All of you, experienced leaders and those new to your roles, have spent the last few weeks making sure that a myriad of necessary pieces are put in place. You are ready to welcome the new families who have registered over the summer, just as you are excited to welcome newly hired staff. Working with maintenance, you have made sure that the building is in good shape, clean and welcoming. Before and after school childcare is ready, and food programs are organized. Classroom furniture has been ordered and assembled, first week schedules created, and lockers assigned. You have collaborated with Student Services and the counselling team to finalize class placements, reviewed IEPs, all the while remembering to make sure staff have assigned parking. You have jigged and rejigged the timetable and schedules, confident in the knowledge that you can handle whatever comes your way.
And today, I would like to focus on being ‘new’. At the end of the last school year, many of you found out you were going to a new school or community, or you have jumped in with both feet in a new leadership position. Like many of you, I also found myself moving communities and taking on a new leadership role this year. This summer, I moved from a rural, more geographically isolated community to the hubbub of the Lower Mainland. My housing, primary mode of transportation, shopping, and number of work colleagues have all changed. My workout venue and my running routes have changed. It has been interesting, thought-provoking, challenging, demanding, exciting… and fabulous.
Even coming to the BCPVPA office has been a change. Much of my first day was spent figuring out office logistics such as how to get into the building, the code for the photocopier, where the hole punch, stapler, and supplies are kept, and where to get a coffee. At a time when we are working to make sure our families, students, and staff feel welcomed and connected, we might find ourselves spending an inordinate number of hours making sure the technology is up and running.
To those of you who are new, what you may be dealing with most is that you don’t know what you don’t know. Perhaps you find yourself with more questions than answers. If there are contentious issues between staff, how will you problem solve? What will you do when a parent or community member arrives upset or angry? How will you spring into action when you walk into a hallway covered with an inch of water due to torrential rains, or an overflowing toilet?
What is actually going to happen on the first day? How do you get the crossing guards coordinated? What about supervision – are you doing that all by yourself? Who is welcoming the students as they come off the buses? You want to be visible and to welcome all the parents and families, and the returning and newly-hired staff. How can you possibly be in so many places at the same time?
What about the logistics of the first day? Are you going to meet with everyone in the gym? Should you wait until the second day to have a schoolwide assembly? Will your gym fit the entire student and staff population? Do you know how to do your land acknowledgement, and can you do it in the language of the Nation in your area? What are the best strategies for creating relationships with and amongst staff? What if you have an influx of students you were not prepared for, and how do you accommodate those extra 100 students? Will you get a new division? Is there room for one more portable?
Here is the truth. As building leaders, we prepare, and prepare, and prepare. We make plan A, plan B, plans C, D, E, and F… we have lists and post-it notes everywhere. Our 2:00 am brain will recall something that we really need to remember, but unless you write it down on the notepad that rests on your bedside table, you will only have a vague and nagging recollection in the morning. Yet in all of this, remember that you are not alone. Days are busy, and you have an amazing opportunity that is shared by very few people on the planet. You have the privilege of building culture in your school, and positively impacting the lives of children, families, and your community. It is hard work; it is also rich, and rewarding, and wonderful. And in this work, you are surrounded by colleagues who want to see you succeed.
Your 2,700+ BCPVPA member colleagues all over this vast province are curious, nervous, and excited about the same things as you are. The BCPVPA is here to support you in every way possible. Reach out. Remember that your teachers are just as excited about meeting their students as you are. Keep in mind that the Ministry of Education and Child Care, superintendents, district staff, parents, teachers, support staff, custodians, bus drivers, and maintenance teams all have a collective goal: improving outcomes for students.
Keep the students at the centre of your work, and make that your ‘why’. We have all been there, and we want you to be successful. Reach out any time!
Dr. Shannon Behan
sbehan@bcpvpa.bc.ca