I really don’t know why principals have reserved spots. I tend to be at school really early and leave really late, so it’s not like I can’t ever find a parking spot.
I’ve always felt weird about it. When I go to a business, store, or other public place, they typically have their staff park as far back as possible to let customers park closer to the building. But when I go to schools, there is an abundance of reserved parking up front for staff. I feel that more and more, my job is to help support and amplify others’ efforts. How can I park up front and feel good about that while my team parks in the back? Leaders eat last and leaders park in the back!
This year, my assistant principal, RJ Lucciotti, and I decided to practice what we preach in every way possible. Parking was an easy and obvious example for us. I’m proud of RJ because he didn’t even flinch when we discussed this and was all in. We decided to use two major themes we have been discussing with our team this year and recognize the above and beyond efforts of our staff that we continually observe. We had our reserved signs removed and replaced them with new ones for staff members showing GRIT and Belief.
In a previous post, I discussed the importance of grit and what G.R.I.T. meant to me. I think if we focus on showing these characteristics for our students, there is no way we will not be successful!
My #OneWord for 2016 is believe and is something that we discuss probably every day at Ashland. Learn more why here. It’s also literally on the walls in our school so it reminds us every day to believe in our students, our team, and ourselves.
So now I park in the back parking lot, and honestly I really enjoy the walk back and forth to my car every day. I feel satisfaction on practicing what I preach and trying to serve and recognize the efforts of my team.
In fact, many times I still see cars parked in these reserved front spots as I leave which doesn’t surprise me since I see how hard they work! I chat with teachers as we walk in. I also get a second during my walk back to take a couple of deep breaths and know that I gave my all that day!
We have been updating these spots about every 2-3 weeks and started this mid year. These are hard to choose only because so many of our staff members are doing an awesome job every day for our students and each other! My ex-spot is reserved for GRIT and RJ’s ex-spot is reserved for Belief and parents can see these signs every day as they walk in to school.
As we continue this moving forward, I’m going to update this post with the new names.
Another example of why my wife and I think Ashland ES is the best school for our son. We love that everywhere we look, we see positive examples and selfless service! The administrators, staff and faculty are top notch! Well done Mr. Jacks!