My principal wants to talk to me about our school culture. I am somewhat apprehensive because I know the principal in any school is one of the major determinants of a school's culture. I am not one to "sugarcoat" anything and I have decided to answer all of my principal's questions honestly. I figure if he has asked me to discuss our school culture he understands he is going to get the truth from my perspective. Is it really in my best interest to answer his questions honestly? Should I be wary of this meeting in general? As an aspiring principal, what might ne the best way to navigate this meeting?
Graduation/Promotion Task Force at Hampton High School
Hampton High School being in it's second year of existence added a senior class this year and it has been found that many students eligible to graduate this year are in need of more than 8 credits which could be earned in the fall and spring semesters. I have been tasked by my principal to lead a task force that will identify these eligible students and put into place strategies that will allow them to earn the additional credits and graduate this year. Working with our lead counselor, graduation coach, department chairs, and other members of the administrative team students have been identified. At our second meeting the task force used a variety of data to identify factors that have led to students falling behind credit wise on their path to graduation. These factors could be; academic, behavioral, attendance, or a variety of all three. As the year progresses the graduation/promotion task force will be identifying underclassmen that are in danger of not being ...
Definitely answer the questions honestly but also have some input or ideas to help the situation if a negative one exists. A few weeks ago I used a google survey to gauge the culture and climate of our school as well and pulled questions from the administrator survey that the staff conducted at HHS last year. The results were much improved and my principal was pleased. The next step is to identify areas of concern and a game plan to fix it.
ReplyDeleteHonesty is good, but it should be done in a way that doesn't look like you are trying to say the principal is ineffective or the school is horrible (which I know you won't). An effective leader listens to their employees and takes feed back and criticism in order to make an effective change to the school's culture and climate.
ReplyDeleteHonesty will be critical to change. Perhaps your principal realizes change is needed and perhaps he is seeking ideas to improve. I think being honesty sheds light on the situation. Hopefully since he asked he is prepared to received the response as constructive criticism and will use it to make a positive change moving forward.
ReplyDeletePlease realize when your principal asked to speak with you, he knew where he would receive honest dialogue and no "sugar coating". Remember tone and delivery. I also agree with attempt to have solutions for every concern. There's nothing worse than a lot of critics who don't provide nor want to come up with solutions to correct an issue.
ReplyDeleteHow did it go? I'm in the process of completing my "School Culture Survey" assignment for my other class, and I'm sure thatI'm going to be in exactly the same boat. I can already tell by looking at the responses that it's going to be an interesting (not in a fun way either) conversation with my principal and AP. I'm not looking forward to it, but at the same time, I think it's great for them to know. After all, the teachers and staff are sticking their necks out to be honest about how they feel about the current school culture, and that creates opportunity for some honest dialogue, self-assessment (for all involved and the school as a collective whole), and real change/improvement. Let me know how it worked out for you Chris. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThe meeting went well. I provided suggestions for some of our problems and our dialogue was very productive. Our principal was very receptive, he identified some of his shortcomings and wanted to know what could he do to be a better principal.
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