The Good Housekeeping Seal. Michelin Stars. Better Business Bureau. Good reviews on Yelp.
There are esteemed endorsements that let everyone know they can count on the quality of a product, a restaurant, a business, or even an omelet.
YOU are among those whose reputation is leveraged to ensure the quality of your school, your programs, and your teachers. How seriously do you take that reputation?
While you may get riled up over a mean facebook post, what you should REALLY be concerned about is the teacher quality at your school. The facebook post may or not have any truth to it at all, but you are measured by those you supervise. If you keep a weak teacher around, what does that say about your leadership?
If you have a teacher who you may not want to offer employment to next year, NOW is the time to strategize with your HR Director.
Remember, the halfway point of the evaluation year isn’t the first week of January; it’s NOW. At some point between February-early April (depending on your district’s practices), you’ll be asked for your recommendations for the next school year. In school days, that’s not far off.
If you have someone whose performance has not been up to the standard and you aren’t sure that you would like for them to return to next year’s team, NOW (actually earlier than now, but now is all we’ve got at this moment) is the time to be clear with them about their performance. For a teacher who isn’t meeting your school and system’s standard for teaching, you should have already had multiple formal observations, many conversations, coaching cycles, and multiple interventions to help them grow in their work.
If you’ve done those things and you aren’t getting the performance your school expects, it’s time to talk to HR. Ask HR for advice and support. If you indeed may be on a path to not recommending one of your staff members, you need to have documentation of your evaluation and supports at least in November. Work directly with your HR Director or her staff (depending on your system) to complete the necessary steps to be positioned to non-renew if that be the case in the spring. Maybe your teacher improves; maybe they let you know they’re leaving before you let them know. There are many scenarios, but you need to follow the lead of your HR Director so you’ll have all of your options available if need be. And, in most systems, that means you’re documenting throughout the year and being clear about the teacher’s performance and what the expectations are for their work.
The students currently in those classes are important and you need to continually strategize how to bring the best instruction possible to them. You can do that AND establish clarity of the teacher’s standing relative to your school’s standard.
Don’t be that principal who didn’t get anything in writing in November and December and not be able to take action in March and April! Your work in personnel is an all-year process. Make sure you aren’t falling behind.
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