Here are several suggestions to have a more effective meeting.

With the use of technology, staff meetings should not be the old “stand and deliver type” but a sharing of new knowledge/ideas, teaching strategies, learning communities, etc. The usefulness of staff meetings should not be determined by a meetings time or format as much as the purpose of and need for the meeting.

Administrators must plan staff meetings carefully. Informational meetings can be waived in favor of e-...

Visibility is very important in gaining trust and acceptance---key components of a school’s climate. Creating time to be visible in a busy and crowded schedule is not an easy task. Delegation of duties to other staff members is one solution to this problem. It is important to establish a routine that is agreeable to everyone. The following practices will help principals arrange their time to allow more visibility in their school. Many principals try to micromanage, especially new principals...

Often the students are very excited to move from one grade/school to another. As a former middle and high school principal, I found the folks with the biggest concerns often were the parents. In elementary school (at least in the early years) parents are usually very upset with the separation anxiety of their children. Especially if the child is the oldest or the only child. Where I work now, we are a pre-K through 12th grade school and we have the parents of the little ones walk their...

Here we go again…another horrific school shooting. This time in Florida (I lived and worked there in education for 30 years). Another wringing of hands, people expressing their outrage, call for prayers and condolences but that does not help these victims and the victims at the next school shooting. And there will be another one. The US has to come to grips with the problem. Too many guns (and the wrong type of guns) in the hands of the wrong people. When will it end?

But since...