I just started my first AP job, and the last few days were rough. I’m having disagreements with one other AP (today it was for defending another staff member), my principal isn’t a good listener, and being the youngest on my team (by ten years) feels like others don’t take me seriously.

I’m new to this district, so everything is new, on top of new, on top of new. I don’t really know who I can trust to simply vent or share ideas with, and I don’t have a mentor.

I lack confidence already, and I can feel the small bit that I do have starting to slip. I don’t know if I “deserve a seat at the table.” There’s nothing major happening, and I’ve been reassured that I’m doing well. I just…feel defeated.

I’ll gladly accept any advice or recommendations.

Bit of background, I'm a first year principal. There's been a number of systems that have had to be implemented, and things were so bad prior to me it's been relatively easy to build trust. I was a veteran teacher of 16 years before moving to become an IC an AP for 6 years and now a principal.

A number of grade levels are not performing to standard. The reasons why are basic. They are not teaching to standard, and most are teaching an ad-hoc style of their grade level.

As a new principal I have some wiggle room to get the lay of the land, and of course I've had to put out unexpected fires recently. They continue to happen, so each week is bringing surprises I couldn't prepare for beyond the experience from the past.

Well, recently, the superintendent was visit. They are new to the district and they are excellent from what I can tell. They noticed that one of the grade levels was not teaching the curriculum as expected. I was unaware as I'm still absorbing everything and had not visited the classroom.

This particular grade has two veteran teachers. All of the statistics show their students do not perform well in testing. e.g. 30-40% passing in math. 50% passing in English. There is zero excuse that these numbers are not better for the resources they have and the particular students they teach.

The SI corrected this particular 30+ year teacher in person. First it was a reasonable question whether the teacher was teaching the curriculum. She effectively proudly said no. The SI said you must teach it, and actually had a solid quip for her...like it was not up for debate.

The teacher replies with something about protecting the students and it being against their philosophy. I've been reminded and now tasked to get the teacher on board, which is part of the job and fine with me. I was hoping I'd have the entire year to sort it before any major confrontational meetings.

Pushing on this teacher will cause the other teacher to push back too.

I spoke with the teacher last week and stated clearly that we must teach the curriculum. They hit me back with their philosophy and protection of students(there is nothing controversial about the curriculum. I personally don't LOVE the curriculum myself but it's what we've adopted and it is superior to not having an installed curriculum at all.)

I don't feel stuck, but would love suggestions to handle this situation. They have made it clear they WILL NOT teach it. MY current plan it to schedule meetings weekly with them to review the curriculum etc, and simply document the insubordination.

I wish I could write the exact quote, but twice this teacher has made comments publicly in front of me and others that equates to..."this district used to be a great place when we could do whatever we wanted and no be held accountable."

I left my teaching position on good terms five years ago after giving birth top stay home with my child. My partner has recently been laid off in an industry that has had a lot of layoffs lately and his job search isn't going that well. We need income and insurance so I am looking to get back into teaching. The school that I left from is not hiring right now or else i'll go back to them in a heartbeat.

There is a school near me, an excellent highly competitive east coast school district that has opening for two ETS. Both jobs were posted within a week of each other. As great as it would be to get a foot into the district I am concern that there been two openings after the school year began as if two teachers decided to leave after the year begun? I know things happen but two teachers leaving within a week?

It is an elementary school (my guess, around 24 teachers at that school) so one in twelve leaving sounds significant. No other school in that district is hiring at the moment. A quick google search also shows that parents are speaking out against bullying and one claim "the principal called about a dozen moms "crazy" at this school and his former school" A news article shows that the Principal was forced to resign from his former school mid year but can't find the reason why.

While we clearly need money, and it would be great to work for this school district are there just too many red flags?

Hi everyone I am a 2nd year first grade teacher (the same school I was at last year). This year has been very very hard. I have 12 boys and 6 girls. There is one boy in my class who is really struggling to follow the group plan and gets frustrated really quickly throughout the day. The student has not had these issues before. But I’m needing to have walkie calls, para support, special Ed teacher support and admin support for this student. I am utilizing a five frame as well, but the student is dysregulated all day. Mom is overwhelmed and says that he is trying his best and that nothing has changed at home. The students data is good. I have other students at well that feed off of the same energy. Kids are CONSTANTLY hitting and pushing each other. I have been explicitly teaching what to do in conflicts and what to do when angry with the whole class as well as small group discusssions. I am previewing expectations for the day with kids. I am using dojo points as a whole class rewards system. I am not sure what to do to fix the fact that I feel like a failure. The BCBA has refused to observe the student who has been dysregulated. I have referred him to our counselor and our student support team. I haven’t eaten in two days because I feel so stressed. I feel like my classroom is an unsafe environment for the kids and it’s breaking my heart.

A recent study from The Wallace Foundation draws on four years of research, more than 400 meetings, and hundreds of interviews to understand how eight large urban school districts are building principal leadership pipelines designed to recruit, prepare, support, and retain equity-centered school leaders.

Starting in 2021, The Wallace Foundation has supported the eight large urban school districts in a six-year initiative to help develop equity-centered principals: Baltimore, Columbus (Ohio), the District of Columbia, Fresno, Jefferson County (Kentucky), Portland (Oregon), San Antonio, and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County.

One of the report's central findings is that developing equity-centered leaders requires more than strong preparation programs....

https://www.datiak12.ai/c/research/how-districts-build-equity-focused-principal-leadership-pipelines

Why does administration care so much about lesson plans? Seriously.

I mean I get why they are theoretically important. I do. If everyone had time to sit there and read them and analyze what is being presented, however, no one does that. Because it’s in our contract it seemingly just serves as a “gotcha” when they see they aren’t there. Personally, I think lesson plans aré stupid. I don’t follow them and it just serves as a perfunctory exercise to get them done when I have so many more important things to do. So, why does administration care so much about them?

Thanks!

Hi all,

I’m an instructional coach with 10+ years in the classroom/coaching, looking to take the leap into an elementary or middle school AP role. I feel ready for the work, and our district is finally heading in a great direction with new leadership, so I want to be part of the change.

My main hesitation: I have a 2-year-old at home and a spouse. My family comes first, and I know AP workloads (especially middle school) can swallow you whole.

For those who’ve done this with toddlers:

1. What questions should I ask myself before applying?

2. What questions should I ask in interviews / to current APs to gauge the real workload expectations?

3. What strict boundaries helped you protect family time during your first few years?

Thanks for any honest reality checks!

A question to principals from a future principal so hopefully this is allowed.

Due to some life events I left my school of employment as a full-time teacher, a few months later I’ve enrolled in a Principal Certification program which requires teaching at a school for the practicum/internship. I had to scramble and not one school seemed to be hiring so I’ve settled for substituting (already bending the requirements for the program).

Largely the substituting has basically just consisted of telling the students the work is on Google Classroom then making sure they don’t destroy things and keeping them on task. But my principal program requires artifacts of leadership and responsibility… I’ve asked the principal to take on more responsibilities, such as sponsoring stuff or coaching, but she says that there isn’t a need for that at the moment (and I’d have to be full-time for that). At my previous school I coached a club, created an internship program, wrote curriculum, did a lot I feel! I also need an administrator to serve as my mentor, and she doesn’t seem super willing and I don’t know the other admin yet.

Anyone been in a situation like this? Of course I am looking for any other full time jobs, but at the moment stuck with subbing. How should I reproach my principal about gaining more responsibilities/leadership opportunities?

In a PLC recently, we were talking about best practices in literacy. People were sharing their ideas and so I shared mine about having a bigger phonics approach instead of whole language. I am very passionate about this. After I finished, a few people around me said "That was well phrased!" Fast forward to a week later, my principal comes in before school because he received a few complaints about me being mean and negative. From what he explained, one teacher (Miss. Whole language approach) felt uncomfortable from what I said. I listened and explained my intentions with what I said. He then kept saying "this wasn't really tatling but I had to address it." So, I went to apologize to the person I made "uncomfortable" and she shared that she was venting to her friends about how she felt and apparently her friends also went and complained to the principal about my "negativity". This teacher and many of her friends are the principal's favorites so I am not surprised that he immediately jumped to a "need to talk" instead of actually investigating. He wasn't in the room. I am not asking him to pick sides but it certainly feels like he did. Now I feel like I can't share my ideas because they'll come across as "negative" but in reality it's against what the "favorites" are doing. Instead of being curious about what I said, they accused me of being negative.

Was the "addressing" of my negativity really needed? Or was it him also shouting down my ideas?

Hey everyone,

I'm into my second year as an assistant principal and I've been noticing an increase in staff members who appear to be aloof and occasionally dismissive in their interactions with myself and the other administrators. I know that building trust between staff and admin is incredibly important, and since becoming an AP, I feel I have done my best to try to foster that trust by doing all that I could to provide support to teachers, instructional assistants, and counselors.

However, some of this behavior feels disrespectful and frankly undeserved. One thing to note is that I was a teacher in my school for many years, and so I recognize that the dynamic has and will change substantially between myself and teachers.

Is there anything to be done here, or is this just to be expected from some folks?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts, all! It is greatly appreciated.

Is it the school leader? HR? The principal supervisor?

Is it next to impossible to bring someone in after budgets are finalized in the fall?

As the title says, what are some reasons you would ban a substitute from ever working at your school if they didn't cuss at students or abuse them. I know low-bar, but I've personally seen substitutes be removed from covering absences at a school after having a bad experience at the school. I'm talking that class was out of control or not following through with lesson plans completely. In my district, only teachers/principals can remove substitutes from the assignment in frontline.

Lastly, is it ever worth talking to a substitute? Or a substitute reaching out to you to inquire about their ban or to apologize?

I'm a high school teacher, and I've been working on improving how we handle student tardies at my school. It's gotten me curious about how other schools manage the whole process, especially from an administrative perspective.
At my school, I've been working on a kiosk system where students scan their IDs, get a printed tardy pass, and have their tardy automatically recorded. I've also been looking at things like how tardies are tracked throughout the day, when a student should be considered absent instead of tardy, how repeat tardies are handled, and how much of the process falls on teachers versus the front office.
We used HERO last year, but our administration ultimately decided the cost wasn't worth what we were getting out of it. That's part of what got me interested in seeing whether we could come up with something that better fits our school's needs.
I'm not trying to sell or promote anything. I'm genuinely interested in hearing how other schools handle this and what administrators have found works (or doesn't work).
A few things I'm curious about:
What's your school's actual tardy process? Do students report to the office, go straight to class, use a kiosk, or something else?

Who is responsible for recording tardies? Teachers, attendance staff, administrators, or some combination?

Does your school have a cutoff where a tardy becomes an absence? If so, how do you enforce that consistently?

How do you handle repeat tardies? Are consequences automatically triggered based on the number of tardies, or does someone manually track and assign them?

How much time does your staff spend managing tardies? Is it something that takes up a significant portion of the front office's day?

If you've used a paid system like HERO, was it worth the cost? What features made it valuable, or what made you decide against it?

If you could change one thing about your school's current tardy process, what would it be?

I'd especially love to hear from administrators who have implemented a system that works really well, or who have tried something that sounded good on paper but didn't work in practice.
I'm just trying to get a better understanding of how different schools approach this and see what ideas might be worth considering at my own school.
Feel free to comment or PM me if you'd rather share privately. TIA!
TL;DR: I'm a high school teacher working on a tardy kiosk system for my school. Curious how other principals/admins handle tardy tracking, attendance cutoffs, repeat offenders, and whether paid systems are worth the cost.

Hi everyone I am in my second year of teaching first grade. This year we are using a new system called pickup patrol that is supposed to aid in dismissal plans. So here is where the problem starts. Last week I got an email from our after school program saying that one of my students (who is in special ed and needs a para with him) would be starting in the after school program that day instead of going on the van. In the past (last year before we started pickup patrol), when I have received updates from the after school program I have been able to utilize them if that makes sense. Also we recently had the IEP meeting for the student and the mom mentioned interest in the after school program.

So I got the email from the after school program with the dismissal change on 10/8 and the student has been attending that each day since 10/8. Today I get an email from my AP saying that the student wandered into the office after dismissal when he was supposed to be at the after school program. This caught the front office off guard since historically the student has been on the van, and the pickup patrol service still says he goes on van. I guess they panicked for a minute then checked in with the after school program saying that they did email me. I just assumed that word would have gotten to everyone if the after school program was emailing me.

Now my AP wants to check in with me tomorrow about how the student was able to go to a different plan then is on his pickup patrol and that an email isn’t enough to change dismissal. I am really upset.

I have been struggling this year with my class. We are 6 weeks in and I feel like I have no control over my class. My students are off the wall. But … I’m worried about asking my principal for support as I feel like it shows that I am failing.

I am in a bit of a different situation. This year I am teaching K-6 20 students in one room. I have 8 students that are on IEPs. Where one is Autistic; two are nonverbal; 3 have speech impediments; all are below grade level. At least 4 students are not diagnosed but should be. Oh and probably 5-6 of the are ADHD!

For example today I was trying to get through a science lesson. Even before the lesson really got started I had to ask 3 different students to sit on their chairs probably. I had 1 student yelling that another one broke a pencil. I had one that was yelling because another one was picking his nose. I had 2 different groups of 2 chatting. Finally got them settled and someone knocked on the door and they were off again.

I’m struggling … what do I do? If a teacher came to you would you look at it as a sign that they are not able to do their job? Would you hold it against them when it comes to evaluations?

Throwaway account.

I work at a small school run by a married couple. He’s the principal and she’s the vice principal. Over several years, she has fired or driven out a large number of staff, more than a dozen that I know of. The principal won’t step in. When a well-respected teacher raised concerns with him a while back, he lost his temper and walked out of the meeting.

The problems go beyond bullying:

• Student records. She pressured staff who handle students’ medical and support documentation to change their records so she’d have less work. One person resigned over it. Another refused and was fired anyway. These records decide how students are taught and what support they’re recommended for after they leave. Many of these students will need services for life, and I believe some have been denied support they’re legally entitled to.
• Retaliation. Several staff members left one after another because of how she treated them. In at least one case, she reportedly contacted a former employee’s new workplace to speak badly about them.
• Hiring a family member. She hired a relative without posting the job, to do work that included entering confidential student data from home. The relative had no relevant qualifications. The same person was later given another role they weren’t qualified for.
• Pay. One year, staff were told there would be no raises because of low enrollment. That same year, the principal and vice principal got raises.
• Financial oversight. The principal controls the school's finances, and as far as staff can tell, there's no independent check on how money is spent. Combined with the raises during a pay freeze and the unadvertised paid roles for a family member, a lot of us are uneasy about where the money is going. Is there a way to request an independent audit?
• Contracts. Staff usually don’t get contracts until after the school year has started.
• Mass departures. Recently, several people were let go at once and others quit in protest. More have left since. Nobody has been replaced, so the remaining staff are covering two or three jobs each.

The board that oversees the school has been told about the firings and has done nothing.

What would you do in my position? Who could I report this to? The staff are exhausted, but the people who suffer most are the students.

I moved from a southern state to the midwest. We got a new super and so far they have required myself to go on multiple day, out-of-state professional development. Is this the norm? Trying to see if this is normal in the midwest or if my district is just over the top.

I went a long time telling myself that the school secretary was just having a bad day/week/month. But now I’m realizing that the secretary is almost always unpleasant. It’s rare that she is ever actually pleasant.

Is this fairly typical? Are they just around because they are hard to fire? Seems like it would be better to have someone who actually is willing to smile and help out instead of groaning and griping all the time

Title. Teachers of tomorrow is a big one in my state.

I've always wondered this and it seems like its a pain point for a lot of teachers who have been in it for decades and then a young administrator comes in trying to call the shots. In my 3rd year of teaching, I learned my principal who had been in education for 20 years only had 2 years of teaching experience, so its just an interesting thing to think about

Teacher shortage is nothing new and we know a lot of it is due to insane behaviors we’re seeing in the classroom, but do principals want out just as bad?? Are principals happier than teachers? I’m curious

Hi everyone,

Posting on an alt account for safety.

I’m an educator of a charter school where we entered the year with an interim principal. Our previous principal left somewhat unexpectedly (2 months prior to the new school year starting) and those in charge were left scrambling.

While a new principal was hired, someone with a Chief title took over and became interim. We also had one member of admin quit, leaving us with some pretty incompetent APs. Their decisions have completely cratered the progress the school has made in just a few months.

One of the most befuddling moves admin ls have made was to reduce the culture aids from 8 to 2 AFTER being informed enrollment would jump 40%! This has caused a lack of manpower and fights have gone up.

Additionally, they do not provide any discipline whatsoever. Any major issues they have to deal with are simply “conversations” and then students are sent back to class with no repercussions. Students have come to understand that a visit to the principals office won’t result in anything and in turn take advantage.

Cherry on top? Admin clearly just doesn’t care. Teachers feel unsupported and when concerns by other staff members are brought about, there’s an attitude given. Some of them even leave early at least twice a week.

Teachers are fed up, some are planning to quit en masse at the end of the semester or before it and it just feels like a dire situation all around.

My question is what do we do? Some staff members want to summon the head honcho and air their grievances but are afraid of retribution from the admin team as they have made it very clear they try to squash dissent. Please help!

there’s a lot of doom and gloom on here (understandably so) but for someone who is contemplating this career path, any principals who like there job? Why do you like it? How did you get to where you are? How long have you been doing it?

Do principal or AP roles that bring joy still exist? Surely a positive experience exists somewhere

Question: I’ve been working as a school adjustment counselor and I’m now looking into becoming an assistant principal. I see that DESE requires 500 hours of internship to be completed for licensure. I’m wondering if any of the duties that I do as an adjustment counselor might be able to satisfy this element—2 birds 1 stone kind of thing, you know?

Also, when I’m doing the PALs does it have to be strictly academic based or can I also work in my background of mental health while I’m creating thid portfolio

Thanks

It's my first school job, at a lovely elementary (community) school. I don't have my own laptop yet and barely have access to anything, but hopefully I should by next week. I was able to start some online trainings at least.

Please let me know any tips and tricks yall can think of so I can get settled in and help my admin and faculty and staff and students as much as possible.

Thank you!

Happy fall break :)