The Parent Principal

The Parent Principal

(Principles in Support of Student Academic, Social,

Emotional, and Behavioral Success)

A principle is defined as “a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or a chain of reasoning.” A principal is defined as “a person who has controlling authority or is in a leading position of an educational institution.” As an elementary school principal for eighteen years, the following principles helped to support, guide and reinforce the foundation on which our learning community worked collaboratively on behalf of all students.

The learning community, composed of teachers, parents, administrators, students, and community resources, is most effective and efficient when applying established beliefs in partnership on behalf of all students. Although each segment of this partnership is vital to the success of all students, the student segment of this partnership is also a crucial component of the partnership.

When the principles are applied as consistently, thoughtfully, and collaboratively as they need to be in the role each plays in leading to student success, students will more likely be engaged in the process of learning and interacting positively on a more consistent basis.

The list of principles to be shared here are in no particular order; each is equally important to the process of helping students academically, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally. The principles may not be original in the role they play in supporting the needs of students, but they have been and should be applied in a genuinely thoughtful, consistent, and meaningful manner. They are not mutually exclusive; therefore, they are not implemented independently of each other. There is an overlapping quality that exists for each principle as it relates to each of the others on this list. These principles should be implemented with the expectation and goal of generating student engagement. If students are engaged, they are well on their way to achieving success—whatever that may look like for each of them.

The Parent Principal draws upon 30 years of experience as an educator, both as a teacher and an administrator. (It should be noted that I have two children, a son who is 31 and a daughter who is 29. Therefore, I do share parent perspectives as they exist within the home/school partnership.) The Parent Principal also relies heavily on the relationships that were an inherently necessary and profoundly rewarding part of the role I played in helping students to meet success as part of the home/school partnership.

The importance of relationships will be explored in The Parent Principal. “It’s all about relationships,” is a mantra that our learning community heard repeatedly throughout my career as principal. It is with relationships that I begin to share the principles that guided this proud principal who valued working closely with parents on behalf of all students.

Principles will be introduced one at a time, with the first one appearing along with this introduction. It is my hope that what is presented here generates thoughts, comments, questions, suggestions, and perhaps, resources that are germaine to the principles being shared for any and all learning communities. These principles can be applied by parents of students at the elementary, middle and secondary levels.

And, your feedback is encouraged. Input provided by you will support, complement, and improve the content of what is shared here. I acknoweldge that The Parent Principal is a fluid resource, which through your insights and comments, will continue to evolve over time.

1. It's All About Relationships

“It’s all about relationships.” I don’t know how many times I heard myself repeating these words, whether they were shared in staff meetings, PTA meetings, parent meetings, administrative meetings, or just offered conversationally with anyone from our learning community. But they were repeated often with the recognition on my part that they could not be overstated. The success of what we achieved in our learning community was directly impacted by the interactions that took place in all settings, at all times. The relationships being referenced here are at the heart of any organization, especially one that is as social as educational organizations are.

For relationships to develop and grow and be nurtured during the course of time, they are borne out of conversations that take place among the constituents of the learning community. One of the by-products of on-going communication is that of trust. Trust becomes an essential ingredient in any relationship, one that develops from what is observed, what is heard, and what is on display in a consistent manner.

Without trusting relationships, through which goals are developed and accompanied by the mechanisms by which they are achieved, an organization will find it more difficult implementing the other principles that guide the work done in collaboration on behalf of the students.

Relationships must also contain a mutual respect among constituents, the absence of which, diminishes the organization's ability to achieve the level of success that all students most certainly are entitled to.

Respect is earned when those within an organization approach all interactions with an open mind. There must be an understanding that while you may not always be on the same page with others, it is imperative that differences be met with an open mind, civility, and the ability to agree to disagree, without losing sight of mutually agreed upon goals.

As this approach becomes more of the norm within an organization, the more likely it will be that established goals are met. And, as this approach is integrated on a more consistent basis, respectful interactions become an inherent quality of the relationships that exist within any organization.

"It’s all about relationships."

There, I said it again.

To be addressed in the upcoming segment of The Parent Principal is the principle that We Are Our Best Resources.