It’s Monday morning, and Mrs. Hepfer, a 1st grade teacher, looks at her email for the first time since Friday. One subject line pops up: “District Shift for Aide Support.” She cringes, sips her coffee, and reluctantly opens the message.
She begins to read the 400-word explanation detailing how the district is shifting the usage of aides in classrooms. During her planning time, Mrs. Hepfer finds me, the school principal, in the hallway and says, “Can you believe how they communicated this aide shift process? Do you know anything about this?”
At this point, I have two choices. I can either side with her that it was poorly communicated, and the shift is ridiculous. Or I can—as I will lay out in this article—bridge the gap between district decisions and the impact on teachers. As I told Mrs. Hepfer that day, communication can be difficult, so it’s important for us to look at the real message together.
In this biweekly column, principals and other authorities on school leadership—including researchers, education professors, district administrators, and assistant principals—offer timely and timeless advice for their peers.
This school year, I made the intentional choice to work on building that bridge between the district office and my teachers. Based on that effort, here is what I recommend for my fellow school leaders:
Understand district decisions.
When new district initiatives come down the pike, how deeply do you understand the shifts and the “why” behind them? As a principal, I advocated creating a district-liaison role in which I sit in on biweekly meetings with various district-level departments to gain a deeper understanding of upcoming changes. It gives me an opportunity to ask questions, offer alternative views, and provide an impact assessment of how these shifts will affect teachers’ daily routines.
Consider carving out a similar liaison role in your district—it can foster better communication and ensure that everyone is on the same page with new initiatives.
Build trust.
As school leaders, we spend a lot of time building trust with our faculty and staff. Let’s face it, we often spend more time with them than with our families. Trust is important; it takes time to build and is vital in your building.
So now that your staff trusts you, have you ever focused on extending this bridge of trust to the district office? Next time a big shift is about to happen, convene a brief meeting between a few of your building members and the district staff so you all can stand alongside the administrators leading this shift. Many teachers feel that the district office is out of touch with their needs, so fostering this connection can help bridge that gap and build mutual trust.
Conduct an impact assessment.
Any decision that I make in my building takes several considerations into account. The first is whether it’s good for kids, but a very close second is assessing the impact on my faculty’s ability to do their job effectively.
This perspective is often lost on district-level decisionmakers for various reasons that can include a lack of experience with a particular grade level or school, disconnect from the classroom, or a one-size-fits-all approach to K-12 classrooms.
When decisions are being made, having a principal’s perspective to highlight the potential impact on teachers is essential. This takes work. Do you know how your teachers’ days will be changed by shifts? Do you understand the nuances of a school day in your building so intimately that you can speak to the consequences at a meeting?
Consider communication strategies.
There are a lot of smart people in districts making strategic plans for their schools. The capacity to build plans has never been a problem in any the districts I have worked in. The sticking point comes when these plans are communicated. If we spent as much time planning how to communicate initiatives as we do crafting them, we would be in much better shape.
To encourage district stakeholders to improve communication, I carve out time in my faculty meetings, invite district-office members to professional learning community or grade-level meetings, and hold impromptu “nonmandatory” staff meetings when I know something important is going to be communicated.
Balance perspectives.
It’s crucial to maintain neutrality while supporting district initiatives and teacher concerns. Balancing these perspectives ensures that both the district’s vision and the teachers’ practical needs are respected and addressed. It’s extremely tempting to throw district-office plans under the bus to gain favor with my teachers, but the real work is understanding both perspectives and providing context, guidance, and time to digest and understand.
Principals play an essential role in bridging the gap between district decisions and their impact on teachers. We cannot allow factors like poor understanding, miscommunication, lack of trust, and lack of impact assessments to undermine the good work we are all doing. By fostering clear communication and collaboration, we can ensure that every decision benefits our educators and, ultimately, our students.
