Principals' Office

Advocate for School Funding Today!

Last week, Leslie Potter blogged about the financial crunch occurring in her school and district, including several layoffs. Our nation’s leaders are working diligently on a second economic stimulus bill that will create jobs and help prevent layoffs across the country. The House version of the stimulus bill, H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, includes more than $120 billion for education. A vote on H.R. 1 in the U.S. House of Representatives is expected on Wednesday or Thursday of this week. Contact your representative today and ask for his or her support of H.R. 1.

You can e-mail your representative via NAESP’s Leading Educators’ Advocacy Dashboard by scrolling to the bottom of the screen.

NAESP has sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives requesting support of H.R. 1. We hope that you will also contact your representatives in favor of this important legislation.

Middle-Level Series Concludes

During the past few months, the Principals’ Office has featured the Middle-Level Blog Series, which addressed topics like bullying and technology from the particular view of the middle-level administrator. Mark Terry’s posting below will conclude the first installment of the Middle-Level Blog Series. But continue to check out the Principals’ Office blog for other series, like the one upcoming on Diverse Learning Communities, and for a continuation of the Middle-Level Blog Series this spring. 

 

Reversing Teacher Turnover

It is fast approaching the time of year when I dread having a teacher visit my office and ask to “speak with me for a moment.” Those words are often the precursor to a discussion about the teacher leaving our school. It can be one of your best teachers or one with whom you have been working to gracefully “exit” from the profession. But it is the loss of elite teachers, the master teachers, that causes me tremendous heartburn. It could be that they are leaving for a higher-paying position, they could be retiring, or they could be leaving the field. But, I work diligently to make sure they are not leaving because of a feeling of being underappreciated. This is especially important in a middle-level school, with its special challenges.

What ideas do you have to retain your best and brightest teachers?

Mark Terry is principal of Eubanks Intermediate School in Southlake, Texas, and is the Middle-Level Foundation Member on NAESP’s Board of Directors.

Financial Crunch

                                                                                                                                        

I am a middle school principal with 38 years in public education. My school is in a large district   that serves 63,000 students. We have lost millions of dollars from our budgets, with the expectation of losing millions more. So far at our middle school, we have lost 10 teachers, one school resource officer, four teacher assistants, two custodians, one secretary, and one cafeteria worker, with more cuts to follow. All administrators have taken a pay cut and more pay cuts will be scheduled next year. Our student-to-teacher ratio has increased, as have offerings to students.

Our sub budget and supply budgets have been cut in half (we can’t even have mini fridges anymore). Teachers are reluctant to miss days due to colleagues having to fill in for them. All sports programs have been cut. All district programs such as the science fair  and band/chorus concerts have been cut. There is no more textbook money and no more staff development, unless it is online or after school. The budget cuts have also affected our ability to conduct field trips. 

We don’t take checks from parents anymore because we have lost $1,000 due to bad checks. Parents don’t pay for lost or damaged textbooks due to their financial situations. We have had to be more energy conservative; we can’t stay late since all computers are turned off by 9 p.m., and we can’t come in on weekends to work.

I have just described what is going our school this year—next year it should be worse. Legislators have said there is plenty of money, but that we just don’t use it correctly. Our state is in a $2 billion deficit and education and social services will share most of the loss.

Right now our state and district are in a tremendous financial crunch, I’d like to know how other schools and districts are faring. 
 
Leslie Potter is principal of Silver Sands Middle School in Port Orange, Florida

Appreciating the Principal

Father’s Day, Administrative Assistant’s Day, Women’s History Month … the list goes on. Now we can add Virginia Principals Appreciation Week! Governor Timothy M. Kaine has declared January 12-16, 2009, Principals Appreciation Week.

This statewide public acknowledgement of the important role that principals play in their school communities, helping students achieve bright futures, formally recognizes principals for all they do. Read the proclamation. Hopefully, more states will formally recognize principals in this way.

How do you think Principal Appreciation Week should be celebrated?

Promote Reading Aloud at Your School

For three years, NAESP has been promoting reading aloud to students through the its annual Principal’s Read Aloud Award program.

Check out the five nominated books and vote for the one you think should be honored with the award. Voting has been extended to Friday, Jan. 16. There will be a presentation to the winning author in April 2009 during NAESP’s Annual Convention and Exposition in New Orleans.

The National Principals Resource Center offers all five titles at reasonable rates—buy them for your school library if you don’t already have them. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to offer your students another avenue to improving reading skills!