The Assistant Principal Podcast

Frederick
Last week we began our conversation with Doctor Sam Searcy, an experienced principal moving into a new school building, and she shared with us last week three of the things that she thought she had done very well, and it was a rich, rich episode. I hope you got a chance to listen to it. Today we carry on with our conversation with Doctor Cercy. And look at some of the other things that surprised her and maybe something that she should have done differently. Hello colleagues, and welcome to the Assistant Principal podcast. I'm your host, Doctor Frederick Buskey. I've been growing leaders and future leaders for over 30 years, and through my own experiences and through working with hundreds of other leaders, I've learned that school leadership is a journey that occurs in three phases. Urgent leaders spend their time completing tasks, but intentional leaders invest their time building systems. However, strategic leaders create time by growing people. In twenty eighteen i founded Strategic Leadership Consulting to help make this journey more enjoyable for leaders like you through my daily email monthly micro journal, online community, my upcoming book, and of course this podcast. I keep you company on this journey and provide you with actionable ideas and tools to live and lead better today and tomorr ow. Ok, I actually want to go back and can you tell me a story? Of maybe one of your earlier transitions where you went in and you did see how we're going to change this and it didn't work. Can you just give us a real example of what that looks like?
Sam
Umm. I would say the my transition from a middle school to a high school. I had been an assistant curriculum assistant principal at the high school previously two years at the middle school as principal came back thinking, oh, here I am, I know what to do. I've sat in the big chair. Followed who? A person who had been my mentor, who had really helped me grow as an administrator and pushed me to want to become a principal. So these were in that two years there was very little turnover. Lots of folks were. It was just all the same. The first year was wonderful. The feedback, the teacher Working Conditions Survey, all of that was phenomenal. I think year two I would almost say maybe I got a little too big for my britches. I mean, I don't know what went. I don't think I can pinpoint. A situation that went wrong but. That next year was set. We had some trauma in our school. There was just so much happening that I lost focus on the people and focus very much on the task. And not that it. I mean, things didn't go so badly that, you know, the school was burning down or anything, but it by the end, it was definitely I was worn out. I felt worn out. And I think my faculty was feeling that way too. And it wasn't that we were trying to change change. I think I was trying to listen to everyone and implement too much umm. I had a relationship with all of the teachers, just as their curriculum AP for so long and. It you just it was overwhelming and then you add outside trauma things that you can't control on top of that. And then COVID. Which I think any administrator would tell you, just changed everything about what we believe and how we do it. There was just a lot of vulnerability on my part and. I think i tried to hard to own too much of it.
Frederick
That sounds like. To a certain extent, every leader's journey, yes. I think there's there always comes a time and some people I think it's I'm trying to prove myself, so I'm going to own everything. And then I think there's also that point where. Oh, I've got it now. I know all this stuff. Now I can own everything and take care of everybody. So it comes at both phases. So I guess the we're going to play with this idea too because you said, you said you were putting tasks before people just so common one of the things that. Probably I will have put it out there a lot by the time people listen to this, I mean we're recording this podcast in on December eighth and it's probably not going to air until January sometime. And I'm going to write my book next week. I've got a cabin in the woods. I'm going out. I'm gonna finish the book. And in preparation for that, you know, one of the there's been a big switch that's happened for me, which is. Strategic leadership and I've always said purpose, problems, progress, and people. But it really, it needs to start with the people like people even before purpose. And I think way that can sound a little bit counterintuitive, but when you look at everything you've just talked about, you're putting people first and listening to people and when you take care of people, and I mean they're going to tell you what the purpose is, we're teachers who you don't need. We don't need to hammer people with purpose. The people have th eir own purpose, which is generally going to be teacher centered and if it's not teacher centered. There's a reason for that, and you better help them with that other purpose. Maybe they're just hanging on because, you know, moms in the hospital and all this stuff's happening. You still can't leave with purpose. You have to lead with the people.
Sam
I agree oh.
Frederick
Wow we put so much on the table already. I almost would. A part of me wants to put a bow tie on this and say, this is a great episode, we're done. And then another part of me goes, well, let's keep going. So I think if you've got the time, we'll keep going a few more minutes and maybe we'll split this into two episodes. Maybe not. I'll just have to judge. But again, this has been really rich so far. Ok, so the next question is supposed to be what have been the two biggest surprises? Since coming to owen so.
Sam
The biggest surprise? Was that I thought again that I knew this place umm. Being a within the same county and. Working alongside the previous administration for all these years and hearing the good things come in. You know when we were at meetings and we're sharing what we're doing and this thought that wow, oh and has got it going on they've got. They're doing great with MTV. They're using restorative practices, all the really catch phrases, buzzwords, all those things that we struggle with to implement. As these directives come down and these new initiatives come down, i really was expecting. And again, the data looked good. Other than the cohort graduation rate, the effectiveness is great, the test scores are good. When I got here, the biggest surprise was that the people in the building didn't have that strong hold on all of those big initiatives they were using, the words they were created. There was a SIT team structure in place for MTSS, but when you got down to the day-to-day. Folks are still clamoring and still raising their hand. I don't know how to do this or what are we supposed to do. And that the second biggest surprise kind of goes along with that is when folks would say to me, all the people who were here that knew how to do that have left. The school is, we're a small high school and the school has, as all public high schools and schools have taken a hit since COVID. We're, you know, our enrollments going down. So there were losses of Adm, losses of teacher positions and being in a school, the small I think folks, really. Had a bad taste in their mouth because of that. They felt that the state, the district, whomever had taken these positions from them and instead of having the capacity to just move forward, it was more of a another finger pointing, Oh well, that person doesn't work here anymore and they were in charge of MTSS or they were in charge of this or that. So in a place where there's been very little turnover this year. Change in administration. The former assistant principal got named as a principal at another school, so admin team was different. The school social worker has taken leave counselors. 2 new counselors came on board. Just lots of that administrative team and support team has changed in addition to changes to classroom teachers so. That was a surprise to me that there wasn't a strong enough structure in place. To move forward. So some of the things I thought were. Embedded cut and draw, tattooed on everybody's arm are a little less. We're still there, we're in a great place and I'm confident and feel really good about where we are. But it kind of knocked me in the face for a second. I wasn't ready for that.
Frederick
And I think that's always the one of the challenges when we have people that champion A cause. So somebody championed smart lunch. If we're not really intentional about bringing people in, it's one of my frustrations with some of the really popular change models that are out there. You know, I think there's cotters 8 steps to change and. The third step is I think is like selling. If you're selling something, right, if you're asking for buy in, then you're selling, which means you didn't, you didn't have people bring it, bring it to you or bring it up, right? And I think that's just such if you're trying to sell something to people, it's going to be harder than if they come and they ask you for it and then you're giving them what they want. So in that situation it sounds like you run a danger, especially when a school's been, they've been hurt, right? When we take away things from schools and that happens all the time and people love their schools and they, you know, they feel that. And so it's really easy to slip into a can't do mentality, that kind of deficit thinking of. We can't do this because how what are some of the things that you done to that you think are helping faculty? Move from can't do to can do.
Sam
I think a lot of it just comes from positivity. And making sure that I'm lifting up where they need to be lifted. Reminding them of all the good things that are in place and that we do very well. Stepping back and being in awe sometimes and saying that like, wow, I am so impressed. And i know day-to-day we sometimes especially as an administrator you forget that you're pulled in a million different directions. There's you know the text on your phone the email the angry parent the upset child the in crisis student you know all these things but just being mindful and present and being on the journey with them not in front of them and. Not behind them, just with them where you know, going to the meetings, hearing the conversations, doing the work. And not, you know, allowing building capacity, allowing for people to flourish, to grow, to blossom and having those tasks and ownerships and. For example, I have a teacher that created a pep rally schedule this morning. I've never been at a school before where the teacher created the PEP rally schedule for the school day. But instead of saying that to her, I'm just saying back like I am so impressed. Thank you for doing this and taking this on and I think it's just a lot of that just acknowledging the good work that they are doing and being there alongside to keep us moving in the same direction.
Frederick
And I always think of the principles that as a lighthouse and I've been around you enough to know when you're out in that hall, you know you're rating that positivity at the same time there's substantive improvement work and support going behind that and I want listeners to really understand the A. I don't know. I think you have to put that mask on and go out and you have to be the lighthouse. It doesn't matter how you feel. It doesn't matter how that IEP meeting went or what the associate Superintendent is telling you. That doesn't matter. You have to go out and you have to be that lighthouse. But that's not enough either, because you also have to be helping people, really helping the situation really get better, and supporting people. Because if you're just a lighthouse, then you're rah rah.
Sam
Right, exactly.
Frederick
We'll know that, right? But if you're the lighthouse and you're helping make things better, helping people make things better, then you've got it going on right.
Frederick
Is, there anything that looking back, you would have done differently? I, you know, coming in I inherited, for lack of a better term, 2 assistant principals. Who, one I had known most of her life. She grew up with my daughter, which sounds crazy. That makes me feel very old. But I knew her as a child, you know, not as an adult or a professional. And the other I didn't know well at all. But both had only been here for a year and had only been assistant principals for one year. My third assistant principal was someone that I have worked with over the years who had become a principal and over the last three years had made a decision that was not the role she wanted. She wanted to go back to the support roles she that there's a choice she made, and because she and I had kind of come through the trenches together as assistant principals, I had this opportunity for she and I to work together again, which has been wonderful. But we know each other very well and she knows when I need water and she knows when I need to take a breath and walk outside. So, and I know that about her as well. So I think I came in with assumptions about my team. That looking back, I wish I had taken more time to put us all in the same space together. Before the school year started, we had several meetings, times, lunches, things that we did to get together. As soon as I was named before the school year was over, last year, I came and met with them here in a secluded place where no one heard what we were talking about, and gave them a minute just to vent. Like, what do you need? What do you want? We at that moment kind of established that this isn't about the previous administration and your relationship with that administration. This is about building a new relationship. But I also wanted to hear what they were passionate about. I think my assumption that they were further along in their journey than they were. Was probably a misstep. So now here we are in December and. We have all acknowledged that there's still some learning to do. And they're the newer AP's are very receptive to me saying OK here's a learning moment. This is one of those things for your filing cabinet. I'm bringing you into this situation so you can hear or see experience. So they bring they bring their things to me too when it's about you know a legal issue or a discipline issue or. So we have a great relationship and I think it the support is there all the way around. Because ultimately, out in the hallway, out in the classrooms, they're my extended arm. And so I would say a misstep was. I felt like I had. Enough time to get to know them, and I really didn't. I needed one more time yeah appreciate that. So before we head to the wrap up phase, this is the assistant principal podcast. So what advice can you give to assistant principals who may be in this situation where a new principal is coming in?
Sam
Sure, I think the best advice is to be very honest. With the new administration and if something doesn't feel good, look good. Feels like you're crossing a line. Be professional. And bring that to the table in a setting and establish that relationship. It it's always everyone wants to have. People on their side always you want to walk, you want to see people in your work day that are the ones that are always have your back. But remember that admin team is the one place you have to have each other's backs. You have to work together. So if there are. Any personality issues and I'm fortunate enough, I am living with a great team and we have established this ourselves. But just make sure you're professionally setting those expectations with your new administrator and asking them for help with that. And always ask questions. Principals are teachers at heart and we love growing other people to take our jobs and that's what I hope I do with my.
Frederick
Folks and I think sometimes assistant principals struggle with law how much initiative to take this temptation? Ok, tell me what you want me to do. And how do you communicate and say, hey, here are my strengths, here's what I've been doing, here's what's working well. Let's talk about now what you want me to do or what role. And also to say, hey, I've, you know, I've been an assistant principal for five years. I'm really looking at going into the principal ship. So I would really appreciate as much of the instructional stuff as I can get experience with. You know, I would like that. I think it's fine to ask for those things or talk about how those things might fit into the responsibilities of the team.
Sam
Oh, I completely agree.
Frederick
Ok, so. I just wrapped up interview with my mentor my of 35 years. We did it yesterday. It was really powerful, but one of the places that I grew the most I think was Friday afternoon, you know. Clock ran out every we were district office, people leave and I would go down to his office on Friday afternoon and it was this amazing special time where. He would get to unpack his week because principles he was Superintendent and I was director of Special Ed. But it's the same principles don't have a lot of people they can unpack with and so i'm using this as a soapbox I guess to assistant principals. If you have a principal that's in there Friday afternoon if you have that opportunity that's the time because your principal is not been able to process all of this stuff all week long and now the quiet. Comes and now there's that moment and if you can be in there, if you're an assistant principal and you're wanting to grow and you can be in there. Just to listen, a lot of times you're going to learn so much and the relationship that you can form becomes really special and yeah so i don't know if you've had that experience if you've had either as an AP going in or if you have an AP that does that. Can you speak to that at all?
Sam
I think we have. Had moments of that, moments where we all needed it. Do you have? I'd say once every week or so, each assistant principal end up alone in my office. Wanting to talk through this situation or that situation or asking me how did you know to do this instead of that or? And how? How do you make these decisions how? So we have that back and forth. We have that conversation with each other. And it's a good feeling to know that as a team you feel in that safe space to just be a person and talk about your work day not about you know it's not about PR. It's not about the you know the teachers aren't around you know it's just that in this moment Dang, I messed that up. And being able to say that and that not become you know the scuttle in the work room the next day. So it is important. It's very important and I think. You're correct in letting assistant principals know. A lot of learning takes place in those conversations after the fact.
Frederick
Yeah, yeah wow OK. We have covered a lot of ground. So we're going to wrap this up and I have three questions for you. The first one is what part of your own leadership are you still trying to get better at?
Sam
Time management. Finding a way to fit it all in and not jump. Two things that are going to take me away from. The daily things that i feel are important. Getting in classrooms more.
Frederick
Ok. And you know me and you know my message, so I'm going to say it's priority.
Sam
Management it is.
Frederick
Not time management.
Sam
It is. You are correct, yes. That is correct so.
Frederick
If listeners could take away just one thing. From this incredible episode, what do you want them to take away?
Sam
Umm. Don't lose sight of what it what's your passion and why you do this job every day. It's, it is. It's heavy at times. But the outcome is important. And you're not alone.
Frederick
Of that. Anything else that you want to share?
Sam
Umm. Just that I think the more information folks can get through, whether it's your podcast or other information or just those conversations, seek out those other professionals that have that same passion and. It'll it'll benefit you.
Frederick
Ok, Sam, this has been wonderful and I'm going to have you back on again if you will. That because there's just been so much, so many concrete examples and of so much wisdom being shared here today. So I hope people took away a lot from today's show and we need to have you back on. So thank you so much.
Sam
And I would love to have you sometime meet my assistant principals. I think they could share some insight as well-being 1 veteran and two newbies there, they're in a good spot.
Sam
So we will, we will schedule that for probably for January then, OK, as soon as we wrap this up, awesome. All right, dear listener, if you enjoyed today's show, please subscribe and rate this podcast. We would love for other people to be able to discover it, and those ratings and reviews really help people find it. And if you got as much out of today's episode as I think you should have. Please go on and just rate the podcast and help people find it, or maybe even forward links to them yourself. I'm always trying to improve the show, so if you have feedback for me, please email me or reach out at frederick@frederickbuskey.com And if you'd like more content tailored towards the needs of assistant principals and other school leaders, you can head over to my website at frederickhusky.com backslash the assistant principal, will take you to all those goodies that wraps up today's show. I'm Frederick Buskey and I hope you'll join me next time. For the Assistant principal podcast cheers.