With a dozen years, four in Pinconning and eight at Bay City Central, as assistant principal, and an additional 10 as a principal in between, Pinconning Superintendent Andy Kowalczyk has gained experience from which new APs can learn that they can get through it all, and they don’t have to do it alone.
“Sometimes it's shocking the amount of time it takes to be an assistant principal,” he said. “During the day, you've got your time, but the events after school and all the activities, NHS awards, whatever it may be – it's just, there's a lot of time – and I think sometimes that's a shock … that's kind of something that you have to be prepared for.”
He said that like teachers, assistant principals need to be organized for the day to day.
“The amount of emails are just so overwhelming from parents, from staff, from superintendents, from everybody,” he said. “Just the amount of information that you receive is huge. And to have that organization, whether it's making files in your email to do or get to later. I know I would always have a to-do list each morning and I think a lot of administrators do that just so that you can check things off throughout the day and not miss something that's big.”
Kowalczyk said one of the things assistant principals might not know going in is how many decisions they will have to make in a day – and how those decisions will almost always negatively impact somebody.
“You know, even when you make the right decision or the decision that's best for the majority, there's always somebody that is upset and you're gonna hear about it,” he said. “I talked to the staff one time and said I could tell everybody in here that I've given everybody $5, and that would be great. There would be people that would be upset because ‘I work harder than they do.’ ‘Why am I only getting five?’
“It's hard when you make that right decision, and a lot of times you can't say why that was your decision, right? You get that blowback and you’ve got to be able to roll with it and handle it, which comes with the territory – you learn to deal with those negative comments – and they will happen.”
New administrators need to be prepared for days that they’re not prepared for emotional situations, Kowalczyk said. And he said that this one is big.
“The one thing that I probably wasn't prepared for was how there would be some emotional days, there would be days that you couldn't plan for – whether it's that CI student or EI student having a meltdown and police are involved – there are heavy days,” he said. “I guess a lot of it deals with student mental health where I've had situations where I have a great relationship with a student and then you walk into your office and there they are, and it's a completely different person because of some emotional mental health situation. Dealing with that is tough.”
Assistant principals should remember they’re not alone when they face challenges.
“It’s very important to have, to be, part of that administrative team,” Kowalczyk said. “When I was at [Bay City] Central, I had an assistant principal and principal who were a very great team. It was so cool to be able to walk in and close the door and just talk about it, or to have that moment; but there are other people as well – you get close with, counselors or the school psych, whatever it may be. Having those people that kind of go through it as well.”
Valuable Lessons Learned:
1. Being a good listener is so big.
“Being that assistant principal, you get the angry parents or angry students or angry staff. First, that door was always the first door that people could see when they came in. So, guess who gets the angry people? And a lot of times, I think a new administrator might want to solve their problem, start giving examples. But a lot of times you just need to sit and listen. You need to listen to them. You need to nod your head. And when they're done. You say ‘I heard everything that you said, and I'm gonna look into it. I may not have the answer now, but, you know, let's figure this out.’ And I think that really goes a long way of being a good listener and letting them know that if you know the answer, great, but if you don't, all right, I'm gonna get on this. We're gonna talk tomorrow after I hear some answers.
2. Build relationships – with students, with staff and with parents.
“It's huge. I think about getting the superintendent role, the amount of people that were happy in the community and have come up to me and told me and certainly messaged about how happy they are because of those relationships that I had when I was here the first time. Sure, they knew me, they knew what I was about. And they were happy for me to come back. So that building relationships is huge, even with students – sitting down at lunchtime with them and even if sometimes you get the weirdo looks, you know, ‘Why’s this old person sitting with you?’ Ask them how their fishing trip was the day before or whatever it was. Building those relationships is very huge a lot of times. The teachers – in the morning, going past the room and saying ‘hi’ and asking them about the weekend. It kind of gets them going in a good way at the beginning. You know, they feel comfortable talking to you.”
3. The number one concern for our staff is communication (aside from safety).
“The number one concern of what we can improve on is always communication. And I think administrators sometimes take for granted that the staff does know a lot of things we're working on and we think ‘Well yeah, they know the reason, they know the why.” And they don't, and they want to hear it from us. So many people want communication to improve. And I don't think I've ever heard someone complain that this communication is too much, like, that's never been said – but say that they need, they want, more communication. So you know, I want to give them everything and more, and if they tell me ‘I don't need that anymore,’ … I gotta get to that point yet where they don't want the information.”
By Lydia C. Cadena, MASSP Chief Communications Officer