Reflection

I received an email from my principal today. This is what next year's staff will look like: 4 teachers with experience at our school, 1 teacher with experience at other schools but new to our school, and 7 teachers new to teaching and new to our school, plus the principal and a "dean" - the administrative position below Assistant Principal. Our dean has been a member of our staff since the beginning; she's interested in becoming an administrator and has started a master's program towards that goal. So we will have our hands full mentoring new teachers and adjusting to the doubling of our staff.

As you may or may not have figured out from reading my blog over the past year, we had some serious internal conflicts as a staff. I try not to air our dirty laundry too much, yet still provide an honest picture of what it's like running a school. As my principal described it, "some ... school days were tainted with pessimism, cynicism, and mistrust." She wants us to get together to discuss these issues, what to do about them, and to clear the air before meeting with our new staff members.

Our task before we meet? To reflect on successes and disappointments of the past year; staff (mis)communications and how to prevent them and respond to them in the future; how we can work as our own organization and a part of the Region; issues and challenges for the upcoming year.