Wednesday, January 11, 2012

A new beginning

I know, I know…every year I look at my blog and say this is the year that I will take it head on. History repeats itself again, but with a twist. I was just appointed to a new position as Associate Principal for Operations. I am excited about this opportunity but this is a far cry from my experiences in the teaching and learning side of education. I was trained as a classroom instructor. I taught for a number of years and then became the Instructional Leader, dealing with the oversight of curriculum, budget, staffing, etc. Now I am responsible for oversight on the master schedule, counselors, deans, and the rest of the PPS department. Additionally, I oversee maintenance, security, kitchen staff, and my favorite…other duties as assigned.

This new position has come in the middle of the year to assist another campus in my district who had an administrator leave to pursue an opportunity of a principal-ship. I was flattered and grateful for this opportunity that the new campus and the district administration felt that I am ready for, and I am…this will be a big learning curve and I am ready to learn.

In the following weeks (not months) our district will face a new bell schedule (due to a decrease is class periods because of a necessary $10 Million budget cut due to a charter school), Illinois Senate Bill 7 and its implications on staffing and retention of staff, losses in funding, changing enrollments, new course offerings, completely rebuilding the master schedule (due to the reasons above) and much more. I will have to handle all of this in addition to meeting a new staff, balancing my way of doing things with the ever dreaded “this is the way we get things done here”, evaluating PPS, operating the building, being the sounding board for my principal, supporting all staff, handling crisis management (1st day back to school), and of course…other duties as assigned.

In those immortal words…Let’s get ready to rumble! With all of the challenges come opportunities, so it is going to be a GREAT year!

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