Leap First. Ask Questions Later.

I'm not the only new employee in our small school this year. The administrators are both new in one way or another. Our principal was previously the school's assistant principal and this is his first year in the big chair. So a new assistant principal was brought on to fill his old position. They are both good people and have both been very helpful in dealing with my least fun students. There is an area, though, in which their inexperience shows.

They have ideas about activities and programs that they want for our school. Mostly good ideas. But they commit the whole school to these ideas as they pop into their heads. They don't ask any of the staff for their opinions or seem to do any actual planning until after they have decided to do it.

One example: Several months ago, the principal bought a reading program to use in tutoring. Then he asked if any Language Arts teachers would do it. None of the others would because they knew the program and knew that it helps with fluency only, and most of our students need more help with comprehension. He ended up convincing some sixth grade teachers to do it, because he'd already paid for it.

More recently, someone decided that since it is the holiday season, we should have a canned food drive. No one asked the staff if this would be a good idea or if we were willing to do it (which I would have been). It was not even announced at a staff meeting or via email. The first I ever learned of the canned food drive was when I read it in the student bulletin. It said that the drive was beginning that week and that boxes for donations would be in homeroom classes. No one provided me with a box. No one even told me I had better bring a box. It was just announced that I would have one.

These sorts of things keep happening. There must come a day when they will run out of ideas. Or so I hope.