SAI 2016/17 Assistant Principal – Mentoring Scenario

SCENARIO 1 – You are an assistant principal at Carver Middle School. The building principal, Ms. Donovan, has gone through a difficult divorce during the last year and has dealt with a number of health problems, so she has missed nearly two weeks of work this school year. She has also assigned you what you believe to be an unmanageable number of responsibilities and additional duties. You discussed this a couple of months ago with Ms. Donovan, but things have not improved. Actually, you have had more duties assigned during that time. You have since let Ms. Donovan know that you are having a difficult time and that has not made any difference. To make matters more complicated, Ms. Donovan is a long-time friend with the HR director, who would typically be the next point of contact in your district. You are sympathetic to Ms. Donovan’s position, and do not want to throw her under the bus or appear to be a complainer, but your duties are so numerous that they would be impossible to all carry out in a successful manner. Frankly, you have been stressed out for some time and have had difficulty sleeping due to this professional dilemma. You have even begun to wonder if you should not have become an administrator and go back to teaching, or leave the profession altogether.

What do you believe would be some positive steps to take or potential solutions to this situation?

Would you discuss the matter again with Ms. Donovan? How about the HR director? Would you find it appropriate to take the matter to the administrator above the HR director? Explain your thinking.

SCENARIO 2 – You are an assistant principal at Washington High School. A school counselor has brought to your attention that she had a visit with a freshman student, Anna, who was distraught because her former boyfriend, Trevor, has allegedly shared a sexting photo with some of his buddies. Anna had sent Trevor the photo when they were dating which showed Anna’s bare chest. Anna also shared with the counselor that she was terrified because her dad would “freak out” if he knew that she had sent such a photo, as he had specifically warned her about not doing so in the past.

With whom would you want to speak and what questions would you want answered?

What other steps would you take? Who would you involve in this scenario and in what order? What considerations would impact your actions?

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