Petty Paper Issues Addressed?

I met with my principal briefly at the end of the school day to discuss the paper issue. I wasn't all that worried about the meeting going in. I told Ms. Principal that I was worried that the way it had been handled was making many teachers grumble, and that I thought she would want to know that. I tried to make it sound as much as possible like I was on her side, telling her something she would want to know so that she could respond to it.

She got really defensive, and slightly sarcastic, much to my surprise.

That made me a little defensive, though I kept it mostly under control, I believe. I also repeated the fact that it's not a major problem, but that I wanted to help prevent small problems from building up into larger ones, and that this seemed like it had that potential. I also told her that I remembered that she'd talked about feeling isolated and that I wanted to check in about that and offer to help in any way that I could if there were things with which she needed help.

Eventually, I think she saw that I was trying to help, not to attack. The meeting ended on a positive note. I don't know what action she will take, but I think she sees that we staff do not understand all of her thinking about the copier and our use of paper - for example, one system for asking the secretary to make copies had come across to us as optional, even though she thought she had required it.