Heartfelt Lessons

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Heartfelt Lessons From a first-year principal during a pandemic

BY TIFFANY SELM

“ I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I’m trying and I care deeply.” This statement and feeling was inspired by a friend, former colleague, and Hamilton County Coordinator of Instructional Services, Meghan Lawson. I immediately connected with the statement, as a first-year principal. In fact, early into the pandemic, I expressed this exact statement to my staff. I wanted my people to know that I care with my whole heart and will always be real with them. As I have reflected upon this past school year, I am in awe of how my journey and learnings have led me to where I am today. I have had the privilege to know many inspiring educators who have honored who I am, yet encourage my growth while seeing my heart. From March until now, I have collected many heartfelt lessons.

Be Intentional

Author Sangram Vajre and recent speaker at the Leadercast Positive Disruption said, “Being intentional is more important than being brilliant.” I recognize that often, I am not the smartest person in the room. I love to learn and grow, and I notice that I have a keen ability to be intentional with my time, words, and actions. Some would say that I’m a quiet leader and yet some notice that when I speak, I strive to speak with an encouraging, and, hopefully, profound message. In order to be intentional, you must actively listen. I listen to details and work to notice moments. When the moment came for schools to close and provide remote learning opportunities to students, I made the decision to continue to be intentional. I promised that I would connect at the beginning of each day with morning announcements via my YouTube channel and dedicated the rest of my day to supporting the educators in my building by checking in, providing communication updates and encouragement, and contacting every family in my school (around 500 students) to say, “I miss you. I care about you. How are you? How can I help?” I am hopeful that my intentions of expressing care and support made a positive difference.

Connection Before Content

Before remote learning occurred and during, I remembered a valuable lesson that Forest Hills Assistant Superintendent, Greg Sears, taught me: connection before content. When our teams would meet in our various committees, I would always provide a connection activity before we began discussing the content. For instance, we would connect by sharing answers to these questions: If we were to go on a picnic, what would you bring and why? If your personality was a car, what car would you be and why? If you were a holiday movie character, who would you be and why? Relationships matter and before any results can occur, a relationship is the foundation that will carry your team through the good and challenging times.

Work with Passion and Purpose

“Don’t seek happiness. Decide to work with passion and purpose and happiness will find you,” is a quote from The Seed by Jon Gordon. A friend, former colleague, and Forest Hills Associate Director, Bob Buck encouraged me to read this book, and I’m beyond thankful that he did. At times, I have felt lost in my career and not sure what my passion or purpose is. I caught myself playing the comparison game with others, when I needed to focus on the work and to fill my work with passion and purpose. Comparison is the thief of joy, indeed. After I refocused my energy, happiness filled my heart. I was able to clearly see and remember why I began working in education years ago: to support growth for the whole child. When feeling doubtful and not happy, do all you can to fill every moment with passion and purpose; happiness will follow shortly after.

Embracing Diverse Collaboration

If I was asked the question, “Are you collaborative?” years ago, I would have honestly expressed no. I thought that collaboration was inefficient. My answer today is, “I can’t live without collaboration.” My experiences have taught me that this African proverb is true, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” I want to go far. I want to make a positive difference in the lives of children by embracing all voices, ideas, opinions, and perspectives. Author Tim Kight tweeted, “Wise people aren’t afraid of different opinions and perspectives. They welcome diversity of thought. They embrace disagreement and respond with respectful discussion, discourse, and debate. They understand the benefit of creative abrasion. They know that iron sharpens the iron.” When people interact with me, I hope they feel safe to express their thoughts and know that I honor what they are saying, in a welcoming and encouraging manner.

As we navigate this upcoming fall into a world of education that may look very different from our past, what heartfelt lessons have we learned to improve the student experience? Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” I know now with great certainty that being intentional, connecting with others, working with passion, and embracing diverse collaboration is how I show that I care. As a result, students will have better experiences and memories because of this care.

Tiffany Selm is the principal at Pattison Elementary in Milford, Ohio. Prior to that, she served as an assistant principal for seven years, district coordinator for one year, and 5th grade teacher for three years. As the leader at Pattison, she is committed to meeting the social, emotional, and academic needs of all students. You can contact the author via Twitter at @mrsselm. fall 2020 31

The Principals’ Bear Huddle

BY KIRK PAVELICH

Excitement among the elementary staff and students in the North Royalton City School District was at a fever pitch for the first six and a half months this school year, as colleagues worked toward a future date on the calendar - the opening of a brand new state-of-the-art elementary building in August of 2021.

The year started with a formal groundbreaking ceremony at the construction site, featuring speeches from district officials and students who will one day set the example for leadership at the new building. Momentum picked up speed throughout the year, as staff members from the Lil’ Bears Preschool along with Albion, Royal View and Valley Vista Elementaries collaborated on the process of merging four distinct building cultures into a cohesive new vision for the next generation of North Royalton primary students. Excitement continued to build with students as they watched a special assembly by Hammond Construction, followed by the opportunity to sign a beam that would be permanently displayed at the new North Royalton Elementary School.

Then it all came to a screeching halt. When Governor Mike DeWine made the announcement on March 12 that schools would be closed due to the global pandemic, our district elementary staff faced the legitimate possibility of losing out on continued connections with students and colleagues at our primary locations, right at a time when we had made such incredible progress toward creating a new culture for our youngest learners. Like our fellow educators across the state, we were deflated as we tried our best to adjust to our new normal with next to no time to prepare for what would come next.

In the middle of the crisis, a new tool was created to continue reaching our elementary school community. Prior to the closings in March, none of my elementary administrative colleagues could tell you about Zoom, let alone having ever collaborated with the video conference platform. Valley Vista Principal Jeff Hill pitched the idea to our team that Zoom would not only offer us the best chance at reaching our students through a weekly video announcements program, but it just might serve as the morale builder needed by our students and families struggling with the sudden closure. Our program, titled “The Principals’ Bear Huddle” debuted on March 30th and became an immediate hit with our entire school community. Judging from the overwhelming positive feedback we received and the high number of views over the course of eight episodes, with over 10,000 views combined on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, I wholeheartedly believe this will become one of those ideas that sticks even after we return to the traditional model of educating our elementary students.

What started out as a way to share announcements with our families and celebrate birthdays of our students from preschool through grade four, eventually transformed into episodes featuring special guests such as our school counselors and a retiring teacher. One week we would ask for pictures of our families participating in various spirit week activities and the next we would be flooded with submissions to be featured in the following week’s program.

Under the creative direction of Albion Principal Vince Ketterer, we took the program to the next level in honor of National Superheroes Week, when we all revealed our “secret identities” as Captain America (Mr. Hill), the Incredible Hulk (Mr. Ketterer), Thor (Lil’ Bears Preschool Coordinator Mike McGinnis) and yours truly as Batman (see photo on page 33). That particular episode ended up getting featured on Cleveland’s Fox 8 News, as part of the program’s Cleveland’s Own Helping Cleveland’s Own segment. The following week, we couldn’t let the opportunity pass by to connect with our students and families on May the 4th, so the four of us dressed as characters from the Star Wars universe to share a message of hope with our families and were flattered when WKYC Channel 3 featured a clip on the morning news program.

For Staff Appreciation Week, we thought it was the ideal time to pay homage to the classic film “Field of Dreams,” when we dressed in baseball uniforms and promised “If you build it, they will come.” Our students watching from home were elated when they saw staff members from all elementary schools in the district appearing in our Zoom meeting episode, waving to the kids they missed so much during our time away from the buildings and signifying they will indeed be coming together when the construction project is complete.

The positivity carried over to the final days of the school year, as we truly felt that the Principals’ Bear Huddle played at least a small role in the enhanced camaraderie among our elementary staff members. Colleagues from all of our primary buildings utilized Zoom and Google Meet to plan activities with one another, store resources and video lessons in a shared drive. As a result, we grew closer during a time when we very easily could have lost touch and derailed the positive momentum from earlier in the year.

As we plan for an uncertain future, the elementary staff in North Royalton has grown in their ability to collaborate with one another, even in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. We have no doubt that the years to come will be promising for our youngest learners, thanks in large part to the new initiatives that were born in the midst of a crisis.

Kirk Pavelich has been the principal at Royal View Elementary, a 2015 OAESA Hall of Fame School, for the past eight years. In 2021, he will become the lead principal at North Royalton Elementary as the district combines four buildings into one. Pavelich, who is the Cuyahoga County representative for OAESA, is married to Julie and has three children, Rachel, Becca and Jonathan. You can contact him via email at kirk.pavelich@northroyaltonsd.org or via Twitter at @Kirk_Pavelich.