How to Be the Good School Principal Whom Everyone Loves

I have worked with all kinds of principals and have seen it all, there are the school principals who I do not understand how they got the job and even more perplexing, how they were allowed to stay in the position as a school principal. Then there are the principals who I believe were born to do the job and hold the internal humane qualities of what a good school principal should be.

While I have not done formal research on what the qualities are of a good school principal; from my personal work experiences I do believe there are some simple internal humane qualities that I have perceived many school principals to possess, on the flip side I have witnessed other principals who have no possession what-so-ever of these internal humane qualities.

Those school principals who hold the positive internal humane qualities and carry these traits of being a successful principal are respected and most times loved by the kids, parents and staff. The school principals who do not carry these internal qualities many times struggle in their school, their kids in the building are not always performing to the best of their ability, the morale may be low in the school building and the overall climate is not the best that it could be.

I am positive I will get some flack about this next statement, but I feel very strongly about it. Although I know test scores, curriculum and making adequate yearly progress is top talk right now and are important; I also think a principal who holds the innate internal humane qualities is way more important than being an expert in the curricular areas, raising test scores and making sure no child is left behind. I believe when the focus is on the numbers, scores and school rank; every child IS left behind! I believe for the good of all children, a principal's primary focus should be to lead our kids to be good, caring, honest and compassionate human beings!

I do know that a school principal carries an incredible amount of responsibility for the building and is required to follow district and state mandates, but I have personally observed school buildings succeed and fail due to the individual inherent humane qualities or lack of them on the part of the principal.

Here is what I think it takes to be an outstanding leader and the humane qualities necessary to be a good school principal:

Compassion

Compassion is first on my list intentionally because I think it is the most important quality of a good principal. Somewhere along the lines, I believe that in education we have pushed so hard for the test scores and making the grade that the simple act of being compassionate and caring has been pushed to the back of the line. Luckily, some principals still realize that kids, staff and parents need to know that their school leader cares deeply about them and the importance of the compassionate attribute that should be exuding from that school principal everyday.

Honesty

I know it is impossible to keep everyone happy in a school building and I believe that most principals want to try and keep harmony by making everyone happy. However, I know that some principals resort to giving people different stories and giving out the information that each person wants to hear so that the full truth is not always being heard. That familiar and well known statement: "honesty is the best policy" still holds so true in any situation including information that a school principal disseminates. The good school principals I have witnessed have told the truth even knowing that it is may cause some heart ache and discontent. From personal experiences, I have found that being honest upfront is better than trying to twist out of a lie later on.

Energy

I believe a quality of a good principal that is not discussed as much as it should be, is the principal who is full of energy and life. Currently, for many kids, parents and staff morale is low in school buildings due to budget cuts, low test scores and a multitude of other issues. However, a good school principal who is full of energy can bring a breath of fresh air and life into a building and change the morale of everyone, it starts with one person and positive energy is contagious-I have seen it happen in school buildings with my own eyes.

Mentor/Teacher

Kids, parents and staff look to a principal as a mentor and teacher, I believe some principals naturally do mentor and teach all who they come in contact with. I have worked under principals who I have learned so much from and have felt comfortable exposing my flaws as a teacher because I knew the principal was a wonderful teacher and one who I could trust. I have also dealt with principals who I would cringe every time they would come in my classroom because I knew their intentions were not good and/or they did not have the teaching experience and knowledge to help me, they were not a person whom I could learn from nor want to.

Love the Job

This may be a clique saying, "love your job" but I really believe that a good school principal needs to love their job, he or she may not love their job every second of the day but it is definitely obvious when a good school principal truly loves their job and it is also obvious when a principal does not love their job. If a principal does not love their job, he or she should probably consider a different profession or another alternative to use their degree in a different field of education. When a good school principal loves their job, it is obvious the second you walk into the school building.

Compassion, honesty, energy, being a mentor and loving the job have everything to do with being a good human being. As I have said many times and have also heard others say, when I was in school I do not remember the specific math problems, science experiments nor the vocabulary activities but I sure remember those principals from childhood and in my working career who taught me from example how to care about someone, why telling the truth is so important, how loving life is such a great thing and how sharing knowledge can be so personally rewarding.

To those school principals who have taught me these humane qualities, I thank you from the bottom my heart for giving me such a wonderful education.

Sources:

Self-experiences