The Pretend Principal

'Tis the season ... for people to get sick! At the school level, this often means arranging for an occasional teacher to cover the class. If we are short of supply teachers, the specialist teachers (such as myself) will need to step in and cover the absence. However, when the ill individual is the principal, it takes on additional significance.

My school's administrator is rarely away. He was at a conference (principals need professional development too!) and when he returned, he was not his usual healthy self. Could it be "con-crud"? ("Con Crud" is slang for getting sick after attending conventions, because of the large gathering of people from different places at a single location.) Whatever the reason, he left on Monday and was away the entire week.

My school is not large enough to warrant having a vice-principal. In the "chain of command", the next person in authority would be the chair people. It just so happens that the other chair person is away recovering from an injury. That leaves - you guessed it - me.

The great thing is that there are supply principals that can be called on to help shepherd a school when their usual leader is away. Often, these are retired principals who make themselves available. We were extremely fortunate to have three principals come to cover. Thank you to Sue (Tuesday), Penny (Wednesday) and Allison (Friday) for stepping in when we needed them. Thank you also to Leigh, who was on-call on Thursday when we were unable to find a principal to be with us all day. (I took the liberty of parking in the principal's spot that day. People got a kick out of seeing my bright green Kia Soul there.)

I consider myself quite fortunate that the school where I work does not deal with a host of behaviour issues. My previous schools were challenging at times, and I wrote in the past about a time where I was the person in charge of the building and how difficult it was. This past week, I did not have to deal with problems like this, and I did not have to complete most of the duties that my regular principal is tasked with daily, but there were several responsibilities that require a principal and might often go unnoticed by regular educators. It makes me appreciate my principal and principals everywhere.

Discipline

As "easy" as my school can be, there were still some incidents where students misbehaved and they had to be addressed. This takes a lot longer than one might anticipate. You have to interview all the participants and witnesses, consider context, circumstances, and history, and communicate any consequences to everyone involved. This is where I am grateful for the guidance of our supply and support administrators, who helped me with the process.

Decisions

Decision-making fatigue for educators is real. Teachers have to make a lot of decisions over the course of a school day. For principals, I suspect that they have to make even MORE decisions, and there are many more factors to consider. For instance, if a teacher is absent, who will be asked to cover the class? How will this impact their regular schedule? Do we have enough people outside for yard duty? Are there plans available? Who will need access to those plans? 

Availability

It's important for a principal to be visible in the school, as a reassuring presence, as a physical representation of the school, and as a point of contact. This week, I ate all my lunches (when I had them) at the desk in the office. It ensured that our office administrator got her regularly scheduled lunch break, that phones were answered, doors opened, and visitors greeted. After school, someone "in charge" needs to be around until all students are out of the building. We have dedicated teachers who run clubs and teams outside of instructional hours, so I was around until after 4:30 pm several afternoons in a row. We also hosted our winter concert this week, and the concert always closes with final remarks from the principal. I brought greetings from our principal in his place. Someone had to be available as a stand-in. 

I didn't include all the other jobs a principal or vice-principal has to cover, like answering superintendent's emails, attending meetings, and filing reports. I'm glad I wasn't expected to add those to my to-do list!

There's sometimes an adversarial relationship between teachers and principals, possibly ever since the principals were removed from belonging in the same union. This is a shame because, despite being our "bosses", we are all (or we all should be) aiming for similar goals: ensuring students are learning and protecting the safety, health, and well-being of all people in school. Don't get me wrong - there are some terrible principals and terrible teachers out there (as Friday's Toronto Star article on chronic unjustified teacher absenteeism implies) - AND the education system is very broken and stumbling along, functioning thanks to the generosity of hours of unpaid labour by educators - BUT being a principal and being a teacher are both hard jobs. We need to appreciate each other. Being both at the same time - a "pretend principal" (since I do not hold any PQPs [principal qualification papers]) - made me realize that it's doubly difficult. Tack on a few extra jobs this week, and it's no wonder I'm looking a bit haggard and tired.

I'm looking forward to the final week of school and a bit of a break before returning in January! Stay well, everyone.