It's the Principal of the Thing: You can't make this stuff up!

“It’s the principal of the thing.”

For 21 years, I sat in the driver’s seat of a high school. It was quite a ride and a most rewarding career, although there were occasional “bumps” in the road. As I’ll say throughout this book, I had the “power” to positively change the lives of hundreds of students. What other profession provides that possibility? I loved my job– on most days! Yes, there were those which I would like to forget; fortunately, though, they were very few and very far between. And, they did give me much material for this memoir.

Through the years, there were so many stories to share. I would be at cocktail and dinner parties where I told these tales. Guests would demand, “More! More!” Then one invariably asked, “Why don’t you write them down?” So, I decided to do just that. Hence, this account spans more than five decades, not only as a principal, but also several as an assistant principal, and classroom teacher.

You can’t make this stuff up! Truth is stranger than fiction. There were so many unforgettable moments, running the gamut from the happy to the sad... from the inspiring to the bizarre. I’ve assembled all of them here, divided into chapters. I start off with the “whos” and then move on to the “whats.” Several were passed along to me by fellow educators. However, all the names and places have been thickly and heavily disguised to protect the identities of the innocent (and not so innocent).

But I can also be serious— and I am in the final few sections. Specifically, I comment about six current controversies in education and then conclude with where I was and what I faced on September 11th, 2001.

Pour yourself a cup of coffee, pull up a comfortable chair, put your feet up, sit back, relax— and join me on my journey.