I first sat down to write this blog post last week on the last Monday of the school year. I was going to write about how awesome this school year was and how happy I was to have made the switch to my new school. This last school year I really felt like I had "hit the jackpot", so to speak, with a wonderful caseload, collaborative teachers, and an amazing principal who supported me from day 1. But after riding that happy wave, things got a little shaken up last week.
On Tuesday morning, my staff was called into the library for an emergency staff meeting. Nobody seemed to have any clue what it was about. I assumed it was something about state test scores or a change in end of the year activities. I was way off. When the staff was all gathered, the director of HR came in and informed us that my principal would be moving to a new school in our district next year.
WHAT.
IS THIS FOR REAL?!?!
WHYYY?!?!
*silent internal meltdown*
As you can tell - I take news of sudden change so well. The wave I was riding came to a giant halt. It turned out that the higher powers that be decided that we needed a principal shake-up. Several principals were moved around the district. My colleagues and I asked each other "Why now?" "Why our school?" A tangible sense of anger over losing our principal and anxiety about who was to come filled the school.
As the school year has come to an end and inevitable change is in my future, as well as my colleagues, I have been reflecting on these verses from Ecclesiastes:
"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace."
~Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is a reason and a time for everything, whether we understand it or not. Often we don't get to choose the change that occurs at our jobs or in our lives, but we can choose our attitudes about handling it. Whenever there is change, there is always benefit and opportunity. I am grateful I still will return to my amazing colleagues and wonderful students. I am hopeful that my next principal will have new ideas to share.
~Erin
