When Darren Guido became principal of Central Middle School in Dover, he had already been assistant principal at the school. What’s more, he was a teacher in the building prior to entering administration.
“I figured I knew what is what like to be principal,” Guido said. “I figured the first week I’d be rearranging the furniture in my office.”
But it’s far more than that. Aside from building management, Guido and other school principals are expected to be instructional leaders. In addition to fire drills and classroom maintenance issues, visits to the classroom are in order. For principals it can seem like there aren’t enough hours in the day.
With a full-blown educational reform going on in Delaware, there is also training in preparation for new teacher evaluations and the mandated Professional Learning Communities meetings. Something had to give.
So, with Race to the Top funds, Delaware implemented School Administration Managers (SAMs) who would help principals keep track of where time was spent during the day, how effective that time was and also take away some of the day-to-day minutia of calendar-managing and the like. Susan Hayes, Guido’s secretary, is his SAM. Guido said Hayes’ work is invaluable to him and while the added responsibility can be taxing on her schedule, it frees him up to meet instructional needs at Central Middle.
Guido’s goal is to spend 50 percent of his time in the classroom, with his staff and the students.
Additional time in the classroom allows Guido to coach his teachers on how to improve and give those suggestions outside the confines of a classroom evaluation. There is no judgment during these informal observations, just discussion.
On a recent Thursday, for instance, Guido met with his development coach (also funded through Race to the Top) and two other principals first thing in the morning. After that, he sat down with two teachers and at noon he had his monthly meeting with the Time Change Coach (that coach analyzes his time keeping software to see if Guido is meeting his goals and making the most efficient use of his day). The afternoon wrapped up with a few more post-conference meetings with teachers at Central.
This does not allow for a lot of time to, say, keep on top of what light bulbs need changing in the building or if the grass needs mowing, tasks that would have fallen under a building principal’s purview previously.
“Another portion to the SAM program is delegating,” Guido said. “And I have a wonderful team. Looking at how I spend my time in the day makes it easy to see that there are things I can pass off to another staff member. For example, I have a fantastic chief custodian and there are things he can take care of without me.”
The SAM program costs the state $900,000 of Race to the Top funding. It’s meant to go hand-in-hand with the state’s school leadership coach program and development coaches for principals and superintendents.
Race to the Top programs: Making time to make things better
Darren Guido, Principal of Central Middle School, explains the School Administration Manager program.
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