Hire the Best (pt 2)

In this previous post, I shared some not-so-great for Union Middle School news that we were losing a teacher to the elementary school. This staffing loss led to another aspect of our "Building a Better Principal" presentation: Always have a plan.

And yes, I did have a plan.

The plan was to move forward by looking backwards.

We do have teachers leave for various reasons. It happens at all schools. Other opportunities. Just needing a change. Sometimes even a promotion of sorts.

With Alyssa's departure and a second opening in 6th grade core, we were looking for two top notch educators to join our team.

The second opening was filled first. Last year, Monica Silva shared with me that she would be leaving Union Middle to pursue an opportunity elsewhere. The job sounded amazing and I knew her departure would leave a huge hole at UMS.

Reason being, Mrs. Silva is a champion for kids. She loves them. She devotes every breath she takes to ensuring that they feel welcome in her classroom and on our campus. She's the den mother every school needs. When she left, the loss was noticeable and a challenge for our school culture.

Somewhere along the way, sometime around late Fall, Mrs. Silva reached out to me and just checked in. I shared how much I missed her on our staff. She shared how much she missed being a part of our staff. I suggested she come back. She laughed.

Fast forward a few weeks and what had at one time started as a silly conversation was slowly becoming something that could happen.

Mrs. Silva did want to come back to USD. She was ready to make it happen. Add in some details about the teacher shortage, the continued need to hire great teachers, a forward thinking superintendent and Human Resources department who understood how to make these out-of-the-box ideas happen... and Mrs. Silva was going to be a member of our school district again for the upcoming school year.

However, there was no guarantee that her eventual placement would be at UMS. Dominoes had to fall, not just at Union Middle but elsewhere in the district.

Earlier this week, I was able to officially confirm that Monica was going to be a part of our #teamUMS staff for the 2017-18 school year (and hopefully many years beyond). I was able to announce the news to the staff at our collaboration time this afternoon.

To be able to hire the very best for your students... that's the goal of a principal. With Monica, I've guaranteed that whatever students end up in her class for the 2017-18 school year will have an amazing 6th grade at Union Middle.

But if you're reading along, I still had Ms. Starr's position to fill... This would be a bit trickier.

(and yes, it's continued in part 3)