Whether you are an experienced principal/assistant principal in your school or are planning to be the lead administator in a new school next year, one element that will help define your success is the development of a trusting relationship with your staff. If you stop and think of the administrators from your previous school assignments, what …
April 2014 archive
Apr 29
VASSP President David Ellena Selected for National Task Force
Dr. David S. Ellena, principal of the Tomahawk Creek Middle School in Chesterfield County (VA),has been selected as a member of the Model Code of Educator Ethics (MCEE) Task Force, sponsored by the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC). Dr. Ellenahas served for 25 years in his current division and …
Apr 26
Innovative Method to Schedule Extra Classes
If you are pondering ways to assist students with adding extra classes in their daily schedule, this blog may provide you with an option to consider. In some high schools, students are willingly replacing their lunch break with an extra class and apparently it works. There are pros and cons of course, but you might want …
Apr 26
iTunes U Courses for Virginia Teachers
A new set of professional development courses in mathematics grades K-12 and On-Line Instruction will be made available this fall for Virginia classroom teachers. Three mathematics courses were developed by Virginia teachers as a part of the Innovative Learning Teams project that began in November 2013. An additional course has been developed for teachers interested in learning how …
Apr 25
Dr. Patricia Wright Ends Her Last Board Meeting With a Smile!
The Virginia State Board of Education’s April 24th meeting was the last meeting for Dr. Patricia (Pat) Wright as she prepares to transition to retirement. Near the end of all the comments and accolades at the meeting, she made it quite clear that she was going to just retire and nothing else. VASSP wishes her well. In …
Apr 22
Changes in SOLs : Another Perspective
Many educators in Virginia, both classroom teachers and administrators have called for changes in SOL structure and assessment. This year, the General Assembly of Virginia responded and reduced the number of assessments by five which allows more opportunities to to develop alternative assessments. Sounds good? Maybe, maybe not…here’s why. In a recent article in the …
Apr 17
Do You Have the Insatiable Desire to “Control?”
There are school leaders who guide their staff by using and being a positive example of effective leadership; other administrators use group acceptance followed by group production. Yet there are other types of leaders who want to have things done his/her way–this is the control freak. While this leadership style seems more prevelant in a central …
Apr 09
Wise Words From NASSP and Mr. Jefferson
In response to the incident at the school in Murrysville, Pa, NASSP has reprinted a Strategic Safety blog on their website. The blog is entitled “Sunshine: The Greater Part of Life” and offers recommendations to help students, staff and parents when a crisis occurs in their own school. The title of the article comes from a …
Apr 09
Assistant Principal at Murrysville High School: A Genuine Hero
You are, no doubt, very much aware of the actions of a high school student in Murrysville, Pennsylvania at Franklin Regional High School. The student brought knives to school and injured several students . This student was ultimately tackled by Sam King, the Assistant Principal and then handcuffed by a security guard. Thanks to a quick thinking and quick …
Apr 04
Principal Needs Assessment: Time Management is an Issue
The March 29th blog, “2014 Secondary Principals Needs Assessment Review” listed seven categories of issues that concern Virginia principals with respect to responsibilities. The responsibilites ranged from special education issues to limited staff. While these issues are not new with respect to frustrations for principals and most likely are not limited just to administrators in Virginia, perhaps …
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