Here we go again…another horrific school shooting. This time in Florida (I lived and worked there in education for 30 years). Another wringing of hands, people expressing their outrage, call for prayers and condolences but that does not help these victims and the victims at the next school shooting. And there will be another one. The US has to come to grips with the problem. Too many guns (and the wrong type of guns) in the hands of the wrong people. When will it end?

But since...

“The important thing for parents and educators is to focus children on their learning process. When children do well, parents and educators can appreciate their success, but also make sure to tie it to their process—their hard work, good strategies, or good use of resources.” — Carol Dweck

Carol Dweck’s growth...

My message is not necessarily that parents are important (we know this) but you must do what you can to get parents involved in your school. I would make phone calls, emails, hand out invitation to meet with me when I was a principal to parents as they dropped off and picked up their children, used message boards, etc. I would not stop “hounding parents” to get them involved with the school.

Briefly at one middle school where I was a principal our PTA over two years: saw our test...

Many assistant principals (although not all) want to be a principal. To be an assistant principal (AP) at any educational level is a very complex, demanding and difficult challenge and always underappreciated. So is the principalship! In most school districts they have three to four times the number of APs as principal’s so the numbers alone may mean that you might never become a principal. Here are some simple strategies that I hope will make those aspiration become reality!

The AP...