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I would say get to know your staff. They will be your biggest resource. It is not easy to run a middle school but with the help of your staff, you will quickly find that the job because more doable.
Relationships, relationships, relationships! Show your appreciation for big and small things your staff are doing. Ask for their opinion and suggestions/solutions; the more they are included and their ideas are valued, the more likely they are to support the implementation process.
Include your staff in decision making whenever possible. Especially when implementing new policies and procedures they’ll be expected to follow.
My advice would be to absorb everything, ask questions and be the person you wanted and needed as a teacher.
We have a Building Leadership Team (BLT). A mix of grade level and content teachers. We discuss building goals, issues, and other topics once a month (more if needed). Our goal is to problem solve building issues, bring in info from our fellow teachers, and leave with action plans.
The trick to making this work is to choose people that are respected in the building, won’t just agree with you, and have unique skills that benefit the group and building.
For example, we have a person that is the Tech/Web person, a video guy, testing logistics person, connected to the community person, blunt person who will offer counter argument, need to see visual plan layout person, and more. The strength of this comes from being able to hash it out and walk away with a plan and not hurt feelings. The focus of discussion is what to do, potential issues and plan for those issues.
I’d think as a new principal this would be invaluable because you can’t talk to everyone. To start your BLT, if you don’t have one, sent out a google form where you explain the idea, make it clear that it is a minimum commitment of 1 hour per month and ask 4 questions. Who would others recommend as leaders in the school and why (let them list 3) . Name a staff member that would feel comfortable speaking up for staff and students. Name a staff member that has a special skill that you find helpful and what is their skill (Tech, online learning, video, data, etc). Would you be willing and able to make the commitment to be on our BLT if asked? Then go through and invite members. We have 10-12 members
I will tell you we able to head off a lot of issues this way and the principal has a better feel for how staff are doing. The BIG thing to remember is you have to be open and willing to compromise as you work with the BLT. If it turns into a kangaroo court and you try to use the BLT to cover for your own decisions, you’ll lose the trust of staff. I’ve seen it go both ways.