The start of the school year can be a nervous time for everyone—a student starting middle school, a teacher fresh out of college, or a principal starting a new job at a different school.
For Katie Law, moving to the principalship of the 200-student Wyoming Indian High School after 18 years at Arapaho Charter School on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming is both daunting and exciting. In her new role, she’ll get to try out her successful strategies to reduce absenteeism and boost family engagement on a much larger canvas.
“It was a lot easier in a school of 60 with maybe 10 of them having some attendance issues to be able to kind of track down those 10 kids. Is that system that I had in place going to work in this school?” said Law.
Moving to a new school is complex for school leaders. They leave behind decades-old working relationships with staff members and families to forge new ones. They also need to adapt to the new school’s culture, while thoughtfully introducing their own style of leadership.
Patrick Greene, who’s switching to from Greene Central High School in Snow Hill, N.C. to Chapel Hill High School in Chapel Hill, N.C. ,is nervous about this aspect of the change.
“Nervous is probably a good word … I [must] pay attention to the people and things that have been making the school run. I’ve told my new assistant principals, ‘If you see me screwing up, your job is to tell me,’” Greene said.
Education Week spoke with four principals about how they’re approaching their new assignments. In their own words, here is what they said.
Katie Law
New principal at Wyoming Indian High School, Ethete, Wyo.
Excited for: The fit has been really, really good so far. The community has been great. The staff has been great. There are systems in place for those skills that I lack, but there’s a lot of room to grow in the skills that I’m bringing.
We have to address some challenges in the new school. It comes down to attendance and graduation rates. It could be better.
I’m looking at having a systemic approach and being proactive. More kids are going to come to school if they feel that sense of belonging. If the environment is warm and friendly and we get ahead of things early, they’re going to be more likely to come to school, they’re going to see some academic success. And by the time they are seniors, they’re going to be more in the habit of coming to school and the graduation rates are gonna go up.
My approach is to bring in some of those things that build that community in the school organically and positively. There will be opportunities [to celebrate] success in kids that don’t always see that, especially in a big school. The challenge that I have for my teachers here is how are we going to get to those kids that just kind of fly under the radar? How are we going to get them involved? How are we going to get them noticed?
Nervous about: The size increase [in student enrollment] is a huge concern because I don’t know if the things that I have in my mind are going to work. The system seems good, but will the system adapt to the numbers? I could physically drive to kids’ homes if they had attendance issues or I needed to connect with the family. Is that going to be possible here?
I’m also coming to a group of people who probably know me, even though I don’t know them. I’m still in the same community, same reservation. There’s lots of stuff that people have seen, either in the newspaper or on Facebook. The community is more aware of who I am than I am of the individuals. Am I gonna match their expectations? Everybody I’ve talked to—students, parents, and teachers—are excited. So, it’s just a little bit nervewracking.
I guess a lot of people are so excited for the change, and they tell me that it’s needed, and that I have the skills that are the missing piece. I’m worried about the time. Change takes time, and we’re not going to see that in day one, month one, even necessarily one year.
What I would do differently: This being a bigger staff, a bigger student body, I may not have as much flexibility. I will get communication pieces out earlier, like weekly memos. I just need to pre-plan my communications more now.
Michael Martin
New principal of Plymouth High School, Plymouth, Ohio
Excited about: I have a school leadership philosophy that’s built on strengthening rural schools. Rural schools are overlooked a lot. I’m really excited about being able to come to yet another little school and build opportunities, build courses, and build a culture that provides these kids all the opportunities that you would get if you were in a large, wealthy district.
This can be in the form of courses, field trips, or community service opportunities that you can provide for your kids. Rural kids need to understand that the world really is theirs. So, that’s going to be a strategy. [The] second strategy is going to be strengthening and adding to our course handbook with career tech opportunities like robotics, coding, and AI to prep them for the future job market.
Nervous about: A school rebuild takes time, a lot of energy. While I’m very excited and more energetic than I have been in a while, I’m apprehensive about the sustained energy it’s going to take to build the culture and to turn the school in the direction we want to go. I have five years till I can retire. Can I sustain this energy at 51 years old? I need to build shared leadership in the new school. Provide opportunities to others to lead initiatives so that it’s not on me all the time.
What would I do differently: I will pay more attention to what the board of education is saying and wanting. At my last school, I was rarely able to make it to board meetings.
They’re on nights when I was at school events. That’s where I had conversations with parents.
That’s where I saw great things done by our kids that I could talk about the next day.
Patrick Greene
New principal of Chapel Hill High School, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Excited about: I almost feel like a beginning principal or beginning teacher again. Chapel Hill is one of the highest-achieving schools in the state. A lot of the students not only want to go to four-year universities, but top universities. I’m going in with fresh eyes to support a group of teachers who are clearly very good at what they do. Last year, they moved to block scheduling for the first time, and that was a big transition for them. Having done that for my entire career now, I think I will bring some fresh perspective to guide them. I have something to offer them there.
There is a little bit of an achievement gap between their very top students and others. They have a population of kids who don’t want to go to a four-year school. Having worked with students on alternate career paths, I think I can build some opportunities for those kids to match what they want to do and figure out how they can be successful in high school. High school should offer something for everybody.
Nervous about: I’m leaving the staff where I hired all of them. I know them all. I’ve built relationships. I’m going into a place where I don’t have that. I’m coming in cold and starting from zero. I hope to not be in my office much. I want to be at all the community events. I want to be out in the halls, in classrooms, but not only while doing formal evaluations or walkthroughs. I just want to be present, be seen, so that they can learn about me as I’m learning about them.
What I would do differently: We have a bad habit in schools of running one-year school improvement plans. But to do something well, you take time, think it through, build consensus, so you move purposely instead of in a hurry. Fourteen years ago, when I was a head principal for the first time, I thought I had to do everything, check every box. You can’t be all things to all people. You can’t cure all the problems all the time by yourself. You should lean on teams and building capacity within everybody rather than trying to be the superhero at the school.
Dan Beck
New principal of Fort Couch Middle School, Upper St. Clair, Pa.
Excited about: At my previous school, I was associated with transitions.
I loved working with a 9th grade class, as they were transitioning from 8th grade. I’m now at a 6th and 7th grade school, and I’m excited that there’s going to be a lot of thoughtful conversation about the transition into 7th grade and the transition out, preparing students for high school. I’d like to think that because I know where they’re going, I can help shape some things to prepare students for high school.
Nervous about: I don’t think that I’m nervous. I’m just excited to take on something totally different. In order to earn trust and respect of colleagues, I need to do a deep dive into the curriculum and instructional strategies, to make sure that I earn their trust and respect by just listening, being around, asking the right questions. I’m trying to learn what all this looks like in a middle school.
What I would do differently. The lesson I carry over from what I’ve done at the high school is to honor the story, listen to the stories. Understand as much as people are willing to share, because I truly believe that teaching is a calling, and I just want to understand the why behind that.
