New administration was very thoughtful about asking staff
what they thought was needed. With surveys, 1:1 and small group discussions and
tricks and tools of their experience, three major areas of need were
identified. Boeckman Middle School
needed to regain control over student behavior, staff needed something to
provide consistency and clear expectations of their duties and the overall
climate of our community needed to improve.
Area 2 and 3: Staff Expectations and Community Climate
It’s not surprising to me that adolescent behaviors would go
off the tracks when not monitored; however, I was completely taken aback to see
staff behaviors decrease in professionalism as administration took a very soft-handed
approach to faculty management. Let this
reflection reserve judgement because I certainly found myself shrugging when it
came to doing all that I should do to the best of my ability. I, too, fell into at least complacency in
some areas. The why-centered approach is a good one in theory, but not always
effective in practice – depending on the leadership style of administration.
Why keep a teacher to contract hours if a teacher is performing to expectation?
For example, if a principal thinks a teacher is doing a good job, why do they
have to stay til 3:15 when students leave at 2:25? Having a classroom with a window facing a
side exit, I was forced to ask this question nearly daily. My schedule dictates
that I have instructional time til the end of the day (2:25pm). My prep period
is from 9:27am til 10:10am, and my team planning time is from 10:10 to 10:55 (so
this is no student contact). There may
be an entire grade level that has no student contact after 1:00pm, so they have
their team planning in the first part of the afternoon and schedule their own
prep at the end of the day; consistently, at 1:45, I see teachers from this
grade level parading past my window to the parking lot. Without scheduled department meetings, staff
meetings, or Leadership meetings, they didn’t feel accountable to be there til
3:15 (end of contract day). So, we asked why? Why does it matter? This may
simply be an issue of morale and fairness and equity, but it’s also a legality.
Selfishly, I don’t like the idea that other people who are considered to be
equal FTE as I am put in hours less per week than required merely because of
their schedules. It’s just disheartening. I surely don’t mean to question the level at which
they perform their jobs, and certainly, some of them are just choosing to do
work at home as opposed to doing work at their desks, but I can’t help to think
how much better they might be if they put in the required amount of time.
Another epidemic that spread quickly because of student behaviors and lack of
support in the office was teachers hiding in their rooms. Most teachers,
without urging, had made it habit to be visible in the hallways and common spaces
during every passing time in order to connect with students and monitor student
behavior. Once staff began to realize that administrative support was waning as
far as student behaviors were concerned, teachers began avoiding this conflict
altogether. I often found myself alone in hallways, managing behaviors in
common spaces and performing assigned bus duty solo; although no duty had less
than 10 assigned supervisors. To compensate for the absence of staff members, I
started voluntarily going to bus duty supervision without being assigned and
feeling huge frustrations about being there alone. Colleagues and peers started
to feel animosity toward one another because everyone was trying to manage the
situation in whatever way they could. Over an extended amount of time, these
behaviors and these feelings deteriorated the hugely positive climate that once
existed between these staff members.
Area 2 Solution:
Apparently, in the surveys, individual conversations about
the overall atmosphere of our building, administration made a priority out of
concentrating on building (or rebuilding) our community. They’ve acknowledged
that it will take time for them to get to know us, for us to get to know them,
and for all of us to re-learn each other. We had been through a tough time, and
now starts a rebuild. More has happened
in the first half-year with this new administration than in the previous 4 or 5
where overall teacher appreciation is recognized. Thoughtful, personal emails
from administration to staff, fun activities and organized events, teambuilding
and give-aways are just a few things that have already happened with this
administration in place. One of the biggest turning points until now seems to
have been a recent all staff trip to Feed My Starving Children. It was on a
morning of a staff development day when we were loaded onto busses and taken to
a secret destination. Many speculated, a
few guessed correctly, but more than I thought were less than positive about
the field trip. Upon arriving and performing our chosen tasks at Feed My
Starving Children, it became evident that the Boeckman staff really does like
each other. The lack of community was much louder than any aggression in the
past few years, but we were instantly reminded of the positive history and
experiences we have shared. We are all on the same team, and once again, it was
feeling like a team.
The change in administration may only be two, but the increase
in pot-lucks, smiles in the hallway, and the overall positive climate has
increased many-fold. Where students had been testing us, we had answered with complacency
and what was a school full of positive energy, grew dim momentarily, but is
fast coming back to glowing.
Personal impact
I decided to blog about this for understanding in
Leadership, Culture/Climate, and (Re)Connecting. I am fairly confident that if I see my community
going down this path again, I will recognize it in the very early stages and
know that I must be vocal in correcting the direction before I find myself
going to a job that I don’t enjoy. Obviously, this is a continuation of the
last blog; we are dealing with different issues, but all of them are heavily
intertwined.
