The Principal's Handbook

Leaving the Building: Principal Leadership Systems
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[00:00:00] In this episode we're talking about when you feel like you can never leave the building. That's coming up next here on the Principal's handbook.

Speaker: Welcome to the Principal's Handbook, your go-to resource for principals looking to revamp their leadership approach and prioritize self-care. I'm Barb Flowers, a certified life coach with eight years of experience as an elementary principal. Tune in each week as we delve into strategies for boosting mental resilience, managing time effectively, and nurturing overall wellness.

From tackling daily challenges to maintaining a healthy work-life balance. We'll navigate the complexities of school leadership together. Join me in fostering your sense of purpose as a principal and reigniting your passion for the job. Welcome to a podcast where your wellbeing is the top priority. I.

Welcome to the podcast.

Today we're talking about when you feel like you can never leave the building. And I wanted to do this episode because just [00:01:00] recently I was just a few weeks into school, , and I got a stomach bug already and it was like I had to leave work early and then I missed the next day of school.

I missed our first district leadership team meeting, and I was so disappointed. And it, it just brought up this idea that it can be really hard to step out of the building. It can be hard, whether you're sick, whether you're attending pd, whether you're going to principal meetings, even if it's for your own district.

And just that topic alone I was thinking about, I've heard so many. Principals just talk about not wanting to leave and principals have to leave the building. You have to be able to have your building run without a principal there if it's needed. There are buildings that have multiple principals and so it might never even be an issue.

But I, in my last role, I was an elementary principal and I had an assistant. Now I shared my assistant, he went to another school one time a week. But then there were times that he was sick and there were [00:02:00] even times that we were both sick or he was sick and I had a pd and , do you go to that PD if nobody's there?

Now I'm in a building where it's just me. And so when I was sick, there was nobody there. And so I think it's a really important topic to bring up and think about what happens when you're not there. And it's interesting because the one day that I was sick for the whole day and didn't go in that morning, I mean, I was like dizzy, fever, sick, and I thought, I wonder if I can pull it together to go to work.

I had that thought for just a split second. Then I was like, what am I modeling to my staff if I go to work? If I go to work with a fever looking sick and I'm gonna get everybody else sick, that's one piece of it. But what am I modeling to the people that I'm leading, right? I'm modeling that get here no matter what.

I'm modeling that you can't take time for yourself when you're sick, and so teachers watch you. And so I think it's really important that if you tell [00:03:00] teachers. Go home, you're sick that you do the same. Or if you tell teachers do not come. If you're sick, rest, you do the same. We have to make sure that we're modeling what we preach.

So that's one thing I want you to think about. But also if you have professional development opportunities, it's really important that you take the time to go to those. I know for me there's local, , professional learning communities for local principals, and I always feel guilty about going, but every time I go, I'm.

So happy that I did because I get so much information and I think it's really important as the principal to keep learning and growing. And so again, I promote that for my staff, so it's important for me as well. So as we start the episode, I just want to share. That you have to have a plan so that you can step away without having the feelings of guilt or being worried that just everything's going to fall apart.

Okay, so as we get into it, I just want you to [00:04:00] think about this. So I'm going to give you some things to think about so that you can leave your building and not feel that feeling of guilt. So the first thing is have a plan with district admin, which I did not before I got sick because it was so early in the school year.

But you want to know what happens, especially if you don't have somebody else in your building, , what's going to happen. And so what I figured out. , After I was sick is that I appointed a teacher who has her principal's license and she's going to actually take over when I'm not there. . She's just somebody that if there's an emergency they can contact.

She's got her principal license, she knows. , What to do And she actually, last year, the principal left before the school year was over, and she took over for that end of the year and took on that responsibility too. So now we have a plan, but I didn't have that. And so I talked to my superintendent about that, but.

Is there a sub? I know certain districts have a sub, so [00:05:00] do you need to call someone so that you get a sub for your building? Do they call an administrator over from another building? Maybe nobody comes, what does that look like? But have a plan early on. The other thing you have to think of.

So for me, in my last school I had a lot of resources in my new school, I do not. So I do duties, I do a lot of duties that it wasn't a big deal in my last school if I was absent because I didn't have to do all these duties. So now it's almost like a sub plan, right? I have to have who is going to do the duties that I'm supposed to do when I'm not there.

, So having those things in place, there's just different things you wanna think about. When you're not there. But when I was super sick, it's hard to make all those decisions when you're sick. So just like teachers have sub plans, having your plan for when you're going to be out. So that's one part.

The second thing I want you to think about is what are the systems that you're building on a day to day so that the building runs without you? I remember in my [00:06:00] last district, The principal in one elementary school was out for, I think it was like eight weeks, but they were telling me that admin went and covered that building, but she had such good systems in place that it just ran like a smooth sailing ship.

They were like, it was. Phenomenal how well it ran with her being absent. And really that's attributed to her systems that she put in place because it was a large elementary without an assistant principal. And so she really did put a lot of systems in place , that made that building run very smoothly.

So I think just as you're thinking about the day to day, and that's something I always think about is how can I have systems in place so that this building can run without me, so that if I have to go, , to a meeting or if I'm sick or my kid gets sick and I have to go pick them up from school, everything's not going to fall apart because it doesn't all rely on me.

So some systems to think about. What do you do with behavioral referrals if you're not there? , Is there somewhere [00:07:00] else that they could go? Could they have a buddy classroom that they go to? , Could they put them in a system and you talk to the students later, what would that look like if you're not there?

Also, arrival dismissal routines. Does everybody know their role? Do they have sub people If they're not there, what does that look like? . And when I think about arrival and dismissal, , in my last school, the car rider line went without me. , The teachers just did that. They were able to because I always wanted to be at buses because they were going at the same time.

In my new school, I have people who do both. I can be there, I can do things, but when I'm not there, it runs perfectly fine without me. Also thinking about PBIS expectations. , That's a system that you have in place to reduce those behaviors. So if kids understand how to act in these common spaces, it's going to help with discipline a ton.

If kids know how to act at recess, if we make sure that there's enough. Supervision at recess. , All these systems [00:08:00] and scheduling that we put in place is going to just help the building run smoother so that we can leave the building without feeling that guilt because smooth systems are going to empower your staff to handle.

The day without needing you for every single thing. And so every system that I set up, that's always what I'm thinking about. What is going to happen when I'm not here. . , And honestly, I also think about if I were to leave this building and not be the principal here anymore, I wanna just hand somebody the building and they feel like there's all these systems in place.

Obviously when a new principal comes in, they change things. But it's really nice to be in a place where, you're. Giving the building over to somebody and there's all these really good systems in place. So thinking about systems that run without you. Then the third thing is thinking about how are you developing teacher and staff leadership capacity?

Do they really rely on you for every single thing? , I saw that a lot. [00:09:00] It's interesting to see, but sometimes I feel like. When you're not there, they almost panic and rely on you more than they do when you are there. And so remembering to empower them that they can handle it when you're not there.

Again, having that person that they can go to if there's not an administrator in the building, but maybe it's a grade level lead or like I said in my case, it's somebody who has their admin license. Is it the office staff? Who is it that there would be a chain of command that they can go to if you're not there?

And then also just reminding staff, if there were times that me and my assistant weren't going to be there in the past and it was planned, I would put that on my weekly notes. And just give them that heads up, I'm not going to be here. Let's plan for that. What does that look like? So if you're able to do that, or I'm gonna be late this day, I will help you with whatever as soon as I get in.

So making sure they know that, making sure it's communicated. And then also developing their capacity to make decisions to handle [00:10:00] situations. I know sometimes with staff, especially if you take over a new staff. , It can be that they really rely on the principal for everything. My new staff is not like that at all.

They have a very high capacity where they just handle things. They've just always done that. , It's a very veteran staff, so I think that makes a huge difference. But helping develop that in teachers, if you don't have that in your staff, that you're developing the capacity that they can make decisions that they don't feel like they have to ask you everything and that, they know that you trust their decision. So that's huge is developing that teacher and staff capacity and then normalize just being a human who's going to miss work. So you have to talk to staff, make sure they know there's going to be times that you're going to be out. Here's what the plan is.

And again, it's good to model that for them because. You're going to be out. If you have kids and they get sick, you're going to be out. If you get sick, you have to go to pd. All these things, and you need to model for staff what that looks [00:11:00] like. Do not go to school super sick and model that for them because you're not modeling the right thing,

you have to model what you preach to them. And you have to remind yourself that being away from the building is okay. It means you built a school that works as a team. It means you've built the right systems that you can leave for a day and everything's not going to fall apart. If you have the mindset that I can't be away from my school for a day, then something's not right there.

You don't have the right systems in place. You have not built up your teacher leadership capacity. You're not modeling the right thing. So you have to be able to say to yourself, it's okay if I'm not in the building. So I just wanna go back through those four things really quick. You wanna have a plan with your district administration.

You want to build smooth systems that run without you. Develop your teacher and staff leadership capacity and normalize that it's okay to be out. So your [00:12:00] tips that I want you to try this week. I want you to draft a paper, like a mini sub plan of when you're out. You know who is the emergency contacts who covers behavior and discipline.

Who, calls central office if needed. Quick review of who's going to cover duties that need to be covered. Have those things in place and share it with staff now before the flu season starts, before the holidays start even, before all the craziness. , So that. When you get sick and you feel terrible and you don't feel like you even have the capacity to figure all this stuff out, it's already done for you.

Okay? So just remember that the measure of your leadership isn't how much the school needs you every second. It's actually how well the school functions when you're not there. And we know that from teachers, right? When a teacher's out sick and we see the classroom running super smooth. That's a good sign of a good teacher that they've created systems that the classroom [00:13:00] runs without them, and it's the same for our school building.

So I just want you to reflect on if I have to step away tomorrow or if I get sick tomorrow, what would my staff already know how to do, and where do I need to create better systems? So reflect on that. Think about that. , So that this school year when you miss school because you're sick or you have PD and nobody's in the building, you can leave the building without the guilt that comes with it.

Alright, I hope you found this helpful. If you want more coaching support and you wanna be part of a community where we do challenges and you have access to a private podcast, coaching questions, access to me for anything you need as a principal, click the link in the show notes and check out the eight to four principal leadership hub.

We'd love to have you in the hub. Just lots of resources for you and coaching tools for principals. Alright, if you can leave a review, that's how people find the podcast. And I hope you have a great week.

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