I really don’t know why principals have reserved spots. I tend to be at school really early and leave really late, so it’s not like I can’t ever find a parking spot.
I’ve always felt weird about it. When I go to a business, store, or other public place, they typically have their staff park as far back as possible to let customers park closer to the building. But when I go to schools, there is an abundance of reserved parking up front for staff. I feel that more and more, my job is to help support and amplify others’ efforts. How can I park up front and feel good about that while my team parks in the back? Leaders eat last and leaders park in the back!
This year, my assistant principal, RJ Lucciotti, and I decided to practice what we preach in every way possible. Parking was an easy and obvious example for us. I’m proud of RJ because he didn’t even flinch when we discussed this and was all in. We decided to use two major themes we have been discussing with our team this year and recognize the above and beyond efforts of our staff that we continually observe. We had our reserved signs removed and replaced them with new ones for staff members showing GRIT and Belief.
GRIT
In a previous post, I discussed the importance of grit and what G.R.I.T. meant to me. I think if we focus on showing these characteristics for our students, there is no way we will not be successful!
Belief
My #OneWord for 2016 is believe and is something that we discuss probably every day at Ashland. Learn more why here. It’s also literally on the walls in our school so it reminds us every day to believe in our students, our team, and ourselves.
So now I park in the back parking lot, and honestly I really enjoy the walk back and forth to my car every day. I feel satisfaction on practicing what I preach and trying to serve and recognize the efforts of my team.
In fact, many times I still see cars parked in these reserved front spots as I leave which doesn’t surprise me since I see how hard they work! I chat with teachers as we walk in. I also get a second during my walk back to take a couple of deep breaths and know that I gave my all that day!
We have been updating these spots about every 2-3 weeks and started this mid year. These are hard to choose only because so many of our staff members are doing an awesome job every day for our students and each other! My ex-spot is reserved for GRIT and RJ’s ex-spot is reserved for Belief and parents can see these signs every day as they walk in to school.
GRIT
Sean Zortman, 3rd Grade Teacher – For amazing growth and tenacity, getting after it in his first year teaching
Carolyn English, 1st Grade Teacher – For killing it as an educator and team lead, being as strong as ever, teaching about 35 years, what an amazing example for us
The Entire Kindergarten Team – For supporting a teammate and going above and beyond together
Vera Crouse, Music Teacher – For putting on an unbelievable student musical, The Lion King Kids, in her 1st year teaching, she really got after it
Belief
Becky Lucas, 4th Grade Teacher – For continually showing believe in every single student and providing for their needs
Ruth O’Connell, Learning Disabilities Special Education Teacher – For totally believing in her students and helping them believe in themselves
Luis Hernandez, 4th Grade Teacher, and Brandon Carter, School Counselor – For starting from scratch to learn coding and robotics as our new robotics coaches, now helping their teams reach states and world competitions this year
Sarah Trachtenberg, 1st Grade Teacher – For not only accepting students with needs, but viewing them as opportunities and wanting them for her own growth as an educator
As we continue this moving forward, I’m going to update this post with the new names.
So…if you are reading this and have a reserved parking spot, why? Something to think about…
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