Workshop prepares potential principals

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By Kelli Gauthier kgauthier@timesfreepress.com

Becoming a school principal is like absorbing several giant doses of culture shock all at once, say those who have done it.

Anyone who takes the helm of a public school in Hamilton County already has served as an assistant principal, but second-in-command is never enough preparation for specific leadership duties such as creating budgets and hiring staff, principals say.

“Nothing can prepare you for sitting in that chair as principal,” said Bill Kennedy, director of secondary school reform with the Public Education Foundation.

Mr. Kennedy and James Colbert, the school system’s assistant superintendent and a former high school principal, are creating a principal preparation workshop where current assistant principals and others eligible to be principals can be trained on what they’ll need to know to one day take over leadership of a school.

“We want to minimize the height of that jump from assistant principal to principal,” Mr. Kennedy said.

At least 50 percent of administrators in Hamilton County are eligible for retirement today, so it’s important to identify and train people who can step into those positions, said Danielle Clark, the school district’s spokeswoman.

School system officials will choose 12 to 16 people to attend the monthly half-day seminars, which begin at the end of the month. Mr. Kennedy wants to create a “full blown leadership academy,” complete with community leaders who could mentor would-be principals.

“A principal has to be a CEO. They have to know how to run their building,” he said. “They have to know the finance piece, know how to attract and ask the right questions and get the right people in their building. They have to know how to be instructional leaders.”

After earning a master’s degree, Zac Brown, an assistant principal at Hixson High School, has had plenty of theoretical instruction, but he hopes to gain more practical knowledge through the workshops.

“There are many functions that a principal goes through that an assistant doesn’t have the time to see,” he said. “One day I’d like to be principal, and it’s important to be ready on Day One.”

The principal academy, which will be paid for by BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and Electric Motor Sales and Supply Inc., differs from the Public Education Foundation’s previous Leadership Fellows program. That program will continue taking about 50 teachers each year and giving them basic leadership training.