The Unsupported Educator…how I ended up in the principal’s office

This one is from the heart. You see, I didn’t start out in this life with the childhood dream of being a principal. I wanted to be a fashion designer. I wanted to live in New York City and make fabulous dresses, wear fabulous dresses, and coordinate them with fabulous shoes. Lots and lots of fabulous shoes. But alas, despite my rebellious nature, I listened to my mom’s advice and went to college and got a ‘saleable job skill’….or a couple, since I started out in journalism, dabbled in psychology, and then went back for a degree in education.

I digress. I never planned on being a teacher, although I have always loved kids and babysat every kid in my hometown canyon….it just wasn’t my dream. Once I decided to teach though….I loved it. I tell stories about my first year teaching 6th grade as a long term sub, moving into a brand new building and making some of the best friends a person could ask for, teaching with my best friends for 10 years. While it sounds cliche…we had synergy…the ever elusive chemistry and compatibility of colleagues that made great things happen. We were a powerhouse together. We were an internal network of support for each other, and our principal respected us and let us do our thing. These were the best years and I saw myself teaching until retirement; our little group of three teachers, a special ed teacher, a librarian and a secretary….we ruled the school.

We had many laughs, a few cries, we had some hard days…but we were family. We huddled together in shock as news of Columbine hit the airwaves. Our classes watched the inauguration of the first African American president together. We processed the fall of the twin towers together. I loved teaching. I loved my kids. I loved the projects, the connections, the reading, the writing, the ladies that I shared my room with- my paras and partners in adventure. Those years were the best!

Then we had to hire a new principal. For educators, this is hard. Schools are like families, and you have to have the right person to lead the family. I sat on the committee with several other staff members and we selected a dynamic, energetic and collaborative leader, one who continued to give us the autonomy we were used to, held people accountable, and pushed us to be better. She was the best. The MM years were a time of great growth among the staff and students at BMS. But as happens with great principals…sometimes they move on the be great superintendents. And MM did. So…once again we were back to the hiring committee…and this time we had really big shoes to fill.

Our school had been moving in such a great direction, and we hired someone who at her previous school had earned a Title one blue ribbon of distinction. Oh…yes…we wanted that. We wanted it and we knew we had the dynamic to make it happen with the right leadership behind us. So…NN came on board. Now, I will be the first person to say you should never judge a book by it’s cover…or shoes, but I should have known based on her shoes that she was not the right fit for us. Looking back, she had the worst shoes EVER.

NN soon proved herself to be quite the ditz. She was very forgetful, very disorganized, and she was not very articulate or assertive. Educator confession: I probably have some bad karma coming because we four teachers and one Secretary were not always nice…for example, keeping tally marks of how many ummmmsss and aaahhhhsss she would use in one staff meeting (Sometimes more than 100…just saying). This was the year that teaching was hard. This was the year that had me questioning what I was doing. This was the year that I knew that I couldn’t work for someone who didn’t support my life’s mission statement of doing good work with good people for good people. This was the first time I had witnessed educational malpractice and I wanted nothing to do with it. So I enrolled at NAU and got a master’s degree in educational leadership and vowed that I would never let a school that had once been so vibrant and full of energy and synergy turn into a dungeon of darkness. I never wanted to be an unsupported educator again, and I didn’t want any other educator to feel as unsupported as I did in that year.

I left that district, and soon after this brand new school closed its doors, the teachers and staff were shuffled about to other schools. Our group stayed in contact, had book club and ladies nights. We commiserated about the happenings in our different buildings, and over the years went to different districts. But we were still a support network of sorts, especially when some of us were completely unsupported by administration. It hurt my heart to be leading a school that didn’t include these exceptional educators and friends, but the stars never aligned. And that which didn’t kill them made them stronger. I hope.

I have been fortunate that for most of my years in public education I have had the support of my principals, district leaders, my colleagues, and my families. I never take for granted my position of supporting other educators, and remind my teachers that I work for them.

There is a lot percolating in my head tonight, but no matter what your role is in this adventure, please support public educators. They have such a tough job, and not all of them have the support they need or deserve to be their personal best every day. If you are in a position to do what is right for kids, or do what is easy for adults, please choose well….and don’t hire people with ugly shoes.