Will I Lose Touch?
By Dr. Ryan A. Donlan
Assistant Professor
Department of Educational
Leadership
Bayh College of Education
Indiana State University
Healthy
reservations were expressed to me in a question asked recently by a future
Principal: “Will I lose touch with students
when I move from the classroom to school leadership? I don’t want to lose the
one-on-one connections I have.”
Natural
apprehensions are to be expected in this transfer of professional
responsibilities; after all, no prescribed class rosters or officially scheduled
students will fill a leader’s playbook each day through which to foster and maintain
positive relationships. Plus, the fact
that one’s locus of responsibility expands from 30 to 150 students all the way
to 300 or 3000, as well as dealing with faculty and staff issues, is enough to
get anyone’s attention.
Well,
I can say, without hesitation, that “all is good.” I have found through many years of building
leadership that a principalship was even more satisfying than a position as
classroom teacher to forge one-on-one relationships with students and to make a
positive difference. This has to do with
three variables: (1) A principal’s
paternal/maternal identification as a leader, (2) Autonomy for
targeted/assisted intervention, and (3) Authority through which to make
life-changing decisions.
First,
as principal, students often identify with you either paternally or maternally,
influenced in part by the “in-loco parentis” factors of school cultural
symbolism, those that occur visibly through a leader’s participation in school-day
presentations, greetings, events, rituals, ceremonies, and celebrations of
school life and identity. As principal,
you not only become the living logo of the building, through which school
mission and vision are embodied, you also become a father or mother, a “dad” or
“mom,” to students.
Your role is such
as the building’s premiere parent, and because of such, students will do what
they typically do to maximize their desires for parental “permissions.” They’ll attempt to please you, of course, and
even look up to you at times, yet they’ll predictably also play “parent versus
older siblings” and seek YOUR help in trumping what another in authority has demanded
of them. What this amounts to is much
traffic to your office, as well as many attempts to get your ear, from all in
the school community.
To say that these
experiences with you are anything less than impressionable for students would
be an understatement. Through your
interactions, students hang on your every word, carrying your messages to others
willingly, serving up the knowledge gleaned as most worthy of family (school
family) discussion. Your presence and
symbolism have great power and impact; please realize this humbly and
responsibly.
Second,
as principal, despite all that confronts you from “without” – such as the
increasing responsibilities in dealing with the market forces of school
competition, standardized testing pressures, classroom observation logistics, data
analysis responsibilities, and curricular mandates -- the lion’s share of your time
each day is spent interacting one-on-one, or in groups, “with people.” You spend much time communicating with those who
work each and every day to help your school reach its goals, thus allowing you
opportunities to build, what Sergiovanni (2009) would call, relational trust
with your followers. I would suggest
that with this in mind, much of your time, energy, and focus is rightfully
placed upon the needs of students.
Powerful to note is
that as principal, for the most part you are not required by assignment to
attend to specific tasks during externally prescribed periods of time. You set your own schedule to the degree that
emergency circumstances and your Superintendent will allow. In such, you decide
upon whom or what to focus. Imagine the opportunity to focus on children each
morning in the manner in which you choose -- to foster relationships with
students, as each and every day provides the need for positive adult-to-child
intervention.
Before school
begins each day, as Principal you can watch closely and identify those kids who
are coming to school in need of most help and attention. You then have the opportunity for a kind
word, some unencumbered moments of your time, an invitation to your office, and
even some personal effort to make things a bit better for them. Imagine from the standpoint of a struggling
student, the meaningfulness and memorability of a school leader’s taking the
time to provide a helping hand … just because the principal cares enough to do
so. I would argue that there is not a better anvil and hammer to forge relationships
than your ability as a principal to “care.”
Tough (2008)
noted the importance of an educator’s caring, stating:
It was the X
factor, the magic ingredient that could outweigh all the careful calculations
behind [a school’s] strategy for success … what made a difference in many
students’ lives was a personal connection that was impossible to measure and
difficult to replicate. If the kids
didn’t get that, all the tutoring in the world might not help them. (p. 186)
Educators’
demonstrating “care” in the most arduous of circumstances was Tough’s (2008) example,
through which heroes made a positive difference. So can you.
To those who
believe that school guidance counselors have this as part of their job descriptions
– Absolutely; they most certainly do,
as schools are not limited in the number of heroes they employ. Yet, there’s no
substitute for a principal’s taking time as well to individualize and act on
behalf of students, within the framework of his/her expertise, authority, interest,
and compassion. There’s enough “need” to
go around in today’s schools, as children come to us more broken all of the
time, in need of heroes.
Finally,
as Principal, you have the greatest authority within your building to use your
panoramic perspective to “do what’s right” and make a positive difference. You see the entire picture and can act upon
it. Students and staff will seek you out for redress of “wrongs.” Even in times in which you try your
best to act discreetly and confidentially, news will spread regarding your
actions. This can be used to your advantage; after all, you have the power to
act when others do not. People will know more about you than you realize; they
will identify closely with “the you” that your office, your beliefs, and your
deeds represent. You will create bonds
with others simply because they respect and admire what you have accomplished. You are a living logo with visible authority
to wield great power on behalf of the underdog.
Thinking back to
one of my most meaningful experiences as a K-12 leader, I was tending to
paperwork in my office in the half hour or so after I announced to students in
a school-wide meeting my retirement-of-sorts from the K-12 public schools. As most students and staff were back in
class, a small group of students filed in and sat with me, some with smiles and
well-wishes; others in tears. What
surprised me the most was the fact that a few of the students who were crying
were not those whom I was even aware of close feelings on their part. Humbling. The
authority through which principals make life-changing decisions brings us
closer to students than we may ever realize.
Our
relationship with students, upon taking a position as a building leader, may
not be exactly the same as it was while a faculty or staff member, yet it will
most certainly be “as close” and “as powerful,” if not more so. We don’t lose touch. All is good!
Yet, I caution that with this realization of potential for strong
connections, we also understand that a direct result of factors (1), (2), and (3) above, can be as much negative as
positive, if we are not acting with virtue, mission-mindfulness, and
student-centeredness. Amidst the
challenges that school leadership brings to those of us willing to accept the
invitation come the greatest possible rewards through relationships with
students and stakeholders lasting a lifetime.
References
Sergiovanni, T. (2009). The principalship: A reflective practice
perspective (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Tough, P. (2008). Whatever it takes: Geoffrey Canada’s quest to change Harlem and
America. Boston, MA: Mariner Books.
Dr. Ryan Donlan can be reached at Indiana State University at ryan.donlan@indstate.edu or at (812) 237-8624.
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