In my opinion, the best leader not only leads by example, but they go out of their way to make their ‘followers’ as comfortable as possible. That applies for all aspects of leadership. Whether it’s a soccer player calmly saying to the referee to watch number two, or the Mayor of New York City, doing everything possible to make sure the city’s is as safe as possible, having a good leader enables every group of people to be successful. That concept is also applicable to a school environment. Having a respected principal is necessary to a school’s success.
If I was principal there would be many changes at my high school. I would want to familiarize myself with all of the students as quickly as possible. I would also want to be someone that the students would not fear. If a little freshman student got lost, I would want them to ask me for help. If a student had a concern, I would want them to feel comfortable telling me. Most importantly, I would want any student to be able to see me in the halls and realize that I’m a normal person, not a dictator.

If I was principal I would enforce several rules on my students. There would be no tolerance for bullying of any kind. I wouldn’t care if the students had an ongoing feud in middle school and came into freshman year expecting to be able to beat each other in the halls. It wouldn’t be tolerated. Also, there would be no tolerance for plagiarism. I don’t think it benefits anyone. I feel that as long as each student is educated on how to properly cite a paper, there should be no reason to plagiarize. If I was principal, both plagiarism and bullying would not be allowed.

If I was principal I would also enforce rules on the faculty. First and foremost, the faculty as a whole are not dictators. They would not be allowed to punish students for no reason. Punishing them also includes giving tests on days when they are not prepared which would force them to study all of the material in one night. Also, major tests would have to be announced at least five days ahead of the date. The faculty would not be allowed to tell kids about tests on Friday for a test on Monday, especially with no extra help on Fridays. Also, my faculty would not be allowed to ban food and drinks in their classrooms, when the teacher’s themselves are eating and drinking at their desks. I understand not wanting crumbs. I agree, I would not want my office to have bugs, either. However, most high school students are just as neat as the faculty. They can pick up after themselves if you tell them to. Their need for coffee in the morning is stronger than their want to disobey school rules by not cleaning up. Students are already exhausted every morning, I wouldn’t believe in punishing them because they didn’t have time to get drink coffee that morning before class.

If I was principal, school would be starting thirty minutes later. I wouldn’t care what any ‘educator’ currently claims. I know there is a huge difference between getting up at 6:30 and 7:00. It’s not a debate. Research has proven that sleeping in just 30 minutes later, has increased students’ abilities to concentrate immensely. Additionally, sleeping only thirty minutes later has proven to decrease the amount of stress in students, and eventually led to better grades. Overall, it is evident that sleeping in an extra thirty minutes would result in a positive outcome for students at my high school. Therefore, if I was principal, I would immediately try to put that rule in place.

If I was principal, there would also not be as many things blocked on the computer. Most kids are able to find a way to get past the restrictions on computers anyway. Getting past the restrictions is more inviting when it is directly going against the school administration. It’s can be compared to when you tell kid not to press the button, and then all they want to do is press the button. Therefore, blocking many websites can be considered useless because it just makes students want to access those websites more.  Additionally, there are no current classrooms that give enough freedom to actually sit down and watch an episode of One Tree Hill. If there was, the teacher would be more at blame for that than the student. However, I do realize that many adults are worried that students will begin to play games while the teacher is teaching, which is why they do not want to take away the restrictions. However, any student can access any game at any period of time by clicking the right buttons and finding the right websites. Therefore, if I was principal, I would refrain from blocking so many websites, and I would have the students be responsible for their actions. Many teachers also like to stress the idea of ‘making students responsible for their actions’. I feel that it is unfair to only give students the ‘responsibility’ when it is convenient to the faculty. For example, if they put a assignment up on schoology, but don’t tell the class about it vocally. The faculty would have to choose an approach to their students, and follow through with it, even when it comes at a possible disadvantage to the teacher. If I were principal, I would not block as many websites because it sends mixed signals to the students.

Last, but not least, If I was principal, I would make the school an appropriate temperature in all classrooms. A study done at Loyola University showed how students that took tests in a room temperature classroom got higher scores than those who took it in extreme temperatures. In the heat, it is very hard for students to focus because they begin to get tired. Additionally, they start to ask to go to the bathroom more, and start worrying about sweating, which is not beneficial to their learning. Similarly, in the cold, students get distracted when they are shivering. They begin to think of other things in attempt to get their mind off the cold. It is not beneficial to both students and faculty if the classrooms are at inappropriate temperatures, which is why if I was principal, I would change that very quickly.

In conclusion, If I was principal, I would make many changes to the school. I would pay more attention to both the ‘little’ things like temperature of classrooms,  and the more demanding topics, like the student’s sleep. Most importantly though, I would make a point to become someone that each student feels that they could trust, even if they barely knew me.  I do applaud the current and past principals who are able to control the hundreds of kids that only write about their needs and wants in essays all day.

**Disclaimer: This has no correlation to any past or current principals