On being a principal

I was walking in the breezeway today and saw a bunch of kids chatting with each other and having a good time. I have seen this innumerable times in the past on this campus and thought nothing of it. To-day I asked them where they should be and why they weren’t in class?

This was an instant transformation on my part that is really quite amazing. One day I am the curriculum coordinator with no responsibility for kids and the next day I am asking them why they weren’t in class. What is it about the human condition that changes in psyche can be made so fast and so effortlessly? If I thought about it, there is no way my nature is so accusatory but in one instant this changed because of the position of principal and its’ expectation or what I think a principal should be. I hope I can get over this soon.

On the other hand, I had no problem receiving birthday cake from the grade five class and nursery school who were celebrating birthdays, or parents coming in to say hello and bringing in a little ‘something’. I am likely to gain fifty pounds from this job.

However, I am expected to be able to give answers and make decisions, even though the problems are philosophical and actually require not an instant answer but a discussion of the issues. Unfortunately, the teachers do not see it that way and like us, who want a definitive and instant answer when we see a doctor, teachers expect the same from me. The difficulty is twofold. Teacher ‘a’ wants one thing, like punishing students for some infraction of the dress code and teacher ‘b’ wants the dress code to be abandoned. Another layer of complication is that I have my own opinion of all of these issues and generally it is different than everyone else’s.. Somehow, I am going to have to reconcile this with the good of the school. I am either going to suppress my own instincts and follow policy, once I can figure out what that policy is, or try and change policy and convince teachers of my way of thinking.


One of the best parts of the job comes when some cute grade ones come into my office to give me something they found. When they are there, they usually help themselves to candy and receive house cards for being such a good school citizen. More and more of them seemed to be visiting me as the week wore on with all sorts of things ranging from money to pencils and pens. It just occurred to me they are probably stealing the money to get into my office. Could it be for the candy?

Discipline is another interesting issue. For me, the emphasis has got to be how to support this student and figure out how to help. For others, the emphasis seems to be on punishment and this is another huge issue that has to be reconciled. I will certainly have a chance to observe human nature in the next few months and I hope my attitudes towards the basic good of every human is not tested, or if it is, it remains positive. Otherwise, taking the job will not have been worth it.

This week I was on a honeymoon. Next week should be even more interesting.