It's the Principal of the Thing

Last Thursday afternoon Governor Markell, as a part of his visit to W.T.Chipman Middle School, signed a proclamation declaring that day to be Principal Recognition Day. The reason for such declarations is to draw attention to the important role of the principal and how hard it is taking care of the critical business of managing adults in such a way to assure that children learn and dream.

But, I feel that I must say from my point of view, being a principal is the best job in the business.

Principals have great power. The power comes from several directions. First, our American culture knows what a principal is. We all went to school. We all remember the principals of the schools we attended. We may have been frequent flyers to the principal’s office as children or we may have had little contact with them, but we automatically assign them a role of importance in our community. From 9 to 90, when we meet someone who says they are a principal, we automatically classify them as someone worthy of respect.

Principals, in the eyes of the students, are major real estate owners. The kids think they own the school. The little ones even think they live there. To the principal, sometimes it feels like you live there.

But, the real estate extends beyond the school, to the geographical boundaries of the school’s attendance area. So, in a way, Principals are like Governors of all youth development activities of little geo-political territories. They can drive down most any road within their attendance area and look at any house with children as the location of some of their constituents. Or they may consider the families of this territory to be the customers for their business.

If as principal, you live and shop and do business within the district, you must be aware that you are still the principal everywhere you go. Need some pain killer at Happy Harry’s? Be ready to say hello to one of your students. Going to Food Lion for a big load of groceries or just a gallon of milk? Be prepared to lean on your cart and chat with a parent or grandparent of one of your kids.

Being a principal is a 24 hour a day job and it takes a special person to understand that and enjoy it.

But the best part about being a principal is being around children and getting to do the kinds of things that children enjoy – and getting paid for it. At school we read and sing and eat and play and build things and bake things and dance and paint and laugh and sometimes get dirty. I can’t imagine any other work place environment where all of those things can happen on any given day. Can you? Only at school.

As principal, you get to take part in the reading and singing and eating and playing and building and baking and dancing and painting and laughing and getting dirty. It’s your job to be child-like while supervising. You are expected to be there. After all, sometimes you have to try the cup cakes to make sure they’re safe for everyone.

In past weeks I’ve seen principals dressed as story book heroes. I’ve seen principals splash through a slip’n slide just to make the students howl. I’ve seen them dance the Macarena in the morning and pass out hugs in the afternoon.

Yes, being a principal is a hard job. Children don’t always behave and parents are not always happy. But, there is no other job in the world where the pure child-like fun helps to balance out the more difficult days. And nobody, I mean nobody, gets more hugs.