Trust Me

One of the most important elements in the principal-teacher relationship is trust.

Without trust, there is no collaboration.
Without trust, there is no communication.
Without trust, there is no growth.
Without trust, there is no unity.
Without trust, there is no innovation.

Trust is arguably the foundation of every relationship, especially so in the realm of education.

It is understandable that a teaching staff may not fully trust a principal who just joined their school. Additionally, the staff may not trust a principal who fails to prove themselves as a loyal, valued member of their school community.

Likewise, if a school principal is brand new, it is unlikely they'll walk into their school with established relationships of trust with their staff. Also, if they've observed a staff member repeatedly make choices that are of a concerning nature for the students and school community, it can be hard for a principal to depend and trust this staff member.

But when there is a principal who has chosen to stay a bit longer to help build something special and they're surrounded by a teaching staff who are focused on doing what's best for students, a school community can benefit from a singular focus and vision on improving the school experience for their students. The teaching staff trusts that the principal supports the work that happens every single day in the classroom. The principal trusts that the staff understands the complexities of the millions of daily decisions we may make to keep the school moving forward. There is a mutual trust.

But trust is hard. 

Because we are human and we make mistakes.

And I shared one such mistake I made at a recent staff collaboration.

The mistake centered around a sixth month conversation regarding overlapping graduation/promotion dates between our middle school and the local high school district. As the worst luck would have it, somehow our graduation dates landed on the same day: June 7th.

When I first saw this conflict during the summer, I immediately began to brainstorm possible solutions. Could we move our graduation events a night earlier? Could we add a professional development day in March or May that would push our graduation date one day later? Perhaps the high school district would consider moving their graduation time to a different day? I spent countless hours looking for a solution.

In working with our local high school, there were conversations where they may have been willing to move their graduation events to the night before. Our sister middle school was exploring the idea to move their graduation to the night before. I was very clear in my resolve to keep our graduation night as close to our scheduled last-day-of-school 6 pm start time as possible.

In the end, the high school would compromise in moving up their start time for graduation to 4 pm on the shared last day of school and we would move our promotion ceremony an hour later to 7 pm. I felt it was the best outcome of so many bad choices.

During the six months of reflection and negotiations, I reached out to our Home and School Club parents for input. I spoke regularly with fellow administrators about the predicament we were in. I had brief conversations with various staff members, seeking their advice on the issue.

But what I didn't do was sit down with our 8th grade teachers.

After all, our 8th grade teachers are expected to attend graduation and I didn't check in with them to brainstorm solutions beforehand.

This was my mistake.

And, with the encouragement and support via a reflective conversation with a valued staff member, I realized I needed to make things right during our next staff collaboration.

And so, later that afternoon, I led a conversation about the decision to keep our promotion ceremonies on the same night. I explained why I didn't want to move graduation to the night before (do the 8th graders come to school the next day? what if they do? what if they do but decide to leave halfway through the day? what culture does it create if kids see other kids cutting school or making bad decisions since they've now graduated?).

I shared why I didn't want to have graduation earlier in the day (we intentionally moved our graduation dance to immediately follow the graduation to combat a variety of student issues; to have graduation at noon and the party that evening would return to those complicating issues).

I went over every step I made, reflecting along the way, pointing out secondary issues that may have been created through the best of our intentions. I made the "how" regarding the decision to move graduation an hour later as clear as I could.

And I apologized to the staff, specifically our 8th grade teachers, that I did not officially sit down with them to discuss the issue and gather their input. Speaking without notes and little rehearsal, I gave an honest recounting of how I wished I would have, even if I was unsure that the final outcome may not have changed.

I then addressed the issue of trust.

I shared how, as the site principal, I have trust for them as the Union Middle School staff and the work they do with our students every single day in our classrooms.

I then asked that they have the same level of trust in the decisions I make as the site principal. Trust that I don't make decisions haphazardly. Trust that I'll do my best to do right by our students. Trust that I work extremely hard to support them and their interests.

I asked them, especially in a moment where they may not agree with me, to trust that I will always make the best possible choice for our students, for our school community, and for them, even when faced with less-than-optimal outcomes.

I asked for their trust. They have mine. I hope to have theirs as well.