J. Christian Nolde

J. Christian Nolde

ADMS 626

Dr. Rachel Foglesong

Summer 2013

Principal Interview & Reflection

I sat down with Principal Lenny Pritchard of Deep Run High School in Henrico County, VA, who generously gave me 1.5 hours of his time to discuss communication issues as an educational administrator. Mr. Pritchard forewarned me that he was a bit of a “rambler”, which was great as it allowed our conversation to touch on many different aspects of his job, including how it affects his personal life. Because I will be working as an Administrative Aide next year, I suppose he thought it would be a good idea to end our conversation with his advice for me in my new role. I am very grateful for his time and support.

Mr. Pritchard was a high school history teacher and the head football coach at Deep Run before becoming an administrator. He has taught at Henrico High School and Varina High School as well. The reasons he gave for going into administration were both professional and personal. Professionally he thought he could make a bigger impact on the whole school community. He describes himself as someone with a big heart who got into education to make a difference. Being a principal would allow him the chance to work with more students, parents, teachers, and staff members. Personally he needed to move away from coaching football for the sake of his family, and is very pleased he has been able to get to know his daughters in a way that might not have happened were he to still be coaching. He does miss coaching terribly, but has taken many of the lessons learned from the field to his job as principal, including being able to take criticism, work skillfully in one-to-one situations, and the importance of speaking from the heart. He views his current role as being one of help and service to other people.

In our interview, Mr. Pritchard mentioned again and again how he “wants to get better” at his job, and finds it difficult to work with teachers who do not feel the same way. This being said, he stated his favorite part of the job is working behind closed doors with staff members to help them through difficult situations: “these are things no one sees, due to not being able to discuss personnel issues, but they are the most gratifying”. He likens it to a classroom teacher working hard with a struggling student who finally “gets it”, and the joy they feel at the student’s success. Another interesting topic he brought up was the concept of Fairness/Equity: he dislikes this idea because he believes everyone has a story, and with that comes a somewhat unique way of dealing with each situation. Many people cannot see the total picture, then making uniformed judgments and causing problems: “if everyone focused more on themselves and their own improvement, we could do more to help kids”. I also found it interesting that faculty meetings are the most difficult communication events he performs, because he said in part it’s due to his trying to overcome the stigma of, “just being a football coach”. Being able to relax is the key to oral communication, and this he says has come with more experience.

When facing a stressful conversation with a parent, he talked about a number of things, like being able to stand by your decision and not pass the buck; convey the sense that you are there to help their child not just punish them; and, try to explain any policy he must adhere to in a simple and straightforward manner. Mr. Pritchard thinks it important to meet face-to-face with any parent appealing a discipline decision. Out of school suspension is something he would like to see less and less of, while increasing new ways of using in school suspension programs. He thinks this will help with on-time graduation rates, something high school are being held more accountable for in recent years.

The ways he thinks he is able to effectively communicate with stakeholders is through weekly faculty newsletters, email blasts, selective ConnectEd phone calls, and biweekly posting an updated, fully detailed school calendar. He tries to be as non-intrusive when possible, and finds the hardest part is timing the release of information right; not too soon, because they will forget or want it sooner next time, and not too late either. Communicating school policy is something he thinks he does well and has improved on over time.

Some final thoughts he made I felt were worth mentioning. When asked about dealing with criticism, the main point he made was to expect it and accept it as part of the job. As principal of a school, you are the only person with that position, a public figure and decision maker, who is ultimately responsible for what happens in the building. Therefore, you will not please everyone though you should try. Even if you have a big, caring heart, this does not exempt you from critics. Essentially, you have nowhere to hide, and so you have to grow thicker skin. Criticism will still bother you, he says, but you get much better at handling it. Another point he made was the difficulty in time restraints he faced in trying to be the Instructional Leader of the school, having the time to delve deeply into data with all the demands being placed on you. For example, this year he had one sick AP, and another who was gone from the school by October. Lastly, speaking of time, he stated that one of the main things he learned was to bring a balance to work and personal life by realizing what’s important and must get done, then leaving the rest till tomorrow. He assured me it would still be there.