn down the side of a mountain (skiing).

I look forward to starting the new year on crutches.

Comments: 7
Tags: Blog, Buddy the Dog, Evil Spawn/Daughter, iPad, Skiing