Inside the Trenches of the Principal: Week 31

So yesterday (Friday) afternoon we were extremely short staffed in the front office. Ms. Wharton was the only person left to cover, and Friday afternoons tend to be an extremely busy time because many parents check out their child early and naturally crazy things happen as soon as the week is about to come to a close. I brought my laptop up to the front desk so I could still get some work done, but also help out with answering the phone, helping parents check out their child, take questions as parents came in through the door, etc.

…….and I thought being principal was hard. Holy cow! Needless to say, I got no work done. I have never had to multitask as much within a two hour time frame as I did yesterday. I deal with plenty of diverse issues as principal, but I can usually complete one task before I go onto the next. I am not used to having answer the phone while a parent is still talking to me in person while a child is coming in sick while another child needs to give you Jump Rope for Heart money while flowers are being delivered for staff members. I have so much respect for my front office ladies who make it seem so stinking easy!

This week brought warmer weather to my area which I think raised some spirits as well. We had two successful events this past week, including a STEM night with our local STEM magnet middle and high school and Winston-Salem State University. With those events also come long nights though, and I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty drained! The adrenaline will kick in though tonight for Abe and my book release party! It was so exciting this week to finally get my hands on our book, and even more surreal to start seeing people posting about it on social media!

I also had an awesome professional experience this week when an admin team from a school from Clemson, SC drove up to Moore Magnet and spent the morning with my admin team. Their reading coach reached out to me on Instagram to see if we could arrange the day and it worked out great! Rarely do you get to spend uninterrupted time with people from another school in another state and share practices. Ashley, their principal, and I walked around my school together and discussed things that we saw and how we would deal with it. We brainstormed and collaborated in real situations, and that is honestly the most authentic professional development.

If you haven’t had a chance to pick up your copy of The Limitless School yet, Abe and I would love for you to check it out!