The A-Z AP

Becoming an Assistant Principal?

Here is an A-Z list to live by!

ANSWER IN A TIMELY MANNER. Phone calls, emails, texts, etc. Most districts have a 24-hour rule. Not only should you follow this if your district enforces it, but you should personally make this your goal. You can even respond with, "I will get back to you on that by {tomorrow}" and that's a response. Principals and APs are "on call" even when they're not at work. While your family and personal life are a priority, you have to make your school a priority as well.

BUDDY UP.  Find another new{ish} AP to buddy up with. Someone you can call for anything, ask for advice, cry with on your bad days, celebrate successes with. You need someone who is in your court, but is also in your same position. Find time to visit them at their school and spend time watching what they do and how they do it. Invite them to your school as well.

CONFIDENTLY make decisions. It's ok to take your time in making a decision, but once you've made the decision you should be confident that the decision was made keeping students first. It is ok to ask your Principal and other colleagues for their input when making a decision. Even seasoned Principals will do this.

DEFINE your job. You will need your Principal to do this for you or to help you with it. While you may read the job description and understand the hundreds of responsibilities of an AP along with "other duties as assigned", you must. must. must. talk with your Principal to see what he/she expects you to do. There may be AP tasks your Principal demands to do, but rather gives you something else. Go in asking, "What are the tasks that you expect me to do alone, what are the tasks that we will do together, and what are the tasks you do on your own?" This will help you understand your job and prioritize. Every AP job is different!

EXAMPLE. Lead by it. Be a servant leader. If the custodian is out at the end of the day, step in and empty trash cans so he/she doesn't have to do double-duty tomorrow. If you can't find a sub driver, best have your bus license and be willing to use it! Don't expect your staff to do something you aren't willing to do yourself.

FOLLOW UP. After resolving any situation, don't just let it be in the past. Follow up in a few days or weeks (depending on circumstances) to ensure the results of the situation have lasted. For example, when investigating a bullying situation and resolving it however you will...follow up with the victim and their family to make sure that it is no longer occurring. Follow up with the bully to make sure they know you haven't forgotten, and are constantly on the lookout for their more positive qualities.

GOOF OFF SOMETIMES. Never forget that you work in a building that serves children. Children love to laugh, and you're in a position to make kids laugh and smile often. Don't be afraid to be goofy. Dress up like a T-Rex on picture day, jump in the dunk tank during field day, run laps with kids during the fun run, sit down and pretend to be a student in a classroom and ask questions of the teacher, dance when music is playing. You get the picture.

HONESTY. No matter who asks you for input or feedback, provide it thoughtfully and honestly. As a Principal, if I ask my AP for their thoughts on anything, I want the truth. It may hurt my feelings, it may not be what I want to hear. But if anyone on my staff should feel comfortable telling me the truth, it should be my AP.

I-CONTACT (The "E" was already taken). Try your best not to multi-task when someone is speaking to you. It is so tempting to do this when you're on the phone and there are tasks in front of you that you need to complete. Give everyone who speaks to you your full attention. Be present. Maintain eye contact, and if you're on the phone, ear contact. If your mind wanders during a conversation, you're straight up telling that person that what they have to say is not important to you.

JOIN with your Principal. Work toward becoming co-Principals, regardless of the official label on your door. Try to maintain a 30-60 minute protected time at the start of each week to look over each other's schedules and see what you can do to help balance one another out. Ask questions, share suggestions, build relationships.

KNOW THE DATA. Get into the habit of looking at, analyzing, and knowing data for your school. This is a HEFTY task, as schools are often overwhelmed with data from a plethora of sources. Take baby steps. Ask your Principal which data they most rely on. Start there, and then add other sources. This can be eye opening and provide you with great insight on each individual child, team, and your entire building. If I had to suggest a starting point, it would be your most recent Teacher Working Conditions Survey.

LITIGATION knowledge. You took school law when you went through your Master's program, but you have to keep up with knowing school law. Most counties provide annual legal updates via their attorneys. If you are the Special Needs Administrator, you should work toward knowing EC law specifically.

MAKE MY JOB EASIER. I know this sounds selfish of a Principal to say, but it's real. I can say this b/c I've been there. APs often feel like they do it all and their Principal "gets to" do whatever they want to do. Well, I didn't know until I became a Principal that there were 5,392 things Principals have to do I knew nothing about. So any little task you can take off your Principal to make their job easier will be so appreciated.

NEST in your office a bit. Make it look like you. Paint the walls, put in comfortable furniture, pictures of your family. Don't make it so sterile. You want it to feel welcoming and soothing for your visitors so they will be instantly comfortable and not feel like they're "in the {Assistant} Principal's office". Now, the kids you may be disciplining? Maybe you have a corner where it's two chairs for a conversation or you take care of those issues in a smaller conference room. Your office doesn't have to be Chuck-E-Cheese, just don't make it look so scary! Personalize it.

ORGANIZE. It might take you a while to figure out how this best works for you. Keep a calendar that holds your entire life so you don't double book your work and personal schedules. Be consistent with that calendar. Having one online, one on paper, a desk calendar, and one at home - will likely make you go crazy and miss out on things. Spend some time figuring this out quickly when you a get a job and stick to it. The same will go for the way you organize files, your office space, and your desktop on your computer!

PRESENT at meetings. Lead PD sessions in your building, help with staff meetings and leadership team meetings. Don't just be an attendant. Present and lead as much as your Principal does.

QUANTIFY your appreciation. Shout from the rooftops when you appreciate someone! Be explicit in telling that person how much you appreciate them and why. Ways to do this are unlimited. You can post about them on social media {tagging them of course}, put a blurb in your staff newsletter, write them a personalized thank you note and even mail it to their house, show them appreciation during a staff meeting, or even as simple as looking them in the eye and verbalizing that appreciation.

RELATIONSHIP building. Start with your Principal. Know them personally and professionally. Then take time to get to know something personal about each staff member in your charge. What are they good at? What do they do for fun? Finally, work toward being able to identify each child in your building by name. You can do this when you're walking through classrooms by looking at nametags and faces.

SUPPORT your Principal. You don't have to agree with 100% of the decisions they make and can even challenge their decisions {behind closed doors}. But, you should always support them in front of the staff and other stakeholders. It is so important that the two of you {or three+} present as a united team.

TAKE RISKS together. Don't be satisfied with how things have always been. Two brains are better than one, and when working together creatively, you can develop new strategies that can take your school to new places! Don't be afraid to share ideas and trouble-shoot your Principal's ideas.

UNDERSTAND. Always ask WHY. There should be a reason for all decisions that are made, and you need to seek to understand those reasons. You can ask students WHY they are solving their problems a specific way when you're watching a lesson. You can ask a team of teachers WHY they chose a specific novel to teach a specific skill. You can ask your Principal WHY they made a decision that wasn't popular. Asking WHY doesn't have to be looked at as questioning authority. You are seeking to learn, and to challenge the other person to articulate their purpose.

VISIBILITY. It's ok to shut your office door. In fact, there are times you have to. But you also have to make sure you don't get sucked into your office chair once you sit down in it. Your students and staff should see your face every day. Make the effort to be visible in the hallways, cafeteria, classrooms, playgrounds, car lines, buses, etc. That way your presence is normal and doesn't evoke panic.

WRITE AND POST. Get on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. Write a blog. Share your ideas, and all the good things that are going on in your building even if those ideas or good things weren't specifically your idea. Not only will this market your school, which is so important, but will be an excellent online resume for you to have when you're ready to apply for the Principalship.

X-AMINE all sides of a situation before making a decision. Never ever jump to a conclusion or base your decision off of what one person tells you. You will, 99.9% of the time, not be able to see the whole picture without a thorough investigation from all sides.

YIELD when others speak in contentious situations. It is always best to begin by listening. Listen without interrupting, then validate what you heard: "I'm hearing that you are frustrated by the way the decision was made, and that you feel your input wasn't considered." By being an active listener and validating the other person's feelings/perspective, you will fare better in the outcome.

ZEST FOR LEARNING! Yes, your Master's degree is done and you're tired of reading. Take a few months off, but don't stop learning. Read scholarly articles on education, newly released books, blogs, websites and follow social media accounts that inspire you. If you don't continue to learn, you're settling. Nobody wants an AP that is ok with settling and not bettering themselves!

Now you know your AP ABCs!

Yours,