Most Important Skills for a Charter School Principal at Middle School
Alma, a charter school principal, emphasizes the blend of "hard skills" like budgeting and forecasting—essential for managing a school "almost as a business"—and "soft skills" such as people management, describing the transition from being "the queen of [one's] classroom" to a collaborative administrator requiring diplomacy and negotiation to effectively lead a diverse school staff.
Budget Management, Personnel Management, Classroom Management, Conflict Resolution, Communication Skills
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Alma Zepeda
Charter School Principal and Administrator
Middle School
Yale College 2012
Johns Hopkins School of Education, MS in Elementary Education, 2015
Political Science, American Studies
Education
Operations and Project Management
International Student, Took Out Loans
Video Highlights
1. Strong teaching skills are crucial for building credibility with staff and students.
2. Proficiency in budgeting, financial forecasting, and resource management are essential for running a school effectively.
3. Excellent people management and diplomatic skills are necessary for navigating relationships with diverse school personnel and ensuring smooth school operations
Transcript
What skills are most important for a job like yours?
I think there's a mix of hard and soft skills required for any administration role. In terms of hard skills, I didn't anticipate needing them as much as I do. I thought you would become a teacher, get really good at teaching and curriculum, and then be promoted.
Depending on the school, you might need a degree and a credential to be an administrator. Charter schools don't always require that. However, I found that yes, you need to be a really good teacher to build credibility with your staff.
If you weren't good at the role you're asking them to do, how would they look to you for guidance? So, there's a bit of credibility involved. But there are also hard skills needed beyond teaching. You almost have to run it like a business.
That's not a popular way to view education, but ultimately, there's a budget. You have to know how to handle those numbers and forecast forward so that the kids have money for books and field trips throughout the school year.
So, you do need to have some hard skills in money management and how to project that going forward. If you don't have that specific training, you almost have to do an apprenticeship model where you learn under someone. That's actually what I did, and it was very fruitful and great for me.
Time management is also a basic hard skill. Being a teacher and having classroom management is so key. Principals are sometimes the person teachers send kids to see, or an administrator. You want kids to like you and have trust with you.
But ultimately, they need to know you're an authority figure here to help them, but you will hold them accountable to the school's rules. It's a mix of "good cop, bad cop," for lack of a better term.
Then there are the soft skills of people management. I had to learn how to manage teachers and school personnel, and that was the hardest for me to develop. I was used to being a lone ranger in my classroom, the queen of my domain, and I made things happen.
But as an administrator, you need to understand that the school has so many different people and characters. You have to be a diplomat and negotiate through all those pieces, otherwise, you won't get anything done.
All the pieces need to work in tandem so you can achieve your goal, which is a good education for kids.
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