STANDARD FIVE: Managerial Leadership
Ensuring the school has processes and systems in place from budgeting, staffing, problem solving, communicating expectations and scheduling that result in organizing the work routines in the building.
School Resources and Budget
Budget Class Project
In our budget class we were required to use school improvement plan data from a school and make suggestions on how to use the budget to support the school's goals and needs. This project allowed me to gain experience with the various fund sources and allocations that a school leader works with throughout the year. It also gave me the experience with planning a budget proposal to share with a leadership team. District Level Strategic Task Force I had the priviledge of particpating in the district's strategic task force committee. During committee meetings we discussed the efficiency of the school district and made recommendations to the board of education as to what possible steps could be made to increase the efficiency of our schools. Some of the conversation surrounded merging or closing schools, identifying the cause of decreases in enrollement and increasing positive, transparent communication with families and stakeholders regarding the district budgeting. Throughout our three meetings I was able to be a scribe and a presenter for the groups I worked in. |
Conflict Management and Resolution
Managing Staff Personalities
One of the things that I was able to experience this year that I had not experienced before was how to manage adults and adult personalities. Throughout the year we have had a few incidences with teachers and a struggle to work together as a team. I was able to participate in a meeting with two teachers and my mentor principal at the beginning of the year and learn how she manages different personalities. This was helpful for later in the year when dealling with other personelle issues. I learned how to be tactful and to keep good documentation of steps taken to ensure a positive working environment for staff and students. Managing Parent Concerns Managing parents can become a big part of an administrators job. I was able to meet and talk with many parents throughout the course of the school year. These meetings ranged from parents who were pleased with things going on in the school and those who were not. Through my parent contacts I learned a lot about how to descalate a situation, provide evidence and feedback, make an actionable plan and check in regularly. These steps have helped me calm down uphappy parents and keep happy parents happy throughout the year. I am proud to say that I was able to handle most sixth grade parent concerns on my own and rarely had to pass a parent issue along to my mentor principal. |
Systematic Communication
School Wide Phone Messages
Multiple times this school year I was tasked with preparing a message to send to families at Northern Granville Middle School. Granville County uses a communication program called Blackboard connect. This program links with our powerschool data and sends phone calls, emails and even text messages to contacts that we have on file. These messages help keep families informed of changes, special events and gives regular updates on school level information. It was great practice to use the system, as well as plan a clear and concise message to share with families. Contact Information Update Survey At the beginning of the year my mentor principal tasked me with creating a survey to share with families at Northern Granville Middle School. One area that the school struggled with in the past was being able to reach families in order to share important information and updates. Due to this problem, we thought it would be helpful to provide the families with a survey to update their contact information. I drafted this survey and helped prepare it to send out at the beginning of the year. Additionally, I tracked results of the survey and ensured the information was updated in Powerschool. |