I've been there, but not during a pandemic.

Hey Advocates,

I'm at the airport waiting to board my plane back to Idaho. I had the pleasure of keynoting for the Ames School District yesterday. I noticed how fired up the school district staff was about the upcoming school year. 

I want to check on my school administrators. I found an article that said one out of two principals are considering a career change. Many administrators plan to leave within the next three years. I must admit that I haven't been checking in on my school leaders as much because many of my conversations have been around teachers. It makes sense that as a result of teacher shortages, there would be added stress on administrators to fill vacant positions.

My bad principals, technically, I forgot about you for a minute. Yesterday, I sat in a middle school library and engaged in a deep conversation with a room full of school administrators in primary and secondary schools. The topic: Dealing with racial slurs in schools. This is a challenge at all school levels, and there are different ways to address this.

Although addressing challenges surrounding racial slurs in schools is prevalent in many schools regardless of student demographics, it's just one more thing that administrators are faced with. The article I read discussed how principals have to teach classes, serve in the cafeteria, and drive school buses. 

I've been there, but not during a pandemic.

To my principals out there, please hang in there. You are doing some fantastic work and don't always get the recognition you deserve. Thank you for arriving early in the morning to greet students at the door. Thank you for staying late to ensure all your students have been picked up. Thank you for the home visits and the personal phone calls to parents. Thank you for the empathy and support of your staff's mental health. 

Thank you for all that you do.

On another note, I had the pleasure of speaking with Jessica Havens last night during The Art of Advocacy Livestream. The conversation was on the current discussions around Critical Race Theory. Jessica Havens is a DEI Consultant, strategist, and facilitator. 

We started our conversations on Critical Race Theory and why there is so much confusion. We ended the talk with our thoughts on what we can do as educators. 

I learned a lot from Jessica, and I'm sure you will too. Have a watch, and don't forget to follow the channel. 

That's all for now, enjoy your weekend!

-Sheldon

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P.S. If you purchased the Leading Equity book on Amazon and enjoyed the content, please consider writing a review. Your support is greatly appreciated :)