Conversations with Superintendents about the readiness of their Principal Pipeline
I’ve had the good fortune to lead a school as principal for nearly 20 years before retirement in 2023. I was bombarded soon after by principal colleagues that wanted my best strategies for improving schools. While I graciously offered what I thought was sage advice, it turns out that it allowed me to embark upon a new journey as an educational consultant. During my tenure, I successfully transitioned my resident principals and my assistant principals to their own principalships. Not only did they complete principal preparation programs but also the district’s principal eligibility programs. The district had the foresight to create a robust program for first year principals. in which they were paired with veteran principals to navigate that first year in such a high pressured, complex, and fast-paced school environment. It did give me a level of satisfaction to share leadership strategies that could serve as a model for their respective schools. I was able to be a sounding board when needed to hear their frustrations as a first year principal. Any experienced principal can go back to their inaugural years and can speak to being largely overwhelmed.
It didn’t surprise me when superintendents invited me to support their current principals. They shared the type of struggles that they were facing and thought my experience could easily pair with their experiences and I could provide one to one coaching based on each principal’s individual needs. Ironically, each superintendent inquired if I could share leadership strategies with their pipelines. While they knew their principals would benefit from my experiences, they wished they had given support much earlier to their school leaders before taking the helm. Notedly, there were not strong candidates to follow assistant principals if they moved up. Quite honestly, they admitted the district had no formal pipeline development program and that they would rather hire from outside of the district when the time comes. In fact, some assistant principals were adamant about never becoming a principal citing an unhealthy work-life balance and that the financial compensation does not justify the increased stress from the principalship.
On the flip side, in speaking with principals, they expressed the struggles they were having with their assistant principals. Surprisingly, they lamented that “I feel like I’m in this leadership role alone”. Each would tell a story of instances where they felt unsupported by their assistant principal, emotionally. They could agree on the daily challenges. But they would add, “They APs just don’t get it.“ Their priorities are not on instruction because they’re putting out fires all day.“
My aha moment materialized. How do we properly prepare our pipeline for the principal role? There are districts that have a clear protocol of developing leaders within the district. I was fortunate enough to participate in my district’s transition leadership program which formally helped me to prepare a succession plan for my assistant principal, who would become my successor. The partnership between our local university and district provided a coach for my assistant principal, and we would regularly conduct triad meetings to discuss intentional strategies and leadership experiences.
While I don’t duplicate the well laid out program of the university, my blueprint is in consultation with superintendents to make intentional changes for the development of a an effective principal pipeline. I’ve set out to disrupt the declining number of qualified candidates for Principalship. This means that the pipelines have to be intentionally examined. Strong teacher leaders and other non-traditional school leader positions have to be guided, trained, influenced, and supported, as superintendents identify the best to lead their schools.
Follow me over the next few months as I lay the groundwork for how to prepare aspiring leaders to become hired leaders. Look out for my upcoming webinar in November on this topic. A professional development webinar series is just around the corner in January. It will be a parallel framework for current assistant principals and aspiring leaders who are on their leadership journey.
