The past few years have taken a toll on educators. We were well on our way toward the current state of exhaustion and impossibility we are currently experiencing prior to the pandemic, but I'm sure Covid sped things up exponentially. The public education system has placed its workers in a reactive firefighting mode that allows none of us to get on the "right side" of the problems. The best analogy (and a little comic relief) I have for the situation is described in the video above. 

An educational leader I once worked with gave me the most memorable response of my career when I called him with what I perceived to be a problem. He answered by saying, "Thats not a problem, that's an opportunity" and continued to guide me through some possible action steps for this new opportunity.

I spent my next ten years seeing "problems" through that same proactive lens until it became impossible and until I realized that many of the current systems in place in education are there as reactionary approaches on purpose. And the systems in place that were originally meant to be proactive are used in reactive ways now because the training, time, and ability to follow through with fidelity make it impossible to maintain proactivity.

How can we possibly see these current problems as opportunities when the system doesn't allow for us to think creatively or have the resources needed to effectively address them?

• Students in severe mental health crises, affecting the operation of school beyond the classroom
• A lack of substitutes, causing students to be split into other classrooms daily
• Vacant positions that remain open all year long
• Classrooms covered by untrained teachers, placing heavier loads on the team members
• Students that are 2+ years behind and getting retained more than once before they make it to 4th grade
• Unreachable parents 
• Piles on piles of work to do outside of contract hours

What would the world of education be like if we were able to be proactive? Think about it...

• Universal social emotional screeners used to anticipate the needs of students
• Title One dollars able to be spent on the type of personnel the school truly needs rather than more "stuff" (mental health support)
• Full-time substitutes on hand at every school to plug in as needed or work with groups of students when not
• Retention bonuses instead of sign-on bonuses
• Money for conferences and training before accountability systems say they're required and money is thrown at the "fix"
• Creative solutions for students that are significantly behind
• Required parent engagement sessions for parents of students in voluntary pre-k and beyond
• Switch to a 4 day school week for students and give teachers a day a week to do all of the tasks that they currently do outside of contract hours

Until the system can change, educational leaders (including those beyond site-based administrators) need to make a concerted effort toward ensuring that schools are able to implement a more proactive culture despite the problems. So until then, let's talk about these opportunities for creating a proactive culture...

• Give those in the trenches a VOICE and agency...like actually listen
• Co-construct plans for improvement of schools, programs, processes
• Nurture self-efficacy
• Honor time...see the contract hours of educators as student contact hours AND prep/conference/paperwork time
• Ensure that relationships are prioritized before numbers and not just by a day of cute team building exercises (in the classroom or at the faculty level)
• Provide actual time for social emotional learning
• Find a way to honor and support boundaries, encourage and equip REAL mental health support and activities instead of just talking about it
• Recognize it when you see it...don't wait until someone is at their breaking point to let them know how important they are or how hard you see them working
• Talk about, brainstorm, and plan for "what will happen if..." (behavior scenarios, class coverage plans, parents crossing boundaries, etc...)
  
  

Think about it...

A teacher's work environment becomes a child's learning environment.

​Wouldn't we want to make the environment better for everyone involved!? 

After working as an elementary school principal for nearly 7 years and with 17 years in the field of education, I recently stepped away.

When I began pursuing my doctorate in 2018, I was often asked to answer the question, "What do you plan to do with the degree once finished?" My answer was never very clear. Because honestly, I didn't really see myself doing anything but what I was currently doing. I loved my job. I was passionate, 'all in,' creative, innovative, excited, the list goes on...

Sadly, that changed fast. In March of 2020, we were sprung into a model of education and learning none of us were prepared for followed by going on 3 years of pure educational chaos. The challenges we faced weren't necessarily new challenges, but they were exasperated by the after effects of the pandemic. And we all tried (and continue to try) to get it right for the students that we showed up for to begin with.

A job I once loved turned into my primary source of anxiety. Instead of realizing that we were not prepared for the reality we faced and joining forces to see what creative solutions we could come up with together, I was left to feel alone filling out Google forms to answer questions like "What do you plan to do about...." when everyone knew there was nothing that could actually be done about most of the challenges other than place more pressures on the teachers that were showing up and doing what needed to be done.
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The current challenges in education related to human resource needs, pressures placed on personnel, accountability, lack of parent and family involvement, mental health (and the discipline effects of lack of mental health support for students), professional boundary setting, work/life balance (to name a few) make it impossible to proactively make positive change. Every hour of every day brings more situations that require reactive approaches with the inability (due to lack of time, resources, training, etc...) to consistently be proactive, which is necessary in this work. 

Despite these challenges, I still attempted to make it my daily goal to ensure teachers and staff could spend their time teaching, show them appreciation, and ensure that the climate and culture of the school were positive and conducive to learning. Unfortunately, the efforts of few are drops in the bucket compared to the indifference of many. I experienced a culture that places continuous unattainable expectations upon us and assumes that we will continue to do whatever it takes at a detriment to our personal and mental health, leaving it extremely challenging to be any kind of a leader.

In August of 2022, I spent 3 days in a local mental health facility after experiencing suicidal ideations that can be connected to nothing other than the pressures (and honestly the impossibility) of the work. After attempting therapy, medication, coping mechanisms, setting boundaries, and many other honest attempts at getting better for the sake of a job that isn't going to get better for any of us anytime soon, I chose to walk away. 

I left with nothing set in stone for my future. 
I left knowing that as the breadwinner of my family, this could be a detrimental decision, but so could dying.

I took a leap of faith. 
I decided to be courageous in the face of adversity.
I put myself and my family first.

And as I set out on a new journey, there are a few things I'm passionate about bringing to public schools in an effort to contribute to much-needed changes within a very broken system. It is imperative that we begin to adopt policies and practices that...

• develop proactive systems and cultures​
• treat mental health (for adults and children) as more than a buzzword
• equip educational professionals with skills that allow them to develop and stick to personal and professional boundaries
• implement restorative cultures
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I look forward to sharing my thoughts about the above topics and many more with you in the coming months.