This week, we started in-services at school. When I spoke with the assistant principal this summer, I thought that the school had a solid direction and a system in place to get there. During our first week there, Ana and I were constantly surprised by the disorder, confusion, and general unprofessionalism we found in the way things had been done, although the administration we met acted very professionally. These past few days, I have had the chance, by listening to teachers talk, to hear more of the story of the school.
Before this year, the administration governed the school laxly, leading to academic practices that were not the best. The high turnover in admin didn't help.
Problem: people are socialized by habit to expect the world to work a certain way. When a school has had one set of procedures, people (parents, students, teachers) expect it to continue to work that way. Change causes anger, confusion, and chaos, even if it is good change, because not everyone is on board.
On the teacher end, our new principal spent most of the in-service time thus far making sure that he and the faculty were on the same plane when it comes to how the school and classes should work.
On the parent and student end, a lot of re-socialization is about to happen starting Monday.
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