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August

Newsletters: Prepare staff welcome letters and school newsletters for mailing early in August.

Supplies and Teaching Aids: Review purchase orders and make sure materials are present or scheduled for delivery. Supervise but delegate the work. Make sure teacher supply lists are ready.

Building Walk-Through: Delegate responsibilities for upkeep and maintenance to your custodial and maintenance team, but be aware of the codes and needs.

Opening Day Activities: Make a plan for how students and parents will be welcomed back on the first day. Make arrangements for enrolling new students and handling the many questions that will arise in the main office. Make a back up plan in case of rain.

Administrative Duties: Meet with the assistant, secretary, and other team members to divide duties. Assign yourself the duty of instructional leader; otherwise, management details will rule your time.

Welcome Other Staff: Schedule time to meet with new itinerant staff members who come to your building such as bus drivers, social workers, nurses, food service personnel. Make sure all feel like a part of the staff.

Handbooks: Verify that student and staff handbooks are printed and ready for distribution. Create a master list of any changes to distribute at the first staff meeting. Review and include your code to student conduct and any contracts for dissemination to parents.

First Staff Meeting: Plan the first staff meeting. Build in team-building time as well as professional development. Set the tone to focus on instructional and academic issues. Print memos to cover the “administrivia” announcements.

 

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Archives

Resources from previous months are listed in this section. An annotated list with brief descriptions of the contents is available (Word document).

Stories from the Field

Joey's Story
My First Administrative Assignment
We WILL Be a Team!
On Being an Excellent School
The Teacher Who Refused to Let a Parent Off the Hook
The Team in IAT
Time for Professional Development
Time for Staff Collaboration
Always Have a Backup Plan!
The P.I.E. Program and Mansfield Elective Academy
I Made a Difference
Safety Tips from a Seasoned Administrator
Getting the Support of Unruly Parents
Testing Accommodations
A Principal in Transition: Shifting Gears…Or Was that Stripping Gears?
The International Baccalaureate Program: Columbus Alternative High School Interview
Chinese Being Taught in Ohio Schools
Toranki School, Kuusamo, Finland
An Advocate for Every Child
Teacher-to-Teacher Collaboration
Mobilizing Community Resources: Getting Good Volunteers
What Kind of Leader Are You?
Standards-Based Education in Three Easy Years

Interviews

Dr. Nasbe on Full Service Schools
Courtney Wilson on Schooling Homeless Children

Sticky Issues

Dealing With Sex Offenders
No Subs!
Levy, Levy, Levy
Monetary Advantages or Loyalty to the School Families?
Repositioning Services and Turf Issues
Ethical or Unethical?
Learning Something from the NFL
What’s Up with That?
Levy Mode for Principals
Crisis “Drill”
We Will Be a TEAM!
Establishing a Norm of Professionalism
Deep Understanding of Cultural Conflict
March Madness: Proficiency Tests and School Report Cards
Testing Advice: Stick to the Script!
The Levy Failed. Now What?
Charter Schools Seek Collaboration, Too!
A Tenured Teacher Who Hurt Children
Responding to Religious Preferences for Holiday Observances

Professional Readings

School Leadership for Arts Integration Education
Continuous Improvement: It Takes More Than Test Scores
“Bracketing” Your Requests to Influence External Forces
Parent Involvement
Full Service Schools
On Common Ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities
Selling Your School Without Selling Your Soul
June 2006
Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standards
Why African American Children Are Not Achieving
Passing the Levy: One Family’s Story
Creating Safe Schools: Combating the Problem of Bullying by “Fighting Back” in Different Ways
Collaboration in Schools: Combating the Problem of Bullying with a Team Approach
Short-Term Student Crisis: An Educator/Parent’s Plea to the School
High School Professional Learning Community: It Does Work!
Closing the Knowing-Doing Gap
The Failures of Integration
Ethical Leadership
Panel on Civic Responsibility: Columbus, Ohio
Education Updates by Joan Platz
Summer Reading (June 2007)
The “Vision Thing”
The World Is Flat
Response to Intervention & Teaching for Social Justice
Leading with a Vision for Effective Collaboration
A Framework for Understanding Poverty
Cultural Proficiency: A Manual for School Leaders
Being in the Zone: Community Mapping as the First Step toward Mobilizing Your Community
Professional Code of Ethics: Principles and Principals (HTML); PDF
The What, When, How, and Why of High-Quality Principals

Political Landscape

August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008

Develop Your Staff

Staff Retreat
Using Technology
Communicating with Parents
Ramadan
Crisis Plan
Carving Out Time for Professional Learning Communities
Creating Time for Professional Development
Planning for Parent Conferences: Student-led Conferencing
Ohio Department of Education Website
Classrooms of the Future & Professional Learning Communities
Blogs in Our Future
Developing a Mission Statement (in Four Short Staff Meetings or Less!)
The World Is Flat

Other Resources

Lead by Walking Around
Start with Data
Show Your Data

Recommended Professional Links

Links Archive

 

 
 
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  Last updated: 08/14/08