Thursday, October 16, 2003
What is normal?
That's a good question. As a principal you try to be one step ahead of the kids, the teachers, the custodians, the secretaries, and the deadlines. That keeps you lean because you don't have time for a coffee break or lunch.
When I was a teacher I thought the principal did nothing until he tormented me, but I was wrong; he was tormenting all the other teachers when not doing something to me.
Back to the day after, I arrived to find a parent waiting for me with her son and the cell phone he was to return. She was from the islands and had a beautiful Jamacian accent. She made her message clear, however. She wanted the kids that tormented her son to suffer some some consequences. That wasn't a problem with the vice principal I had who loves to discipline kids in spite of what he may say.
I had an administrators meeting with the other principals and the superintendent in thirty minutes and had to complete a report on the Home Language of all the students in my school. While trying to complete the survey through the database and making a spread sheet of the results, a guidance counselor needed to see me, a student, my secretary and a teacher. So I took all my notes to the meeting and hoped for the best.
Before the meeting I had to participate in the suspension of the boy that spat on another yesterday. We got that done and the news spread through the school fast. Later I met with a parent of a difficult student and told her that we would have to put her daughter on a restricted pass and change her schedule to keep her out of trouble.
I finished the day by updating the sign outside the high school. finally, it was time to get in my car and head home. I stopped to get some food on the way home and listen to my most recent book on tape. Time to relax and prepare for another day of battle.
When I was a teacher I thought the principal did nothing until he tormented me, but I was wrong; he was tormenting all the other teachers when not doing something to me.
Back to the day after, I arrived to find a parent waiting for me with her son and the cell phone he was to return. She was from the islands and had a beautiful Jamacian accent. She made her message clear, however. She wanted the kids that tormented her son to suffer some some consequences. That wasn't a problem with the vice principal I had who loves to discipline kids in spite of what he may say.
I had an administrators meeting with the other principals and the superintendent in thirty minutes and had to complete a report on the Home Language of all the students in my school. While trying to complete the survey through the database and making a spread sheet of the results, a guidance counselor needed to see me, a student, my secretary and a teacher. So I took all my notes to the meeting and hoped for the best.
Before the meeting I had to participate in the suspension of the boy that spat on another yesterday. We got that done and the news spread through the school fast. Later I met with a parent of a difficult student and told her that we would have to put her daughter on a restricted pass and change her schedule to keep her out of trouble.
I finished the day by updating the sign outside the high school. finally, it was time to get in my car and head home. I stopped to get some food on the way home and listen to my most recent book on tape. Time to relax and prepare for another day of battle.
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