Principal Fellows Annual Conference

Yesterday, Nov. 12, 2010, I went to the NCPF annual fall conference in Chapel Hill.  It was at the Chapel Hill Center for School Leadership Development.  Bill Bonds, the guest speaker was dynamic.  He was the ex-principal of the high school in Paducah, Kentucky were there was a school shooting that left eight students dead.  Mr. Bonds is no longer a principal, but a consultant for the National Association of Secondary School Principals, (NASSP).  He is a specialist for school Safety.  I learned so much about school safety from listening to this man, that is not written in the textbooks.  Mr. Bonds, is highly sought after by school districts when there is a crisis, however, he spends most of his time conducting workshops that train principals on what to do in a crisis situation before it happens.  The program began at 9:30 and lasted until 3:30.  I am certain that it cost NCPF a pretty penny to get this man but his presentation was well worth the money.  I considered it a good investment.  Mr. Bonds taught three separate workshops.  They were Lessons Learned from Dealing with School Crisis, Safe, Supportive, and Effective Schools, and Words that Hurt the Heart.  Together, they made a great recipe on how to keep your school safe.  It outlined some very important things that principals should do in the event of a crisis.  In the first session, Mr. Bonds told the story of the Paducah, Kentucky school shooting, where a student walked into the building and opened-fire on a group of students, leaving eight students dead.  He said the shooting lasted only a total of 11 seconds, but what he did afterwards was critical to how his school survived.  He related those steps to us in a very calm and matter-of-factly way, but it was good advice.  I learned that all school buildings are not created equal.  Bill said, "When you become a principal, you need to get a structural engineer to come into your building to identify weak and strong halls, ceilings, and walls.  DO NOT put children in weak areas."  In weak areas, whole slabs of concrete have been known to fall on students, crushing and killing them instantly.  Most schools have what it known as a tornado drill.  In this drill students are brought out of the classrooms into the hallways and told to face the wall, bend on their knees and stay down in this position until the drill is over.  Mr. Bonds said students often don't follow these instructions because they don't understand why are being told to do this.  Mr. Bonds stated, "Tell them why you are asking them to do this.  Teenage boys and girls do not fear death, so telling them this will prevent them from dying won't work.  A teenage girl fears getting her face cut up, smashed or injured.  A teenage boy fears, being crippled or in a wheelchair.  Tell them what could happen in winds of 200 miles per hour."  He showed a power point of pictures of the tornado that destroyed Enterprise High School.  The photos were unbelievable to see how quickly a school can be destroyed and left devastated.  Mr. Bonds stated that all schools need to have a supply of blankets to warm students and to prevent them from going into shock if they are injured.  Bonds talked about the importance of teachers during such times.  "When it gets bad, students are looking for a teacher to take care of them."  After a crisis it is important to have school the next day if at all possible.  "15 minutes after my students and teacher left, I began planning for the next day.  Communication is the key!"  Mr. Bonds also talked about Bullying and Cyber-bullying which is having a devastating effect on students today because of their access to the Internet.  Often it's hard for teachers to tell if it's bullying or just simply joking around.  He listed the four criteria for bullying.  They are 1) imbalance of power, 2) repeated often, 3) one student is humiliated by the behavior, 4) the other student enjoys the humiliation. All four of these criteria must be met to constitute bullying.  Bonds went over NC's bullying policy, which is NC Senate Bill 256, Article 29B, of the School Violence Prevention policy, 115-C 407.5, Bullying and Harassing Behavior.   Mr. Bonds noted that there is a difference in the way males and females bully.  "Males bully though use of physical size.  Females bully by social position." Bonds stated that "The reason cyber-bullying is so popular is because students get no negative feedback from this and they feel no remorse."  He also addressed the issue of school metal detectors.  "Metal detectors, DO NOT make anyone feel safer; they are an outward sign of fear.  Teachers, APs and principals make students feel safer."  "The most important part of my day is when students come into the building, I need to be where they are.  Nothing makes a student feel safer than seeing the Principal and AP in the hall.".  Much of what Bill Bonds shared with us was negative and depressing, but in the end he told how his school survived.  Teachers, parents and the community all  pulled together to form strong bonds which turned into extreme school support.   He was quick to relate how other circumstances he faced later did not go as well but developed into extreme distrust among staff and the community.  Bonds had so much good information to share with our audience that we literally ran out of time.  This was the best workshop that I have attended since becoming a Principal Fellow.  My prayer is that I will never forget these invaluable lesson learned and that I may also never have to use them.  In my opinion, every school district should have Bill Bonds speak their their administrators before disaster strikes. 

Missing Ingredients

Last week I suspended a student I will call him Student A.  He got into a pushing and shoving fighting match with Student B.  The teacher wrote up Student A, but did not write up Student B.  I called Student A into my office and listened to his side of story.  He immediately admitted his guilt and accepted his fate, which resulted in a one day suspension. He also stated that student B hit him first.  In most cases this is a typical response, however I told him that I didn't have a D-1 with Student Bs name on it.  Still I went back to the teacher and asked her to reiterate what happened.  She told the same story.  Then I asked her did she witness Student B hitting Studetn A.  She said no and stated that her two volunteers could attest to the same thing.  For me that summed things up and I conluded the matter by calling Studetn A's parent and informed her of his suspension.  Today the school guidance counselor said she needed to talk with me about two students.  I went to her office and she began to tell me about the incident that happened last week between Student A and Student B.  I told her it had already been taken care of but she said I should listen further, so I did.  She went onto say tht she learned of Student A's suspension and was going to have to put him off the Leadership Team because that is a violation of the rules  When she asked Student A to tell her what happened, he recounted the story he had told me.  Then she called in Student B, who admitted he had hit Student A first, but said it was an accident.  Then he said they hit each other a few times and finally it ended in a shoving match.  Student B said he didn't know why he didn't get suspended becasue he was guilty of passing the first lick.  With this information, I felt horrible, but went back to my principal whom I had made aware of all the facts.  I told her that Student B "admitted" hitting Student A first and that the teacher probably had not witnessed the whole incident.  She only reported Student A because that was all she saw, which gets me to my point.  Teachers don't see everything, all the time.  We need each other to be one another's eyes and ears.  We have to work together to resolve student issues.  I can't be in all places, at all times, so I have to trust the teachers and they have to trust me to be able to come forth with information.  If I didn't have a good rapport with the guidance counselor, I may have missed this valuable information.  I went back to my principal with the new information because I was concerned that I had done something wrong.  My principal assured me that based on the infromation I had been given I did what was right.  I had also followed up with the teacher and got the same story twice.  Still I felt bad.  I asked my principal should I take some action against Student B and was told yes.  I called both boys into my office but this time I let Student B tell his side of the story.  Again he admitted hitting Student A first because he was mad.  He concluded by saying he didn't understand why Student A was the only one who got suspended.  I informed that that by his own admission, he too was being suspended for one day and had him call his parent.  I spoke with the parent and she said she understood because her son had come home and told her about what had happened.  Both boys apologized to each other and were sent back to class.  Afterward I went to the gudance counselor's office to tell her how much I appreciated what she did and I explained to her how much I respect her.  I also told her that I value her and need her to help me be the best AP and one day a principal that I can be.  It's time we as educators realize this.  "It does take a village to raise a child."  If we will work together and pool our collaborative efforts, we can get the job well done. 

Culturally Relevant

Today a consultant visited our school to demonstrate to us what implementation of Imagine It! should look like in the classroom.  We toured each grade level and she atught each class for a brief period of time.  This was very exciting for us because we wanted to make sure we weere doing it right and if not correct what we are not doing.  We also viewed her visit as a plus for our school because our teachers would be able to glean little tips and tricks that could help them in their facilitation of the program.  After visiting a few classes I was really  impressed with the way the lessons flowed for the consultant, but I noticed in one class the program is not culutrally relevant.  The consulstant was going over the vocabularly and came to the word "mist."  The students thought she said "miss" so they got excited and raised their little hands.  "You're a miss", they chimed, but it was not the correct word.  She had pronouced it correctly but they didn't hear it correctely which often happens with vocabularly.  However, when she attempted to explain the word, she gave the denifintion saying, "You know how your momma sometimes mist her plants."  I almost fell over because little did she know or realize that the children she was instructing were 100% minority and 100%  on free and reduced lunch.  These children have no plants at home to mist.  Some of them live in shelters and don't even have homes. The consultant seemed totally oblivious to this.  She taught as if she were teaching affluent white students.  I was offended, because I felt like all my life we have been left out of the textbooks, and now in the year 2010 we are still left out.  Isn't there anyone who will see us or are we still the invisible man?  You can't properly and effectively teach students if you pretend not to notice their cultural differences.  There seems to be no Black program developers who will write programs for our children that will embrace their culture.  I know where this is going.  Somebody's got to do it Janet.  Why not you?  I'm working on it.  Really I am.  But until then, I think it is a crying shame that school systems pay million of dollars on reading programs that are not sentive to the culture of the populations they serve especially in the year of 2010.  What a low down dirty shame.

Lock Down

Last week I experienced a district wide lock down because of a tornado watch.  My principal immeidately put the school into tornado drill effect.  It was right before dismissal but we were instructed not to let the students board the buses.  Everyone had to remain at school until we were offically relased from lock down.  The lock down last until 3:45.  Parents were frantic and wanted to come and take their children home.  I guess they felt better knowing that their child was with them.  They probably didn't know that our building which is made of cinderblock was probably the safest place for them.  The students were then dismissed to go home.  A little boy's mother called the school.  She was very upset because her child di not get off the bus at his stop.  She was screaming "Where is my son?"  She caught a cab to the school and was ranting and raving.  We called the bus supervisor who informed us that the child had been taken to the nearest school, which was Spease elementary.  This school was way across town.  The mother was livid because she was in a cab and she did not know the location of the school.  I assured her she would not have to take a cab to the school  and that I would personally take her in my car to pick up her son and take them both home.  This calmed the mother down some and we immedately set off to get the student.  The mother was worried that her son had been oput off the bus in the rain and he was somewhere walking around lost and in the rain and cold.  I assured the mother that this was not protocol and we would never do such a thing.  The child was safe, but the mother was not hearing it.  I drove the mother to the school and she picked up her son and I took them both home.  She apologized to me for being in such a rage and I assured her that I being a mother also, understood completely.  I learned a lot that day.  I leanred how to remain calm in a bad situation.  I could've escalated the situation by getting emeitonal or I could de-escalate it by focusing on alleviateing the mother's fears, which were not totally unfounded. 

Field Trip

On Thursday, Oct. 28th, we took the afterschool tutorial and enrichment program students on a feild trip to Wake Forest University for Project Pumpkin.  We took 102 students, but I was terrified because we went in conjuction with Communities In Schools also known as CIS.  We collected the permission slip applications and turned them all over to CIS and they in turn gave them to Wake Forest; however, they did not compile a listing of the names of the students so at the very last minute we were scrambling trying to find out who had parental permission to go and who did not.  Finally we got a listing 84 names and were told there were 14 others to be added.  We compiled out listing so we could inform the parents of the itme to pick up their children.  We were supposed to leavet at 3 pm but actually boarded the buses at 3:45.  We finally arrived at WFU at 4pm and took a head count.  We had 102 students on board.  We had groupsed our kids a specific way, but the moment we got of the buses, WFU regrouped our students into smaller groups to start the tour.  I was terrified becasue there were other schools and childcare organizations there.  To be exact there were over 700 kids on this field trip.  We had name tags but no real means of identifying our kids.  I was so afraid we were going to lose a child and end up on the six o'clock news.  Our students were so excited becasue they gave out free candy and got to visit each booth where there were a variety of activities going on.  The kids had so much fund but they kept running from one station to the other becasue we were on a time schedule and they didn't want to miss anything.  I had an assistant but he kept stepping off to the side usign his cell phone.  I forgot to bring my cell phone which I surely needed in case of an emergency.  Finally, we ported back to the central location and a head count was taken repeatedly before we got an accurate count.  I was so glad when we arrived back at our school and the parents were there watiing for their children. I have always enjoyed taking students on field trips, but never in this kind of chaos.  The students had so much fun, becasue of all the candy they received, but for me it was a nightmare.  I think it could have been better organized.

Probable Cause

A few days ago I had to search a child's book bag.  I received a complaint from a 5th grade girl that she had been threatened by another 5th grade girl who had also been hiiting her and told her that if she told she would beat her up and kill her with her pocket knife.  I summoned the two girls to my office and took their statements.  I then talked to the girls separetely and then together.  For the sake of clarity I will call the accuser, child 1, and the one being accused child 2.  Child 1 repeated her story saying that child 2 had actually hit her in the back several times and then threatned her if she told.  Child 2 said she was just playing when she kept pushing child 1.  She also stated that she di in fact threaten the other girl but agains said she was only playing. She said she threatend to beat her up and kill, but never used the word pocket knife.  I asked her did she have a cpocket knife.  She said no.  I went to her classroom and got her bookbag and took her outside the class, but also called the teacher to be a witness.  I had her dump the contents of her book bag and empty her pockets.  There was no pocket knife.  I asked the girl, why did she say these things and agains she stated she was just playing.  I knew this was untrue.  My hwole point for this blog is to talk about probable cause, which is the reason I conducted the search.  Because child one had actually made a threat to child 2 and there was mention of a pocketknife, I had probable cause.  It became my duty to ensure the safety of  child 2, as well as the safety of the enitre school.  Even thought no weapaon was found, I still had to make sure thare was no weapon on the premises.  I learned a alot that day, but it was my principal who helped me to see things clearly, when I later informed her about the incident.  She said I had done a good job but she asked me what led me to conduct the search.  I had been given probable cause and had to ensure the safety of all.  In the end student 2, apologized to student 1, who said she felt threatend and the fear of retaliation.  I assured her that this would eb the end of things because student 2 did not realized the seriousness of what she had done.  The principal later talked with both girls.  I neve knew 5th grade girls were becoming so agressive and violent.  It was a mentoring moment for me. 

Torn Between Two Lovers

If you're in my age group, you'll remember the song and understand why I've chosen this title for this blog.  As an intern I am trying so hard to make sure I do all that I am asked to do while on the job and still get all of my internship experiences that I am required to get to graduate.  Sometimes I feel lile I don't know if I am coming or going.  Each week I have a class and an assignment due, but the things that I am doing at work at often not related to anything on my internship experience list of tasks.  Somehow I thought it would all jibe but that is not the case and from what I'm hearing, the same is true for others.  I want to enjoy this internship, but more importantly I want to graduate on time in May without any hindrances.  I don't know if I'm getting it all done.  The written comps is coming up in two weeks and I feel like I need a day off to prepare for that, but it's not written into my program.  As a NCPrinicpal Fellow students I am required to work a 40 hour week even though I have to attend class one day per week. Despite the fact I drive from Winston-Salem to Durham each week, I still manage to get my time in, but there's no time for anything else.  It would really be nice if the internship was four days a week, leaving me at least one full day for class and or other school related things.  Somebody should've thought of that, especially for those of us who are working full-time internships.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not __itching, I'm just venting because if I dont get some of this stuff off my chest, I'll explode and that's not something I want to do.  I sometimes feel overwhelmed and as if I don't actually know what I'm doing.  Each day at work is a constant variable.  I expect to go in and do one thing and beofre I can log onto my computer somebody comes along with something totally different for me to do.  I love the job and I love workign with the kids but there are so many things on that list, I feel like I may never get them all in.  I want to be a good AP intern, because I want to be a good AP and principal.  So I need a little help.  Wanting to do good and be good at something is not a bad thing.  I would just liek to know that I am doing the right things.  I've gotten a great deal of experience with things like bus duty, cafeteria duty, and some marginal experiences with discipline, but there are many other things on that list that I need to do and know.  I don't want to be like some who have simply gotten thrown in to the wolves and as expected, they were devoured.  Has anybody learned how to balance all this?  Balance can sometimes be a four letter word in this profession.  I remember last year when we awere at a NCPF conference, we were advised by some veteran principals to find balance, especially in your professional and personal life.  Another good friend of mine who used to be my principal told me to make sure that I go home for dinner with my family each day and then return if I needed to.  Well I am a divorcee whoe lives alone and don't have a family, so people think I don't have a life outside of school.  They stay until 7 through 9 pm most nights and because I don't, it makes me look bad, although I can assure you, I don't feel bad.  Anybody got any advice?  Well I guess I've ranted and raved for long enough; it's time for me to shut up and listen to some good, sound advice.  Yoo hoo?  Anybody there?  If so, I'm listening.  Holla back.

Something Very Exciting (9/8/10)

Fainnaly I am getting to do something exciting.  As a matter of fact very exciting.  Today I was asked to attend a meeting to help discuss and develop our after-school tuorial program.  Kimberley Park has always been known to have a syccessful program, which other schools envy. In this area, we are the crem-de-la-crem".  I am excited to be a part of the planning and developing committee.  To make matters greater, we met with the director of the 21st Century program to see how we can collaborate and pool our efforts to make our program even more successful.  As it turned out, I already know Mr. V, because we worked together at my old high when he was a one-on-one counselor for one of my old students.  We establihed the hours of operation for our program.  Then we talked our programs rules and stipulated mandatory parent involvement.  Next we outlined Enrichment and solicited some teachers to to teach various things that would be of interests to our students.  We decided that no child could attend enrichment unless they had also attended tutoring.  Our Principal made tutoring mandatory for students in grades 3-5.  We set up some tentative dates.  One was for our next meeting date and the other for our upcoming parent meeting.  Our program will be up and running by October 4.  We still have a lot of kinks to work out but it was so exciting to be a part of this because it allowed me another opportunity to develop a curriculum.   This is giving me good practice.  By the time I graudate I will be a pro at curriculum development.

The Never Ending Story (9/7/10)

I had the opportunity to work with the School Guidance Counselor today because she asked me to be on the C.I.S. team.  I have had prior experience doing this because when I was a high school teacher, I was the chairperson of the SAT teacm which is now changed to CSI.  I went to the meeting and was congratulated on my internship by Dr. Drew who remembered me from two years ago.  We discussed how the committee should get started for the year, so we decided to focus on the list of students whose names have already been turned in.  Mrs. D, the School Guidance Counselor had the names of five students.  She also stated she would send and email out to teachers to get them to identify any problems in new students.  The meeting was very brief and we decided to meet again next Thursday after we've received som input from the teachers.  I can see that there is a big difference between the way this committee operated in high school than elementary school.  There was also some discussion concerning our methodic approach.  Dr. Drew stated what was used last year, has been proven to be unsuccessful , so they are considering using another method.  This never ceases to amaze me.  The school system is notorious for hyping up a new program, spending a ton of taxpayer dollars on it, then abandoning it after it is proven to be unsuccessful. 

Music Class

Today the music teacher had to leave because of a family emergency.  I was asked to go to her class.  When I got there she was preparing to leave, so she instructed me on what to do.  It was a 5th grade boys class and they were playing musical chairs. She gave me music to pick from but it was hard to find the right music and keep the boys engaged.  So I just put on a CD and the game began.  I played the same CD over and over and over.  The boys were enjoying themselves so much, that as they played the game I found myself laughing and having a great time with them.  I had never had the opportunity to work with an all-boy class, nor do a music lesson.  I am still not sure how musical chairs ties in to the curriculum but I guess it does in some way.  The boys had a great time and so did I just watching them.. In the end I gave the final winner a prize and then it was time for the evening annoucnments.  Soon they began to pack up for the 2:20 dismissal.  It was an awesome experience.

Ever Learning

Today my principal sate me down with some bad news.  She said we were losing a teacher.  The "powers-that-be" called to say we had to give up a teacher.  It looked like we were going to have to collapse a class and combine another to make things works.  We felt bad about this becasue we have so man new teachers this year that we felt no one was strong anough to handle a combined class.  We were sad about this because we feel the children suffer when we stretch ourselves so tightly.  So the principal pulled out her calculator, teacher to student ratio sheet and we did the math.  She also showed me her teacher allotment sheet so when we put our heads together, we found the mistake.  We were being counted inccorectly it appeared we were given an additional Pre-K class that has already been counted in our allotment.  Our Pre-K student enrollment was higher than we anticipated but it was already counted in our allotment.  The principal informed her supervisor who said sh'ed get back to us.  In the end, we did not lose a teacher, nor di we gain one.  IFrom this experience I learned how political this job really is.  I guess all's fair in love and war, but NOT in education.  Wow!

Recent Work Experience

Yesterday I witnessed a horrific situation with a 2nd grade boy that I was unprepared for.  The child was having a temper tantrum becasue he was asked to go into time out for excessive talking.  The young man actually ran outside the building and was headed down the street before the school custodian caught him and brought him back.  At first he was restrained by the principal in the front office because he kept trying to get out the door.  Finally when he realized he could not leave, he flailed his arms and legs wildly as he rolled across the floor, all the while screaming and crying profusely.  At one point he attacked me by punching me several times in the leg.  I had to tell him if he didn't stop, I would have the School Resource Officer take him away.  He stopped hitting me immediately. The child's mother was called and we waited for him to calm down.  Aftere almost 20 minutes of this behavior he calmed down and crawled into a corner.  He refused to look at any of us.  This child was extremely angry and violent.  The principal said he will need to be in self-contained and smaller sized classrooms.  I concur.  The boy's mother arrived and he still refused to talke.  He nodded in response to her questions.  When she learned how he had punched me she asked him to apologize.  At this point he fell back onto the chair and rolled on the floor and began crying again.  His mother stated that the child's doctor said he has a condition known as D.A.D. (Defiance Against Adults).  I was shocked to hear such labeling because in my opinion all children hate to told "no".  I felt really sorry for this mother whorepeatedly asked for prayer before she finally took her son home for the the remainder of the day.  I was extremely concerned for both this child and his mother.  I sensed she lacked any parenting skills, and is at her wits end.