“Focus on your primary”

A dozen years ago, I was a new principal fortunate to have a strong mentor.  He guided many of us as we embarked on a new adventure.  Blessed with seemingly a never ending supply of energy and time, he shared with us a story about his experiences as a basketball referee.  He said that there would be times where the game was getting heated, fans were bristling with every play, and tensions were rising.  At that very moment a game could spiral out of control for the referees or it could remain a contest of skill and talent.  Our mentor would tell us that the way you make it through those times of turmoil was by focusing on your primary.  You see, unknown to the average fan like me is the specific tactic that referees are charged with -to focus on their primary coverage area.  If they do their job, then when working with the other officials, the game will maintain its intent.

I have to trust my teachers to focus what they excel at – which is to teach.  Ensuring that routine remains for kids is important.  Life outside of school can be hectic and the rhetoric that fills nearly every portal of communication can be overwhelming.  Thus kids need the refuge of school, and they need it to be predictable.  Enabling teachers to do what they need to do and keep the work moving forward is what sets the conditions for our kids, and for the entire school community, to persevere.

I had another mentor when I was a principal intern and he always had such wisdom to share and faith in young people.  Early on he tasked me with setting up interviews for an Asst Principal vacancy we had, and he told me to put together a group of 4-5 students.  These kiddos would take each candidate on a tour of campus.  After all the candidates had been interviewed by the committee, the students would come in to offer their take on each person.  My mentor would always say that anyone could come in with the right answers and impress adults.  However, he would add, kids have a much sharper radar for what can fit on a campus.  He would tell me to trust them.  As with many things this mentor offered, I adopted this practice and I’ve used it for each administrative vacancy.  And every time the students have been right.  If we follow their lead and trust them to sniff out the BS and navigate to what matters most, then we can make our way.  Kids are far more resilient than adults when it comes to change.  Maybe they have to be for reasons out of their control, however taking the time to stop talking to them and start listening with them remains a sound strategy in my book.

Finally, I would add that as a principal, my charge toward unity lies in the work of cultivating a culture that can withstand the hardest of times.  Insensitive comments will arise – either from students, parents, or adults on campus.  It will happen.  And at those very moments we have to believe even more in the community we have established.  We have to have faith that, in some way, the values and commitments we have agreed to will help us respond in the most appropriate manner.

I have always believed in young people and what we can learn from them.  I’ve written often about how much more aware they are then we often give them credit for.  Yet at this time, as I try to bring to close the power of resilience, and the faith I have that we will unify and that good will still prevail, I find myself drawn to the words of a rock-n-roll veteran.  If you have never listened to “The Land of Hopes and Dreams” by Bruce Springsteen, then I encourage you to sample it soon.  The lyrics are below.

Grab your ticket and your suitcase
Thunder’s rollin’ down this track
Well, you don’t know where you’re goin’ now
But you know you won’t be back
Well, darlin’ if you’re weary
Lay your head upon my chest
We’ll take what we can carry
Yeah, and we’ll leave the rest

Big wheels roll through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

Well, I will provide for you
And I’ll stand by your side
You’ll need a good companion now
For this part of the ride
Leave behind your sorrows
Let this day be the last
Tomorrow there’ll be sunshine
And all this darkness past

Big wheels roll through fields
Where sunlight streams
Oh meet me in a land of hope and dreams

This train…
Carries saints and sinners
This train…
Carries losers and winners
This train…
Carries whores and gamblers
This train…
Carries lost souls

I said this train…
Dreams will not be thwarted
This train…
Faith will be rewarded

Public schools take everyone that shows up at the front door and commits to make them stronger.  During these challenging days, I believe that our school community can be the train for all of our students, our faculty, and the entire staff.  Frankly, I would argue that it may be the only reliable vehicle for both unity and change.

What else are you employing as you work with your communities?