thegoodprincipal
-
I Made the Right Decision. Why Do I Still Feel Guilty?
I still think I made the right decision. That’s the part that makes the guilt difficult to explain. If I believed I had been wrong, the feeling would make sense. I could revisit the decision. Correct it if possible. Apologize. Do something differently. But I have gone over what happened more times than I should…
-
Sometimes I Resent Being Needed by Everyone
Sometimes I resent being needed by everyone. There. That’s the sentence. I don’t say it at school. I wouldn’t say it in a staff meeting. I wouldn’t say it to a teacher standing in my doorway. I wouldn’t say it to a parent who needs an answer or to a student who has been sent…
-
The School Is Quiet. Your Mind Isn’t.
The school sounds different after everyone leaves. For most of the day, there is always something underneath everything else. Footsteps in the corridor. Doors opening and closing. Students talking somewhere beyond the office. A chair scraping across a classroom floor. Someone calling to someone else. The phone. The printer. A knock. Another knock. Then, gradually,…
-
I Cried in My Car Before Driving Home
I didn’t leave the parking lot right away. I told myself I was checking something on my phone. There were a few messages I hadn’t answered, an email notification I could have opened, and a reminder about something I needed to do tomorrow. But I wasn’t really reading any of it. I was sitting in…
-
Sometimes I Pretend I’m Busier Than I Am So I Can Close My Door
I closed my office door at 10:42 this morning. I wasn’t in a meeting. I wasn’t making a confidential phone call.
-
I Don’t Know If I Want to Be Principal Anymore
It came up in a conversation about next year. Nothing serious. Nothing emotional. We were talking about plans that would stretch beyond the current school year—staffing, a few things we wanted to improve, something that would probably take two or three years to properly settle. Someone said, almost casually, “Well, you’ll still be here.” I…