Transitioning Back to School

Just prior to returning to school after the holiday break, I sent the usual "Welcome Back from the Principal" email to our staff. I shared a few stories from my own vacation, highlighted a few upcoming conferences that various staff members would be attending, and included a few jokes of expected student comments now that we're nearing the end of the first semester. Nestled at the end of the email, I included a quick reminder of how challenging our lengthy away-from-school breaks can be for some of our more fragile students. 

As a former opportunity teacher, I was challenged daily with balancing the emotional needs of my students as I supported them academically through their studies. We spent significant efforts on providing structure, care, and guidance for our students during their school days. Very often, after a three day week, my students would return a bit emotionally fractured from spending an extra day at home. A week off during Spring break could throw some of our more adjusted students into a complete tailspin. Worse, the two week absence over the Winter break would often prompt a complete rebuilding of our students' emotional safety and willingness to participate in our class. 

Having experienced these challenges as a classroom teacher, I always try to remind our staff about leading with their heart during these first few days back. We don't know how their Winter break truly was and how it will affect them during their return to school. I've seen a challenging two week layoff from school manifest itself in three distinct ways among our more fragile students.

Student 1: Humpty Dumpty

A few of our emotionally at-risk students returned from the holiday break barely able to make it through the school day. Our school counselor and mental health therapist have seen many of these students and have begun to put these students back together again. Many of these students have an unstable home situation and struggle with the lack of structure during this time. As they return to school, they immediately act out and hopefully seek out support from their peers and trusted adults. This rehabilitation process can take days, sometimes weeks, to get the student back into a space where they're able to focus on their academic growth. These students need the support of their entire village to return to their previous standing as an engaged learner at your school.

Student 2: Everything's Fine

We also see a few students return with the repeated mantra of "everything's fine" when asked about their holiday break and how they're feeling being back at school. Truthfully, it couldn't be further from the truth. Everything isn't fine. They're either slowly building up their walls of distrust and refusal to discuss what truly happened during their time away from school. Again, our school counselor and mental health therapist spend many of their days with these students, connecting and chipping away at these very real emotional concerns. 

Student 3: Back to the Routine

And for most of our students, the time away from school was truly okay. While they may not have had the holiday vacation they expected or wanted to have, they're excited to return to their daily school routines, to spend time with their peers, and catch up with their adult mentors. These students actually look forward to the end of their break so as to return to the structure school provides. Perhaps they miss spending time in the game room, playing wall ball at lunch, or just generally miss the support of their peers, these students have built sufficient inner emotional strength to look forward to the routine of school and not let the changes of their days negatively affect them. Fortunately, after a few years spent at our school, many of our at-risk students return from their school breaks in this specific category.

As a site administrator, my role to to support both our students and staff with the transition back to school. Similar to the students, staff members sometimes struggle with the return to school after the holiday break. One staff member mentioned just how difficult it was to leave their young child after spending every waking moment with them for the past two weeks. I try to keep a relatively clear calendar on the days following a lengthy break, so as to have the necessary time to meet with students and reconnect with staff. These are the days an administrator needs to be especially present for your staff and students. 

If you're a classroom teacher, in what ways can you best support your at-risk students during their return from lengthy breaks?

If you're a site administrator, how can you best support your students and staff during these first few days back from break?

Exhausted Just In Time For The Holidays

This is going to be one of the more challenging blog entries of my "School Daily" experiment. It's not for a lack of topics; I'm eager to discuss how Accelerated Reader has helped create a culture of reading at our school or perhaps the new mission of our 7th grade English-Language Arts team to acquire ChromeBooks for their classroom or possibly the benefits of our school's behavioral support program, U-Turn, and the reasons behind its success. The truth of the matter is that today was the last day of school before our holiday break and I'm just exhausted, unsure if the words are going to come.

There hasn't been anything out of the ordinary at our school site over the past few weeks since the Thanksgiving holiday. No extra board meetings, nights out, or special projects to prepare. A lot of my days have been spent with students in and out of the office. In fact, I'd even say that the past three weeks have been rather productive and professionally satisfying -- our administrative team has helped address a few key student issues, our staff has been running through the 2013 finish line, and we're receiving more and more positive feedback from our student and parent community about the education and social experience our school provides. And yet for the past few days, building up to (and lasting beyond) today's final bell at 2:50 pm, my body and mind have become increasingly tired and achy.

To me, being an educator during the school year can feel like running one long marathon. From weeks before the start of school, you're planning and preparing for the upcoming first day of school. You look ahead to the schedule and eagerly anticipate the next three day weekend so you can catch up on your lesson plans, work emails, or professional development. These days off never let you get ahead; it's just to catch up.

The month of October arrives and seems to last no less than eighty days. From there, it's three more weeks until the glorious Thanksgiving Break where you have a slightly longer time to recharge and reboot for the mad dash of December. Finally, today arrives and the bell rings to signify the end of school. What educators truly need is a week in Hawaii on the beach, quietly reading their favorite novel as they sometimes doze off throughout the afternoon. Instead, this holiday vacation arrives with long distance traveling, stressful long lines to pick up the last minute holiday gift, and more time with one's in laws. At some point we realize that we only have a few days left to finish all of our holiday projects before returning to school in January to prepare for the six month sprint to the finish line.

Here's my advice for how to best survive and hopefully thrive over these next two weeks:

1) Unplug

Yes, you may be behind on your lesson plans or parent emails, but now is not the time. Use this break to completely separate yourself from all things school. Follow the advice you give your students: go play and enjoy the time.

2) Enjoy the family moments

Today, in our Leadership meeting, we asked one another what our favorite holiday tradition was. Almost every individual answer involved some silly family practice that brought a smile to the sharer's face. Realize that your family, whether your own or your in-laws, are positive conduits for different, non-school conversations. Share the silly stories from your classroom, but don't linger on the struggles.

3) Rest

And when you wake up, rest some more. Enjoy sleeping in. Trade morning responsibilities with your spouse, parents, significant other, friend, anyone; this is your time to catch up and recharge your batteries. Don't let it go to waste.

4) Read

I have no less than four novels for fun, five books for professional development, and dozens of graphic novels next to my bed waiting to be read. I plan on spending a few afternoons enjoying these books and allowing my mind to wander a bit. Wherever you travel to, bring those books you've promised yourself you'd read but just haven't yet. This is the time to start a new chapter.

5) Do what you enjoy

Whether you enjoy day trips to wine country, family time at your local shopping mall, or catching up with friends, these are the moments to do what you enjoy. It's okay to ignore your lesson planning to have lunch at your favorite bistro. If you have a long list of "to-do" items, consider selecting those chores which would bring a sense of accomplishment. Two weeks is a long time; savor the moments to do what makes you happy.

While these may be my five suggestions, it's important to point out that what works for me may not be what works for you. While some may want to survive the next two weeks, hopefully many are instead looking to thrive during their vacation. The outlook can be different for everyone and that's ok. Figure out what you need to do to make the most of these upcoming moments and make it happen. The reason being, we're going to be back at school in sixteen short days and transitioning to the second half of the marathon we've put on pause. Gear up for the challenge but be sure to reboot during these pit stops we call the holidays.

After all, if you're an educator, you deserve the break. Happy holidays. See you in 2014.

Planning Ahead, One Class at a Time...

One of the best parts of the school year is when you take down the magnetic master schedule from the wall and begin working on what classes will be offered for the next school year. This reboot often happens in late February and then undergoes nothing short of radical changes over the next few months until finally settling a few before the start of school. However, like many schools in our district, we are growing over the next few years and are expecting a significant jump in enrollment (between 5 to 10% more students) next year. Given this expected increase, the assistant principal, school counselor, and I decided to start the process a bit early... as in today.

As previously mentioned, the master schedule is an animal to control, to maintain, and to finesse. An administrative team has to balance who is credentialed to teach what subjects, how many sections of each class we need per subject and per grade, and most importantly what's best for kids. Often, in the perfect world of scheduling, all three elements fuse together to form the masterpiece we call the finalized master schedule. Today, however, we just focused on three small goals:

1) Ending the year long "core teaming" pilot in 6th grade

For many years past, our 6th grade teachers were scheduled for two "core" subjects - English-Language Arts (ELA) and Science OR Math and Social Studies. While these seem like rather odd pairings, the system worked for our school, for our staff, and for our students. Nevertheless, with the impending transition to Common Core Standards, I asked our 6th grade teachers last year if they would have any interest in piloting a Social Studies - ELA core and Math - Science core. Of our eleven sections, eight teachers were eager to make the switch. 

And so, these eight teachers have piloted these subject pairings for the 2013-14 school year. I've regularly spoken with each of them as well as our students and parents on what each interest group likes about the switch, what they would prefer in future years, and what concerns they may have over a permanent switch. Thus far, every conversation has been exceedingly positive about the pilot, enough so that we've decided to end the pilot and officially complete the transition for all of our 6th grade core sections. 

2) Trying our best to not have teachers on multiple teams

One of the more frequent concerns I hear from the teaching staff about the schedule is how some teachers have students on both grade level teams. I try to explain how the master schedule is set up and how it is nearly impossible to avoid without creating additional teams and ensuring that each team is as balanced as possible. I will get the usual head nods after my diatribe, and they're return to their original request: please don't have teachers on multiple teams.

If nothing else, I'm listening. And I'm trying to figure out a way to have as pure as teaming as possible for our teaching staff. They are right; it does make a huge difference in supporting the students if teachers aren't on multiple teams. We spend a lot of our weekly time focusing on collaboration and have seen great results from these efforts. If I truly support these collaborative moments as I repeatedly share with my staff that I do, it's my administrative duty to address this concern and try my best to fix the problem. Today, with our preliminary schedule, we have made great progress toward doing so. While it's just the 2014 master schedule 1.0, we would end up with three completely balanced 7th grade teams and two almost purely balanced 8th grade teams. This would be a huge improvement from our current year's schedule. Credit goes to the our amazing school counselor for her eye-opening suggestions that cleared the way for this early version to happen.

3) What's best for kids

Every Spring, we ask our students what electives they're interested in taking for the upcoming school year. With this input, we alter our elective offerings to best support our students' requests. Almost every students receives their "first choice" elective and for those who don't, they are guaranteed their "runner up" choice. When we move certain classes, whether it be intensive, double block periods or our semester/semester option, the first (and sometimes only) thought in our mind is what's best for the student. 

This isn't to say that we don't take teacher preferences and teaching requests into consideration. If there's an opening at a certain grade level and I have a current teacher interested in making the switch, I'm definitely open to the idea. If a staff member has an idea for a unique elective to add to our schedule, I look forward to discussing their vision for the class and hopefully adding it to our master schedule. It's important to note that both of these teacher-requested changes must align with what's best for kids. If not, it's unlikely to happen for the upcoming school year.

I'm quite impressed with how much we accomplished today in the short period of time allotted to a first draft of next year's master schedule. Based on this preliminary sketch, I'll begin my conversations with staff members, gauging how they feel about a small shift from their current assignment to what is being considered for the upcoming school year. We are still weeks, if not months, away from an official master schedule blueprint for 2014-15, but today we produced the bones of what should one day be the end result. 

My Eight Favorite Things

Today, I received a very unique holiday gift from my assistant principal. It actually was not just one gift, but an assortment of items. They were, in no particular order:

1) A sled

For the Holiday break, my wife and I will be taking our twin girls to Incline Village for five days of snow and hopefully a little relaxation. This is the first time our daughters will see snow in the United States. I add the clarifying location qualifier to the previous statement, as my wife and I adopted our daughters two years ago from Russia at the age of sixteen months. I have a feeling they "saw" a lot of snow in their orphanage in the town of Murom, five hours Southeast of Moscow. This journey will be a blog topic for another day, but seeing the sled brought a smile to my face. It will be a "first" for us as a family. Just a simple, beautiful gift.

2) Candy

There are only a few negatives about working at middle school, one of which is the accessibility to candy during the work day. I definitely have a sweet tooth. While I've had lengthy periods of time of perfect "no candy at work" behavior, I find myself struggling when there are Gummy Lifesavers or Tootsie Roll Pops available in the office. Just imagine the torture of cookies everywhere during the holiday season. It's not a good scene. Here, I was given two boxes of these two kinds of candy, enough to last me through the new year.

3) Panera French Baguette

Last year, I had a moment of weakness. It began with a lunch trip to Panera where I decided to purchase a french baguette for that evening's dinner at home with my wife. I brought the baguette into my office with my purchased salad and left it on my desk. As I returned to my office throughout the afternoon, I would break off a piece of the baguette and quickly devour it. Within an hour, the baguette was gone. I had eaten the whole thing. Eating a two foot baguette does wonders to your body while working in the parking lot after school. A few staff members asked why I wasn't feeling well. I shared the above baguette story and now this disturbing tale resurfaces every time I mention I'm going to Panera to grab lunch. "Don't forget your baguette!"

4) Forty One Cents

Early in the school year, we visit our 6th grade advanced math classrooms to explain a supplementary math class, this year available online, for those students interested in advancing to (the class formally known as) Algebra 1 in 7th grade. I explain, in great detail, that there are extra work demands if they choose to participate in this class. An over-scheduled student who just likes math may want to not participate in the online class. Instead, I explain to these eager eleven year old students that if they have a love of math, if they dream of equations at night, if their favorite squares are 25 and 625 because they have the original number in the same place values when squared, or if they intentionally spend fifty nine cents at stores just so their change will be a penny, a nickel, a dime, and a quarter (forty one cents), they should join the class. It's a bit over the top, intentionally so, as I hope to inspire those students who share my own love of math to take on the extra challenge during the school year.

5) Costco Gift Card

Where to begin with my love affair with Costco... While my visits have increased to 1-2X weekly with the addition of our twin girls, I've always enjoyed the Costco shopping experience. Described as an intentional "treasure hunt-like experience," I have spent many hours walking through the local Costco's and noticing all of the subtle differences. Once, on a road trip with my future wife from Los Angeles to Palm Springs, we stopped at every Costco along the way. We would grab a cart and sprint through the store. It probably was the best part of the trip. I spend a ridiculous amount of time at Costco and probably an even more disturbing amount of money. It's my Disneyland - the happiest place on Earth.

6) a $2 bill

Recently, all administrators in our district were asked what our favorite present was for the holiday season. The purpose of the question was to guess which "favorite gift" went with what administrators. Given that my birthday and the Winter holidays often overlapped in our family of six, one of the most consistent and appreciated gifts has been from my Aunt Shelley, a former school teacher, since retired, in San Diego. Ever since my early teens, my Aunt Shelley has been sending me anywhere from one to two dozen $2 bills. I believe we're past the twenty five year mark now. I've never spent any of them and one day will present my daughters (or nieces and nephews) with similar gifts. Today, as part of the multitude of gifts, there was a $2 bill.

7) 12 pack of Diet Soda

On my best days, I limit myself to just a few diet sodas during the school days. On the longer, perhaps more intense, school days, I've been known to come close to double digits. The double takes I get from my doctor and dentist when I share with them how much diet soda I drink tells me that it's something I need to one day curb. If they were to forget to remind me of the perils of drinking diet soda, I fortunately am reminded daily by my wife that I should be drinking water instead. And yes, while my doctor, my dentist, and especially my wife are right, some days there is nothing better than a cold diet soda as you walk the school campus.

These are all of my favorite things, as presented by my assistant principal. But that's not the purpose of this blog post. Actually, the message I've discovered in re-reading the above gifts is how essential it is to have a co-administrator who listens.

I had only briefly mentioned my upcoming holiday trip to Tahoe, of which I never thought about purchasing a sled for my daughters. It was a random day and a passing moment in her office when I expressed how awesome Gummy Lifesavers were. I don't even recall sharing the story of the baguette. During the visits to the 6th grade advanced math classes, she was just silently standing nearby as she learned about her new job. Having a Costco gift card just encourages an additional visit with my girls this weekend. The $2 was a short snippet from a weekend holiday gathering. I'm not even sure how she knew I was out of diet soda as of today.

So yes, these are all of my favorite things, but truly my 8th favorite thing would be the opportunity to be working along side such a talented administrator. Thank you, Mrs. Cathy Bailey, for joining the UMS team this year. You have been a blessing.

Today Stunk

Today just stunk.

Don't get me wrong... It was not a bad day to be at our middle school, but due to the Redwood City Sims Fire, our normal fresh at-the-base-of-the-mountain air had a metallic, acidic smell for most of the morning and early afternoon. It proved for one of our most unique days of the school year. 

The school day began like any other. After our weekly Team Leaders, I spent the rest of the pre-bell moments talking ChromeBooks with a staff member. Their goal is to have a class set of 32 ChromeBooks for their classroom. We brainstormed some ideas on how to make this idea happen. I spent some time working with my amazing administrative assistant (upgraded her iOS to 7.0.4 for her iPhone) until the district's manager of food service stopped by our desks. He informed us that something was wrong with the air outside. 

Perhaps not surprisingly, we had little information through conventional websites. Instead, I turned to Twitter to find about the fire up the freeway in Redwood City. While our students and staff were not necessarily in danger from the smell, it was not something that we felt our students should be exposed to.

With twenty minutes until the bell rang for brunch, our Leadership team gathered for a quick brainstorming session on what was best to do. We checked in with other schools within and outside of our district to see what their plans were. We also coordinated with the district office to gather advice and keep them updated. After doing so, we determined our first three choices to be (1) do nothing, (2) keep the kids in 2nd period, or (3) send them directly to 3rd period. None of these choices felt like the right option. We began to share out our opinions and together created a fourth (and eventual chosen) method for today's brunch. 

I would make an announcement and inform our students that we would be ringing the bell shortly. However, on a change from our usual procedures, students would need to grab their snack and then head to their third period class. This decision, our Leadership Team had discussed earlier, would come with some secondary effects. Students need a break to stretch, eat, and socialize. Additionally, our teachers need time to relax for a moment and perhaps a bio break as well. For the student issues, we kept the bells relatively on time so as to provide social moments within their third period class. For our teacher concerns, we divided up all of the classrooms and stopped by to relieve the staff member as necessary. Other teachers with third period prep even helped out! Somehow, someway, it all worked. 

My next step was to send out a PowerSchool Messenger email to all of our families. In my message, I shared: "(To our community members), Due to the Redwood City Sims Fire, we will be holding our PE classes indoors today. Additionally, during brunch, we encouraged our students to retrieve their food from their locker or cafeteria and then immediately transition to their third period classrooms. I know that there is much concern about this situation; rest assured that we are taking every precaution while ensuring as little disruption as possible to your child's school day. All the best, Todd Feinberg, Principal." I've received a dozen, unexpected emails, all positive, from parents in response to the above email. ((A quick takeaway among the chaos for me: always send out the parent email and / or phone call... If one parent has a (reasonable) concern, assume a hundred have the same question. Also, better to over-inform than to share less.))

While we had solved our brunch concern, the decision of what to do for lunch and our 930 students loomed near. We could have decided to just have a normal, everyday lunch at this point. The smell, while still present, was fading away. We were unsure of how to hold all of our students indoors for the lunch period. One thing was clear: we needed the help and support of our staff. 

Another announcement was made, this time just prior to the lunch bell. We informed our students that we would be opening up the gym and the computer rooms in addition to the usual cafeteria, game room, and library locations. I explained why we would not be outside during the lunch period, how I wanted to make sure that they all found a safe space to spend their lunch, and then suggested to our staff if they would be willing to open their classrooms during lunch to house any interest students. I said these words lightly as I try very hard to not cross any contractual "duty free" lines within the teachers' contract. I just hoped for the best.

The bell rang and our Leadership Team dispersed to the various corners of the campus to supervise our students. While we were somewhat overflowing with students in all of our communal spaces, I was taken aback at how many teachers had chosen to give up their lunch period, open their classroom doors, and invite in their students as well as their friends. This would not necessarily happen at every school. We could not have made today work without their support. 

At the end of the school day, I sent out the following email to our staff: "Hi all, just a quick note of thanks for your support today during brunch, at lunch, and tolerating my repeated announcements over the loud speaker. I think I used up all of my allotted interruptions for the year today. Thanks again for rolling with everything today. I have already received a good number of supportive, appreciative emails from parents for all of our efforts. For tomorrow, we will not be having a staff meeting. Let's use the time to enjoy the breakfast Special Ed is preparing in the staff room. I'll send out the MiaM (Meeting in a Memo) in the AM. Thanks again for your support today! Todd"

Today proved just how resourceful our school team can be when faced with a challenge. Today showed that our teaching staff will always rise to the occasion and support our students. Today had our entire staff working together to address with a truly unique, unpredictable problem. Today really did stink... but in a completely amazing way.

Top Five Reasons Why Your Student Didn't Do Their Homework

Last week, I was visiting our Semester / Semester Science classroom. Our "Semester / Semester" classroom currently pairs a special education teacher with a highly qualified, credentialed Science teacher. Here, 15-20 students receive a semester of the 8th grade Science curriculum; during 2nd semester, they'll take a semester of the 8th grade Social Studies curriculum. Many of these students have double-block intensive programs throughout the day and would not have room for both Science and Social Studies in their schedules. With the Semester / Semester program, these students are able to cover a breadth (and not necessarily the depth) of state standards and core curriculum. While there are hiccups with every program, the benefits of the Semester / Semester program are substantial, as many of these students could progress through middle school without ever having the opportunity to take a Science or Social Studies class.

During my visit to the classroom, I noticed one student not participating in the "Crash Test Dummies" lab. Every other student was paired up and enjoying seeing their vehicle race down the ramp and crash into the wall. This lone student sat at his desk with his head down and refusing to participate. I asked the teacher what was wrong. This student, it turns out, had not completed the pre-lab assignment and thus could not participate. This student is arguably one of the more intelligent students in the classroom, and I know this student wanted to participated in the lab. Something wasn't making sense.

Today, I met with the special education teacher from the Semester / Semester class and asked the question: Why hadn't this student completed his homework? Here are our five best guesses:

1) Homework happens in the afternoon.

Some students are exhausted after a full day of school. Having to sit down and complete additional handouts and assignments when they'd rather be reading, sleeping, or just being a kid is a challenge. Additionally, in the afternoons, our students are incredibly over-scheduled. They have basketball practice from 3-5, dinner from 5:30-6:30, cheer practice from 7-8:30, and then it's time to start their homework. More and more, I see students who lack free time in their schedule to truly be a teenager, much less the time to complete their homework in a timely fashion. How can we address the issue of our over-scheduled and exhausted teenagers?

2) Homework is boring

One of the first things any student will remark about their homework is how much they have. The second thing they'll say is how boring their homework is. It is becoming increasingly difficult to entertain our students during the class lessons, much less when they're on the own and asked to reinforce concepts from the school day. Many of our students comply and complete the homework that they may have little interest in actually doing. However, there are those disengaged students who see their assigned homework as pointless. Why spend time on these assignments when there is Minecraft just a few clicks away? How can we make homework a valued, entertaining part of our students' lives?

3) Homework can be hard. 

When homework is challenging for a student, they'll often give up rather than keep trying. Resiliency is something we work to build in students but many teenagers lack the ability to accept temporary failure and still continue to strive for success. I've seen students who don't completely understand the assignment prefer to avoid doing the work instead. Much homework these days require a student to think, ask questions, and then respond. Often, if there is a parent or other adult nearby for support, the student is more likely to complete their work. However, not every household has an adult available in the early evenings. Sometimes, without this additional support, a student will do their best to avoid the homework challenge. What can we offer our students to provide time and adequate support after school to address the difficulty they may find in their homework?

4) The student has special needs and/or a special set of circumstances.

There is a student at our school who has missed the most of the past month for valid medical reasons. It's been a struggle for them to complete their work. I've also found that after a long three day weekend, students with a struggling home life will return with little work completed and not be in place where they can even focus on school. Additionally, there are students with documented attention issues which make it glaringly difficult for them to focus on the lengthy homework assignment. This is just the top of the iceberg. Our students don't arrive at school unscathed from their at-home life events. They are deeply affected by what happens outside of the school, and some days we spend most of our time together helping put them back together again. Add in learning disabilities and turning in one's homework, perhaps logically, becomes one of the last things we need to address. As educators, what else can we do to support the mental health and special needs of all of our students?

5) The student doesn't have a great relationship with the teacher. 

One of the most important factors in whether or not a student will do their best is based upon their relationship with the classroom teacher. The teacher-student relationship doesn't have to mimic how best friends interact with one another. I would not recommend being facebook friends with your 8th grade students. Instead, the teacher needs to show true concern and care about the student. In turn, the student has to feel and also believe that the teacher is in support of their learning. If a student feels that the teacher doesn't care about them, they're more likely to not perform well in the teacher's classroom. If a student knows that the teacher will be there to support them if they fall short of the goal, you'll see teenagers outpacing what's expected of them. Simply put, the teacher-student relationship is everything. How can we, as administrators, help foster positive teacher-student relationships in the classroom and at our school site?

After compiling this list of reasons why students don't complete their homework, I'm actually surprised our students have the high homework turn-in rates that they do. It is infinitely more challenging these days to be a middle school students than it was twenty to thirty years ago during our teenage tenure. I find my role as a middle school principal to be one of support with our students and encouraging them to try, try again.

What do you find to be the reasons your students aren't turning in their homework? 

Deal Breakers: Location and Entitlement

In an earlier post, I wrote about how to best choose your administrative home. My strong beliefs in choosing one's school community wisely stems from a challenging administrative appointment I endured previously. While these events could have occurred at any school (and surely have), there were two distinct challenges in a previous district that I could never fully address on a professional manner.

The first challenge was simply the location of the school in relation to where I lived. Much like the old joke in the Real Estate business that asks what the three most important factors in valuing a house are, "location, location, location" was something that I just couldn't overcome. As someone who lived just a few blocks from their place of employment, I seemingly couldn't escape the responsibilities of my daily and then nightly professional life. When I would go to the dog park in the evening, I would often be peppered with questions from concerned parents about school issues. Occasionally, one of these parents would have a student who we had recently suspended. Often, these conversations were quite challenging as I simply just wanted to play fetch with my dog. These community members had a hard time separating the assistant principal role from the dog owner at the park status I wished for. Worse, there was more than a few parents who discovered where I lived and would stop by my home with work-centered questions. Often, these visits happened past 8 pm and on weekends. It reached a point where we would be hiding out in a back room some nights with the lights turned off, just to avoid the parade of concerned parents in our neighborhood.

Often, it was just by chance that we would end up in a conversation about the school. My wife worked at our feeder middle school and was quite recognizable as their school counselor. More than just a few times, we would be out to dinner locally and would end up mid-meal overhearing a loud conversation from the next table over about one of our schools. It was a challenge to enjoy one's meal when misinformation was being broadcasted about your school just a few feet away. Our weekly Costco trips turned into twenty questions by the luggage aisle with various parents and community members about certain staff members and how unjust their grading practices were. Worse, there were school conversations from patrons behind us at the movie theater, in line to get our car washed, and even a few times at a local post-dinner establishment when we were just trying to relax. We just couldn't escape the location of our schools.

These days, when I say to my wife how disappointed I am that I can't see my school families on weekends given my 20 minute commute, she refers me back to the above comments and reminds me just how intolerable the situation truly was.

The second challenge was the entitlement. Let me preface with saying that every school has some level of entitlement and it can actually be a healthy thing for your school. However, in some districts, there is often a challenge to balance the demands and expectations of the parents at one's school with what's best for the educational and social-emotional needs of all of your students. I've previously written about the vandalism to our school site and the unique parent conversations thereafter. Sadly, this kind of parental response was all too common during my tenure at this school. Parents seemed more interested in the final grade rather than a life lesson or educational journey their student could experience.

One example would be a plagiarism incident that was brought to my attention by the English department chair. A student had turned in to the teacher for their final draft an essay that had been cut and pasted from Wikipedia and one other website verbatim. This student did not even bother to take out the misnumbered footnotes from his paper nor change the different fonts from each of the sources into one common format. When I asked the teacher if the student had met any of the deadlines previous for rough draft submissions (our teachers would often scaffold these assignments), I was informed that the student had only turned in the one paper, as described above, on the final due date. It was one of the more blatant plagiarism incidents I had seen in my administrative career. The parents of this student disagreed.

During our 90 minute meeting about this incident, the parents attacked the Academic Honesty Policy of the school (which had been written by students for students), disagreed with the grade the student would receive on the paper, and maintained that their student had not plagiarized at all. You see, they informed us that their student had turned in their rough draft by mistake on the final due date. While it felt odd that a student's rough draft would be copied directly from two websites, I asked if they had a copy of the true final paper with them. They said they did not. I asked them if they could produce the final copy upon arriving home. They said they could not. I asked if they could send it in within a few hours. Again, they said this would not be possible. Instead, they resorted to name calling, verbally assaulting the teacher about their treatment of children and threatened to take it further up the chain of command. And so they did, all the way to the district office level. The most unbelievable part of the story is not the blind defending of the student by the parents but how common these conversations were with our parent community in regard to their students' behaviors.

These may not be your deal breakers but similar ones exist for every administrator I've ever met. When I begin my search for my next administrative appointment (which I hope is not any time soon), I'll be asking certain questions to avoid such unnecessarily challenges. After all, as I say to our students on a regular basis, school is hard enough without making it more complicated. For me, enjoying how I spend my days is very important. Having a school community that works together on school issues while still respecting my out-of-school time is a blessing. Working with parents on student discipline incidents that can truly be a learning experience for their student is quite refreshing. Not every interaction is necessarily perfect, but I've seen the other side and I'll do my best to choose my school community wisely in the future.