Challenges

What are the biggest challenges you've faced as a school administrator? How did you deal with them?

Angry parents are in my office now what?- REMAIN CALM, and BE NICE

. media type="youtube" key="ojPVOhHhwnk" height="295" width="480"

It's not easy, but it's extremely important. Remain calm, repeat yourself, be nice. Remember Patrick Swayze in RoadHouse? Yes, Roadhouse. Face it: you are going to get yelled at. Parents will blame you for their child's misbehavior, will hold you responsible for what others have or have not done. They will get emotional and in your face. Bite your tongue. Remain calm and reasonable. If they continue to be loud or become verbally abusive, let them know, calmly, that the discussion is over and they may contact you again when they have calmed down. If your district has adopted a "civility policy," provide the parent with a copy. Call the principal, or the police if you need to (it should rarely come to this point). After you've ended the conversation, be sure to contact your principal and appropriate person at the district office level (director or assistant superintendent), because the parent will invariably go there next to complain about you and how you have been unreasonable towards their child and rude to them. Don't take this personally, but cover your bases by letting those up the chain of command know about the issue, because they won't like surprises.