First Principalship

I tried to become a principal in the Leominster Public School system for about three years and I was hitting a roadblock. I decided to pursue a principalship in another district. I applied in Baldwinville which is part of the Narragansett Regional School system. Baldwinville Elementary School was a kindergarten to six grade school with generally two classes at each grade level. The previous principal had been let go because of the climate and culture of the school was failing. I was chosen as the next principal. I negotiated my pay in Superentendent Bill Turner's car. I ended up getting the same pay $53,000 as I had received as an Asst. Principal in Leominster but I felt good about receiving my first principalship. I still was under contract for Leominster Public Schools and I could not start in my new position until September 28th. The first day of school I was allowed to go to Baldwinville to meet my new staff and to talk to them for about 30 minutes. My talk was about my three basic rules of behavior for everyone in the school. I believe in "doing your best", "you need to smile", and "to need to be willing to take a risk". After talking to my new staff I had to get back to Fallbrook School in Leominster. Around 9 pm that night I received a telephone call from a John Waters. John was a P.E. teacher at Baldwinville. He expressed how excited the teachers were and how they were looking forward to my leadership. He said that the teachers' heard what I said to them and they wanted to do something special the week I was to start at Baldwinville. John stated that the staff thought that the entire school should climb Mount Monadnock which was located a few miles from the school in Jaffery, NH. As I listened I thought of my statement to the staff about willing to take a risk. However, my mind was also thinking about 320 students ages 5 to 12 climbing this small mountain. John voice indicated a great deal of excitement about the idea. I told John that I would support the idea if he could convince me that all students would be safe at all times. I also stated that I wasn't interested in racing up the mountain but would like to see students observing the different levels in the climb by doing activities. It was also important to point out that not everyone had to reach the top. I would be checking in with John to see if everything was going as planned. Finally, I arrived at Baldwinville and the trip was planned for Thursday, three days after my start. Bill Turner and 80 other adults were scheduled to climb the mountain with our students. We had 11 adults who were EMTs in the town. I climbed the mountain with Bill Turner and the Assistant Superintendent. The day was a huge success and it was a key component in changing the climate in the building. The staff felt good about arranging a successful trip up a mountain with 320 kids. Pete Gallant, a third grade teacher, took multiple pictures and I had them enlarged and framed and hung them in the hallways as a reminder of this great day on the mountain. There was a picture of Bill, Susan and myself at the top of the mountain which I had framed and I gave a copy to Susan and Bill. About six years later Bill Turner passed away. I was back working in Leominster and I was not aware that Bill had died. The person telling me about Bill said that he saw me at the wake. I told him that I was not there and I did not know that Bill had died. He then told me that there was a framed picture of Bill and me on the top of a mountain on top of the casket. I just smiled!