In the Fall of 2013 I began my time as principal of Greene Central High School. Very few people who worked at the school before then are still there. My best count is only six. I took on the job at just 30 years old, full of more enthusiasm and niavetity than actual skill. I had no real idea what I was doing, so I leaned on the things that seemed natural to me. I quickly learned back then that organizations that could not attach importance to their goals stood no chance to change. So my first goal was not to reform instruction or curriculum, but simply to get people to work together and to appreciate one another. I began writing to my staff every Friday about something I saw that week that made me think. Those emails eventually became this blog. It was a way for me to outwardly reflect while making my thoughts more transparent to others. I know that not everyone agreed or even appreciated every topic, and that's ok. The point was never to get everyone to agree, but to give perspective. Thirteen years later, I found it hard to maintain the weekly writing with all of the other things that my job and my life demanded. I occassionally wrote when something made me think or when I needed a metaphor to guide our work. But with this post, Principal Ramblings comes to an end along with my time as your principal.
It seems far too cliche to tell you all that I think of you all as family. I intentionally teach new administrators not to say things like that. Your family and your job are different. But when you spend more than a decade with people, you get to know them as good as you would know most relatives. We've seen each other on great days and at low points. We've celebreated with one aother and forgiven each other. Through our relationships we have shaped each other's thinking, and for that, I am eternially grateful. You have left a mark on me that will never go away becasue you changed who I am and how I saw the world. So while we may not be family, this place and the people in it impacted me as much as any family would.
I'd like to think that I am able to leave you with something better than how I found it. While the internet will always find a few who would disagree, I'd hope that most people could see most of the changes over the past thirteen years as positive ones. Beyond the cultural changes, I am leaving you with a new space that you get to call your own. While I can't begin to take full credit for the new school, I hope that my contributions along the way made a difference in the experience that students, staff and families get to share. Please take care of it. You get to start this school year with a new sense of pride in the space you are in. I genuinely hope that this translates into the pride that students and teachers have in themselves as well. More important than the building, please take care of each other. As the migration to the new building brought change, I saw first hand how uncomfortable people can be with change. Now as more change is upon you, I beg you to consider one another and the impact of your decisions and actions. Change is hard, but it is necessary to grow. So with this opportunity, don't half-ass it. Be intentional and give it all you have. Otherwise you'll never know how great it could be.
And this is where it comes to an end. Someone once told me that when you can't find the words to say, steal from someone else and go out strong. So here it goes: How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. (A. A. Milne) Thank you for everything.
