The pain in Catherine's voice captured the attention of the 21 principals at our Midwest Principals' Center board meeting. The room grew hushed as her story unfolded. One of her teachers, ill for only a short time, had died the week before. This excellent teacher had been both colleague and friend.
Catherine was struggling with her own role. How should she keep teachers informed and still respect the family's privacy? What was appropriate to share with the students? Catherine found herself playing the role of comforter to both the family and the school staff.
We could feel Catherine's grief as she told her story. But we also felt moved when she added that district staff members had offered to substitute for teachers wishing to attend the funeral—and that the school parents had prepared a luncheon in the school cafeteria following the service.
At that Principals' Center board meeting, we put our formal agenda aside as other principals shared similar stories. Jim told about the challenge he faced when a car accident took the lives of two juniors in his high school. Helen recounted how, within four months, two of her staff members were diagnosed with breast cancer. Another principal quietly talked about how much the support of his staff had meant to him after the loss of his son. New principals thanked these veterans for sharing how they had coped with situations that the new leaders would, quite possibly, soon confront.
We left that meeting with a sense that our work as school leaders had a common core. Where we had thought we were most alone, we found commonality. This created a profound knowledge in each of our hearts, a deeper understanding of the job of principal, a renewed sense of the importance of our work, and a stronger commitment to that work.
Tapping Into Craft Knowledge
Principals need much more of this kind of learning and sharing. Such learning cannot be tucked into leadership standards or found in literature on education leadership. Rarely, if ever, does it surface during professional inservice days. We gain this wisdom only by tapping into the savvy and craft knowledge of school leaders who work every day with kids, teachers, and parents.
- Principals in one high school district meet monthly for breakfast in a local restaurant. They share stories about their students, their teachers, and the problems they face—but deliberately avoid having a “whine party.”
- Another group gathers every other Friday morning; before they meet, one group member sends out an article touching on school leadership issues. The article jump-starts their conversation, but the conversation is rarely confined to the article's content.
- What do we hope for our kids?
- If we could design our dream school, what would it look like?
- How is your school using test data?
- How can we get parents involved without having them “take over”?
Principals' Centers around the United States are formalizing opportunities for sharing among principals. Following presentations by major speakers, our Midwest Principals' Center invites all participants to attend follow-up conversations at which they discuss the ideas presented and share what those ideas might “look like on Monday morning.”
In Rethinking Leadership, Tom Sergiovanni tells us that the average female principal spends more than 69 hours weekly at work; male principals spend “only” a bit more than 60 hours. Within that kind of workweek—filled with stress, instant decision making, and issues that would challenge most CEOs—principals can surely carve out an hour for rich conversation with other principals.
Roland Barth has urged principals to meet specifically to converse about craft knowledge. The chance to sharpen such knowledge and exchange stories helps school leaders realize that we are not alone. Together we can find strength and wisdom to continue our work for the students we serve.
