100 Posts in 100 Days
Back in Post 79: Warm Welcomes, I started to tell the story of walking into a school building as the new principal two weeks before school was starting only to find it essentially deserted. As I wrote that post, it occurred to me that this is a story full of leadership and learning. There are so many parts to this story, so it will unfold over the next several posts. Next up: Interviewing and taking the position.
Taking the Position
I decided to go for “it”, the principal position close to home and at the school my step son attended. It was the 2nd time in my career that I applied for a position asking myself, “What’s the worse that could happen? I keep my current job, the one I wasn’t looking to leave.” (The first time had worked out well and was a big part of why I could take this leap a second time.)
The timing was tricky on both sides. It was already July. The new district would need some days to accept applications, then conduct a series of interviews, then make an offer. The new hire might need some days to transition out of one position and into this one. Leadership training in both districts was early August. Teacher training and the start of the school year followed shortly after.
I wasn’t looking for another job when this one came open. I didn’t have applications submitted for multiple positions. Heck, I didn’t even have an updated resume. I just wanted to see where this one opportunity might go. One dilemma I faced was about what and when to tell my current district. My three previous direct supervisors had moved to a new district, retired, and been an interim, respectively. I would have a new supervisor in my current position, a colleague I knew fairly well (after all, 16 years in the same district). I decided to submit my application and letters of reference to the new district without telling my current district. I didn’t want to hide my interest, but if I didn’t make it to an interview, then no flags would be raised.
When my application made it through the screening process and the invitation for an in-person interview came, I had some new decisions and dilemmas. First, I was offered a number of timeslots for my interview. I don’t know how true it is, but I’d heard that when given a choice, take the first or last interview. People remember the beginning and ending, but not always the middle. I opted for the 8:00 am interview.
The dilemma of telling my current district took on greater significance. I decided it was time to tell my new supervisor. I told her I was exploring this one opportunity, the reasons why, and if my candidacy continued past the first interview, I didn’t want her to be caught by surprise. She knew me and she understood, but I can’t say she was thrilled by the news. Together, we also made the decision to inform our human resources director. I recall feeling mixed about the conversations themselves, because things were still so uncertain and the possibility of leaving my professional home was emotional, but I also recall feeling that I had done the right thing by being open and honest about my actions and intentions. Writing this nearly a decade later, I feel all of those emotions again.
I went to the interview and felt good about it. I met teachers and parent from the school and the Executive Director who had been the supervisor for that school and region. My interview was on her last day of work before retirement. She would be on the team recommending candidates for the next phase, and then be gone. This new position would also have a new supervisor, raising more questions about if this was the right thing to do.
A day or two after the first interview, I got a call inviting me to a second interview, this time with the superintendent and other senior leaders. I was excited and I was nervous. The “let’s see what could happen” mentality was quickly becoming, “oh, this is getting real.”
This second invitation also ushered in yet another round of decisions and dilemmas. After accepting the interview, I again contacted my supervisor and human resources director in my current district. The harder conversation, though, was with my team of teachers who were my leaders in learning about and planning implementation of our new teacher evaluation system. We were attending a weeklong training together and I would need to leave for an afternoon in order to go to my interview. The day before my interview, I told them I had a personal appointment and would be leaving after lunch time the next day. It was true. And it wasn’t the full story. My chest felt heavy.
I went to my final interview with the new superintendent. To be honest, I don’t even remember the questions he asked or what we discussed, other than me saying, “This is the school where my stepson and his friends attend. It is my community. No other candidate will be as invested in the success of this school than me.” I’d left it all on the table, so no matter what happened, I had reason to feel good.
I went back to my current district, back to my training, and back to my current team of teachers. We kept learning together and we kept planning our new year in earnest. Inside, I had constant butterflies in my stomach, not knowing what was going to happen or when I would find out.
The next call came. It was in the evening. I was at an evening meeting for my current district, where it was time to bargain a new contract between the district and teachers. I was on the bargaining team for the district and we were in our first face-to-face meeting with the teacher representatives. We were just getting started when my phone vibrated. I could see the number and I knew it was “the” call. I would find out if I had been selected or not. I declined the call. The meeting I was in was important and I couldn’t step out at the very moment where we were talking about our norms and working agreements. But when that first break in the evening came, I returned the call, hoping to get an after-hours answer.
Not only did I get an answer, but I got the job offer and a request to join the already-in-progress leadership training at the new district the very next morning. Every step along the way presented new decisions and dilemmas. I needed to return to the bargaining meeting, I needed to talk to my family, I needed to finish the training I was in with my current teachers, I needed to talk with my current supervisors again. In my heart, I knew I had applied for this one position because it was so right for me. In my head, I knew this was good for my family, being close and getting all of us on the same school calendar. In my stomach, I ached for what it would mean to say goodbye to the only colleagues and community I had known in my educational career.
What happened next was a whirlwind:
I accepted the position.
I wrote a letter of resignation to my current district.
I wrote an introduction letter to my new school community.
I wrote an announcement and goodbye letter to my current school community.
I told the teacher team I was attending training with on the last day of the training. (For now, I will just share that there were fireworks.)
One of the things I was most proud of in that time of transition remains something I am proud of today. Rather than have a definitive “end date” in my current district and “start date” in my new district, I talked with both districts about the work to be done in order for each school to be ready to open doors to their students. I worked in both districts simultaneously for a few weeks, planning all of the pre-service activities for teachers, finishing hiring, and training an interim substitute principal for the school I was leaving.
In Post 75: Change Models and Frameworks, I wrote about the importance of having a model for change and William Bridges Transition Model. It’s the concept of “transition” over “change” that I fell upon during those weeks I supported both schools. My schedule was full and my workload was heavy, but I was able to help both schools in the first steps of evolving from what had been to what would be.
Interdependence was the theme of posts 71-77 (available at www.learningattheheart.com). In those August weeks, it was my colleagues who made everything happen for both schools. My colleagues in the school and district I was leaving were supportive and came together for that school community. My colleagues in the school district and school I was moving to were eager to help me get started on the right foot. There is no way either school would have opened that year without the individuals and teams that came together. More on how we accomplished that in the school I moved to coming in tomorrow’s post.