1. If you want to talk to me about a problem, schedule a morning appointment, when I’m fresh.
By the afternoon, I can get pretty frazzled.
2. You’re right, that teacher does stink.
3. Of course I’m going to disapprove of a child missing class for vacation.
4. We had a young man struggling to focus during year-end tests.
5. You think that what happens at home stays at home?
6. The child you see at home?
That’s almost never the one we see at school.
7. Don’t tell me your child would never lie to you.
All kids make mistakes, and great students are often the ones most afraid to tell their parents when they screw up.
8. When we have a child who throws things or tries to hit when she’s angry……her parents inevitably say, “I don’t have a problem with her at home, because I spank her.”
9. My biggest pet peeve?
10. Don’t ask me to make a teacher forgive a homework assignment or not to teach a specific subject.
11. I’ve had a few students who were bullies.We suspend them again and again, but it’s very tough to expel a student. The truth is, they have a right to an education.
12. Kids are easy.
13. What do I love about this job?
14. C’mon parents, this is your child’s homework, not yours.
15. Principals never know what the day will hold.
16.The last thing I want to do on the sidelines of a basketball game or during intermission at the school play is have a conference with you about your child.
17. If you and your child don’t like his teacher, tough luck.
18. When an unruly student gets sent to my office, my favorite strategy is not to engage right away.
I just let them sit there in agony while I keep working. It gives them a chance to calm down and de-escalate. Try it at home; it works.
19. For years, folks have said that if you can’t do anything else, you can always go into education.
The truth is, we’re not the leftovers, and this is what most of us wanted to do. I had been accepted to law school, but I chose this.
20. Our favorite kids aren’t necessarily the ones with the highest IQs.
21. Since the economy has gotten bad, it seems that more parents are taking any job they can get…
22. As a principal, you’re expected to know about bus routes, curriculum, communication, school lunches, adolescent development, conflict management, learning disabilities, and more.
You have to be an expert on everything, sometimes in the same 20 minutes.