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Although I am new to the administrative tasks required to manage a school I am eager to put the skills and knowledge I have gained in the past 2 years to work. This reflection will highlight all the various projects I have taken on for public education and in education as a whole. I will also emphasize my values in administration from examples of positive and negative leadership I have come across and what type of leader I know I will be.
In the past 2 years I have had the opportunity to not only work on the macro level including the Campaign of 2012, Prop. 30 but have had a chance to influence my own school site and local union. As a parent who has her child in public education as well as a teacher in the same urban district I found a wide range of administration perspectives and approaches. My own approach has been of a parent/teacher. I was so concerned about these two very important perspectives that I decided to start a blog where I state on the front page, "I am a dedicated parent who happens to teach in San Francisco Public School Education System. I treat all educational projects as an opportunity to help my global community. The intention of this blog is to keep track of the amount of information I am lucky enough to acquire as a teacher. The focus of all exchanges through this blog will be put to good use with a social and environmental justice intention."
As I move forward and find my voice is getting heard more I feel empowered and yet silenced. I say that because as I stated before I am a parent at the core. One of the best administrators I have come across was a young mom too. Before I watched my school site burn her out in less than 2 years I saw her passion for "other people's children" and the standard that she set regarding what children need in an educational setting.
I saw her work so hard to bring myself and my coworkers together, as a strong collaborating staff, and give voice to the parents. That was over 3 years ago now and although not all of our hard work has fallen by the waste side, the staff is still feeling the shock of a current administrator who is quite the opposite. One seasoned staff member said, "the best thing about our principal is that he is hands off, the worst thing about our principal is that he is hands off."
I have learned from bad examples at my own site as well as in my district that I want to be a trusted administrator that listens to students, teachers, district and family concerns with fairness and accountability. I have shadowed a very good principal in San Francisco at a different school this year and have seen how great he works with parents and how the school functions as a school community. However it is a school that has a PTA budget of over 200,000. These East and West side comparisons of elementary schools has also been a major focus for me in the past year or more. As a future administrator whether in San Francisco or not I believe being aware of the dynamics of very different populations of education is crucial as an administrator and being able to talk about disaggregation with a professional eye and critical voice is paramount to me.
I have done a lot of union work over the past 3 years including working for CTA, being an AFT teacher leader, as well as UESF union building committee representative. I have been a voice for what is fair for teachers as well as paras and have learned how to hold my site administrator accountable to a contract that is there to help teachers deliver the best education. I do know however that in reflection I question deeply how the contract (through due process) protects educators that are damaging to children. I struggle deeply inside with my dedication to labor and what I believe can be best practice for us as educators.
I am currently reading, Michelle Rhee: Radical: Fighting to Put Students First while reading Professional Capital: Transformative Teaching in Every School from Michael Fullan. They both state teachers need to be reformed on a deep fundamental level. I have say I agree, but the way that is delivered and handled I'm not sure can be trusted to district central office administrators. I hope to be in a future role where I am not only modeling what I believe in education but also able to have learning conversations with teachers.
Besides my union projects I have had the opportunity to put together the School Vision for Cleveland Elem. by being the lead teacher to get input as well as start a Restorative Practices Staff survey in order to create a safer place for all students and teachers.
I believe staff have learned to trust me and students know I will create a safe space for them. It is my hope to find an administrative position where these human resource skills are put to practical use and I can continue to have a positive influence on educational institutions.
(see below for Cleveland Elem school vision google doc being worked on by staff)
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