90s12 Principals

By the end of April in 1991, I was heavily involved in my dissertation, presenting at several young writers’ conferences, doing storytelling events, and all that on top of my work as a curriculum director. The guy who was completing his first year as elementary principal in the district told me that he was going to resign and take a position in Idaho. I was shocked!

He was popular with the teachers and in the community. This was the job I had previously decided not to apply for so I could work on my dissertation. Now it would be open again. I wrote that it presented a dilemma and an opportunity for me. As I have said I was in the middle of writing my dissertation and didn’t see how I could get involved in the complications of applying for a position. I decided if I did go forward with it, it would be on my terms.

In those complicated days I was trying to write a minimum of 200 words each time I sat down to work on the dissertation. That worked well for me because I knew I could get up if I met that limit and actually seldom got up without writing several hundred words. I would get into something and couldn’t stop until I finished the thought. I frequently got lost in the writing. It was a break from the trouble of my job and the worries of everyday life. I didn’t spend much time thinking about the principal position.

That’s when the principal told me he got another offer from another district in Idaho and he was taking the position. He said he would tell why he was leaving when he had signed the contract for the job. Even after he had signed the contract he didn’t really tell me much. He just said working in Mediapolis wasn’t like it was in South Dakota. He thought we took our jobs too seriously. I think he thought we should be having a lot more fun than we were. It was really strange.

People go into the principalship for lots of different reasons. Some go into it for the money. Some want to be the boss. Some because they really care about kids and I am sure there are many other reasons. I had seen many who were there for the wrong reasons. I don’t know how many lousy teachers become principals but I am pretty sure there are quite a few. I had no respect for them.

I honestly believed, and still believe, that I could make a positive difference in the lives of children, families, and the staff of the building. I had worked for some good principals and some bad ones. I felt like I had learned from both and be a better leader.

So the last entries in the journal that may are about completing the dissertation and whether I want to apply for the principal position. I ran out of pages before either is decided. I’ll get to them soon.