And Other Duties As Assigned

No job description can fully depict the myriad activities in which a principal engages on a daily basis. First and foremost, the safety of all is paramount. After safety, there is the educational leadership side — the ongoing improvement of teaching and learning, coaching teachers, advocating for students. Professional development is a critical responsibility, inextricably linked with teacher and student growth. There is the human resources side — hiring, supervision and evaluation, and contract administration. Student management, for better or worse, takes up a chunk of time, particularly with middle schoolers.

Then there is the contractual codicil many of us revel in, “…and other duties as assigned.” Throughout my administrative career I have prided myself on the little things that make up “other duties as assigned.” In the past that has included putting the bleachers away after an evening basketball game, picking up hallway detritus, pushing a wheelchair halfway across a baseball field, re-filling the water cooler, and organizing the staff holiday meal. At Highland Tech, a small school with a small staff and no daytime custodian, “other duties” has taken on a whole new meaning. These days I make the staff coffee every morning, then clean the pot and re-stock the mugs. I move furniture, regulate the building temperature, adjust the school clocks (manually), and manage the lost and found.

Most days I unlock the front doors and turn the lights on and very often I lock the doors and turn the lights off at the end of the day. Before school started I painted and reassembled classrooms, hung bulletin boards and clocks, moved bookcases and anchored them to the walls, and even assembled a new gas grill purchased for us by our PTSO. I believe my most important job as a principal is ensuring the physical and emotional safety of my students and staff on a daily basis. My second most critical responsibility is educational leadership. But at the end of the day, I do enjoy rolling up my sleeves and doing whatever needs to be done. “That’s not my job” is not in my vocabulary, nor in the vocabulary of the best principals I’ve worked with during my career.

Cultural Observation: The greatest failure of technology in the last twenty years is far and away the car alarm. I don’t know if this is a living in a city as opposed to a suburb thing, but not an evening goes by when I don’t hear an alarm and not a weekend day goes by when I don’t hear four of them. Not once do I, nor does anybody else think, “Oh no, some poor soul is having his automobile burgled. Quick, someone contact the proper authorities!” No, what every person in the neighborhood is thinking is “Come on !#@!!!&*%$#!!!”

One thought on “And Other Duties As Assigned

  1. Time to move to a new neighborhood! I know a good one in south Anchorage. 😉

    Our building looks great, thanks to you and Rocco! Thank you!

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