I found out last week that our new principal is leaving, she has only been acting principal for one month. Changes were made and they are bringing in a principal that has a bad record. I have heard that this principal doesn't deal with parents or teachers. She locks herself in her office and offers to do grades or work on lesson plans. She doesn't do any public speaking. Problem? Well I am the new assistant principal. I just finished learning how to work with this new principal and I was excited. Now? I want to run away and cry. I am so afraid of what this means for me. I am feeling stressed out! I feel like it will all fall on me. I am not good at public speaking either. We have four meetings total with parents that will include public speaking. I am quiet nervous what this may bring. I ask you all for your prayers. Any advice is welcomed. My goal and intention is to be open to this principal and not worry about the past. I need to give her an opportunity. It is difficult, because now our staff (the only ones present right now during summer school) are upset about the change. I feel the pain in my neck and my eye is twitching! LOL :help::help:
Having worked most of my career at a school with a high administrative turnover rate, I understand your pain! We are creatures if habit and it's so irritating and can throw off the whole dynamic of a school if you get one admin who is unpleasant and/or not a team player. Maybe she has learned from the past mistakes that led to her bad reputation and considers this school a new start and an opportunity to to start over. It sounds like you are doing the right thing to go in with an open mind. I would try to meet with her as soon as possible so you can gauge for yourself the type of person she is. If she turns out to be wonderful you're in luck. If she turns out to be awful, then you can always come back to A to Z for advice.For what it's worth, my P acts exactly as you described. She spends all day in her office doing paperwork and rarely interacts with the children or teacher unless she is leading a staff development or a teacher is being called into her office for a reprimand. There are many things about her I don't like and she has a bad reputation around the county, but for the most part she is a good P who defends us against parent complaints and accusations. We are a high achieving school because of the whip she cracks and she does her best not to interrupt class time and pays teachers for after school clubs and tutoring, whereas some Ps expect you to volunteer. She is not easily approachable, but she is (mostly) fair I like her a lot better than my old P made his presence known around the school and rarely stayed in his office, but he was a weak and ineffective leader who let the secretaries, custodial staff, VP and other teachers run the school. Try not to let the staff know you are as disappointed as them because our last VP was like that (sided with teachers over the P) and it caused a lot of tension and problems. The VP ended up transferring. I'm not saying to bow down to her if she is doing things unethical, but as a leader I would present an attitude of "l miss old P too but let's give new P a chance". Good luck and keep us posted!
I think being in power changes some people because it either goes to their head or the stress of running a school. Our P used to be a teacher at our school back in the early 90s and the few teachers at my school who were there during that time said she was A LOT different. That she was more personable, she smiled and laughed a lot, that she was a bit of a health nut, was learning how to play guitar and was just a laid back, nice lady. Then she became VP and eventually P and is nothing like that anymore. In addition to having put on at least 100lbs, she is a scary Dragon Lady who never smiles and is all business all the time. I have heard whispers that she also has had some personal issues with her family that has soured her disposition. I also think she is on the front line for everything that goes wrong at school and it gets to her. I honestly cannot imagine the stress that goes into being a P. it's hard enough running a classroom. I couldn't imagine if I had to manage other teachers, children and deal with parents, BOE, etc
