June 2022 I received the exciting news that I was being offered an Assistant Principal position in the top preforming public school district in the state. It was a significant raise from my current role and would offer me several learning and growth opportunities. I was beyond ready and excited for this position! When I went to my first leadership meeting at my new school I was told what my roles and responsibilities would be;

• Special Education Administrator
• 9th Grade 504 Coordinator
• 9th Grade Parent Contact
• 9th Grade Discipline Support and FINS (Court Representative)
• Behavior Intervention Documentation
• Teacher Evaluations- Math, World Language, and SPED
• Testing- ACT Aspire

I felt confident with my ability to do all of those tasks except Special Education. My undergraduate degree was in early childhood education with an emphasis in special education, so I was significantly lacking expertise in that area but was up for the challenge. Throughout the year I had many highs and many lows when it came to special education; I wanted to share my top 5 takeaways to hopefully help a new administrator stepping into a similar role.

1. Slow Down– when it comes to making a decision that impacts anyone involved in special education, pause. I am a go getter and like to get things done so this took me some getting used to. There is no rush in making a decision whether it is determining the best consequence when a school rule is violated, determining how to provide services, or staffing issues at the building.
2. Ask Questions– in addition to slowing down, you have to feel comfortable asking questions. Special education case law, rules, regulations, and compliance are vast and in a lot of cases left open to interpretation. This is why it is important to identify in your district who can answer quick questions and who you need to go to for the more complicated questions. And sometimes it takes more than just one person, you may need to get a group of experts around a table to work out a unique situation. That is okay and should be encouraged. All students deserve our time and effort to put the best plan forward.
3. The IEP Team is Essential to Student Success– I wish I had realized how important my role as a part of an IEP team was when I was a general education teacher. Every person who has contact with and works with a student is essential to their success. Feedback on how to best meet the students needs will help this student meet their long term goals. Encourage all team members to be active participants in the success of each student. As an administrator, people often times would look at me during meetings to give input on how the student is doing overall. The worst feeling is looking at that parent and not having anything to contribute. Get to know your students and what makes them special to your school community.
4. What Happens in an IEP Meeting, Doesn’t Stay in the IEP Meeting– sometimes meetings can go sideways. A parent wants one thing and the teacher wants something else and then everyone looks to the administrator to make a decision. First off, decisions are made as a team, not one person can dictate what will or won’t happen for a student. Second, never say anything in a meeting that you are not 100% committed to. As soon as something is said in a meeting, then you better be able to make it happen and you should have data to support that decision. With that having been said, if a student needs a specific accommodation, modification, or service to be successful, then you have to provide it. Have conversations to determine the best way to provide that service and come up with a plan to implement it. Again, you have people in the district who are ready and willing to help you.
5. Be Honest– sometimes we mess up, that is a part of life. In education we will mess up. We will forget to update a Notice of Action, accidently skip a page when uploading a page into the filing system, miss an accommodation for a student during testing… it happens. When this happens then you need to own it. Do not try to hide it and pretend it did not happen. Go to your supervisor and ask for how to make it better. We can always work through an honest mistake, but what we cannot do is explain why it was not addressed when it was initially discovered.

Can working in special education be intimidating, absolutely! But what I have learned over the past 2 years is I have a ton of people in my corner to help me learn and grow. I have people to ask questions to and support me when determining what is best for all students. Find your people as soon as you step into this role.