Have you ever wondered what happens when a teacher steps into the administrator's office for the first time? Josh Rowan, Assistant Principal and Activities Director at Schuyler Middle School, pulls back the curtain on his journey from broadcaster to classroom teacher to educational leader in this revealing conversation.
Josh's path wasn't the traditional straight line into education—he discovered his calling while covering school events for his hometown newspaper. This unique entry point gave him valuable perspective when building relationships with students and staff. "Relationships are key with everything," Josh explains, sharing how his presence at student activities transformed classroom dynamics and later became the foundation of his administrative approach.
The transition to leadership came with unexpected challenges. After twelve interviews and numerous rejections, Josh found his place at Schuyler, where he quickly discovered the vast difference between theoretical knowledge and practical application. From managing student behaviors to coordinating with stakeholders to celebrating a state soccer championship, his first year brought lessons no leadership academy could fully prepare him for. Perhaps most illuminating is his candid discussion of balancing administrative responsibilities with family life, including the birth of his son during the school year.
For aspiring or new administrators, Josh offers two powerful pieces of wisdom: "Don't be afraid to ask questions" and "Presence is everything." He emphasizes the importance of connecting with everyone in the building—from teachers to custodial staff to nurses—recognizing that each holds valuable knowledge about the school community. The authenticity in his advice reflects the genuine approach that helped him navigate that challenging first year.
Whether you're considering educational leadership or simply curious about what happens behind the administrator's door, this conversation offers valuable insights into the realities of school leadership. What leadership lessons might transform your approach to education? Listen now and join the conversation about creating positive impact in our schools.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Principal JL (00:00):
Let me ask you a question.
Have you ever wondered what itwould be like to be a first-year
administrator?
Well, you're in for a realtreat today, because our guest
is Mr Josh Rowan is going totalk to us about being that
first-year assistant principaland activities director.
Now, josh is a Lexington,nebraska, native, a University
(00:22):
of Nebraska Kearney graduate anda proud husband and father.
In today's show we're going toexplore his powerful,
non-traditional path intoeducation, his experiences in
the classroom and what it's likestepping into the assistant
principal role.
Whether you're new toleadership or just curious about
the transition, this one ispacked with insight.
(00:45):
Now let's get to ourconversation with Mr Josh Rowan.
Welcome back everybody toanother episode of the
Educational Leadership Podcast.
(01:08):
Today.
I am so excited I'm going tobring in my good friend Josh
Rowan to the show Now.
Josh just completed his firstyear as an assistant principal
at Schuyler Community Schools.
As the assistant principal ofSchuyler Middle School and
Activities director, josh,welcome to the show.
Josh Rowan (01:25):
Thanks for having me , Jeff.
Glad to be here.
Principal JL (01:28):
All right, josh, I'm going to start you off, like
I start everybody else off, onthis show.
What inspired you to become aneducator?
Josh Rowan (01:38):
You know mine was not a traditional.
You know this felt like I meanit.
It was.
It did feel like a calling.
It just wasn't heard untillater on in my life.
I went to college initially tobe a broadcaster and work in the
broadcasting field.
You know I really wanted to dothings like ESPN, abc, things
(01:59):
like that, but those are youhave to kind of have.
In my opinion, and in thingsthat I've noticed and things
that I've kind of worked with inthe broadcasting field there
are just certain elements yougot to have and I don't have
those.
So I decided to go a differentroute and for a while after
(02:20):
college I just kind of I wasjuggling things around and then
when I worked for my hometownnewspaper, I was just in the
school.
I was a lot of being in theschools and working at, you know
, working at football games orbasketball games or wrestling
meets or conference events andthings of that nature, and got
to talking to, you know, friendsof mine who are teachers or, um
(02:42):
, you know Kyle Hainer fromLexington who was the principal
in the AD there for a long time.
Um, he, you know, he kind ofgot me.
He's the one who kind of putthe bug in my ear of you know
what, josh, I think you can use.
I think education would be areally good fit for you and you
know, and just being around thekids and being around the
atmosphere of those being atthose activities and stuff just
(03:05):
really is what started it for me.
Um, and so then in 2015, 2016,I moved from carney over to
lincoln and that's when Istarted getting my english
endorsement and finished that upand then I got started at omaha
burke high school and it wasjust off and running from there.
Principal JL (03:24):
All right, so let's talk about those early
years in the classroom as ateacher.
What are some takeaways or somethings you learned as a teacher
in that role that helps youtoday?
Josh Rowan (03:38):
You know you really have to.
As an educator and as aadministrator, I think the
number one common denominatorwith them are relationships.
You know the relationships arekey with everything.
It's just at a different levelWith your as a teacher.
You're working night and dayworking on building those
relationships and knowing whoyour kids are, you know.
(04:02):
And being a coach or being amentor, like a teammate's mentor
, things like that those greatlyhelp because the kids see it.
Um, and you know, as someone whojust basically came in from the
workforce to a teachingposition, that was something
that was hard for me tocomprehend at first.
(04:22):
You know, it's like you'recoming in straight from the
workforce learning how the worldof education really works, and
it's, you know, the kids theynotice everything.
They notice absolutelyeverything that you do.
And so for me, I wanted to tryand get it evolved as much as I
could.
So I first started.
(04:42):
You know I wanted to be afootball coach.
That was a huge dream of mine.
So I signed up to be a footballcoach, for I mean, I wasn't
able to fulfill it as much as Iwanted it to be.
I had a baby at the time, so itwas a, for me, felt like a huge
undertaking because I just didnot have the tools like a
teacher toolbox as they alwaystalk about.
(05:04):
I was getting started, so Ireally didn't feel like I had
much of that in there, so I hadto dial back a little bit what I
was doing and focus more on mycraft as a teacher, um, and I
think that greatly helped, um.
And there are way more otherthings that you can do that
shows the kids how, howimportant they are to you.
Whether you don't have to be acoach, but go to those games.
(05:25):
You don't have to be theteacher.
You don't have to be the artteacher, but go to their art
shows or go to their music shows.
When you're present and you'revisible and those kids see that
you go for them.
That's when it makes the biggestdifference for your
relationships with the kids inthe classroom and I think that's
the biggest thing too, as anadministrator is and as an
(05:46):
activities director, I'm thereall the time.
You know, when it comes to homeevents, I'm there, um, and the
kids see that a lot, and youknow, and again, when the minute
when the administrators aretalking about it the next day
hey, great run.
Last night, hey, I heard youplay swatch cross country event.
Um, hey, you guys sing reallywell.
(06:10):
You guys played really well atyour recital the other night.
Me and the principal were boththere.
It was you guys sounded great.
The kids feed off that and thenit's just, it's immediate with
them.
And so then the next you startnoticing, days after days.
You know the kids are like I'mMr Owen, I'm Mr Owen in the
hallways and that's a goodfeeling, is when they can, is
when they acknowledge.
It's not necessarily anacknowledgement about oh,
there's the principal, it's agenuine hi, how are you?
(06:33):
Because they know that you'reinvested in them.
Principal JL (06:36):
Yeah, I think some things you kind of pointed out
there is as a teacher, you gotinvolved with going to
activities and seeing the kidsand different things, and I
think that's really important inthat teacher role to do that,
because you have those kids inyour classroom and you can say,
hey, you know, you did a greatjob at.
You know your basketball game,your volleyball match, your, you
(06:58):
know your run.
I got to watch that.
That was really cool.
I think when you start that asa teacher, it just naturally
comes to you in theprincipalship, because you've
already done that, because we'veall seen the teachers that are
eight to four.
They're there from eight tofour.
They don't do nothing extra,they don't go that extra mile.
But they're also the ones thatstruggle the most in the
(07:20):
classroom because they're notbuilding relationships as much
and you don't have to like be atevery event all the time.
It's.
Go to a few here, pick a fewout, go to one event this week,
go to a different event the nextweek, hit every event as much
as you can.
I know for me as a principal,being a building principal at
(07:40):
the building I'm at, I can't beat everything, but I pick and
choose.
Okay, I'll go to this one.
This time I'll go.
So I try to see everybody insomething and I think that's
really impactful and I thinkthat's something that people
don't really understand.
On, building relationships withtheir kids is not just building
it in the classroom, but you gotto build it outside of that
classroom setting as well, andeven you're going to see them
(08:03):
out in the public too, and beingable to say hi and have those
genuine conversations areimportant.
So I think that was reallyreally nice how you kind of
talked about how all that goestogether from teaching and to
being the principalship.
Let's talk about going intothat principalship.
(08:23):
Right, you've been teaching fora little bit.
You've taught not just inNebraska, but you taught also in
Iowa, over in the CouncilBluffs area.
So with that, what inspired youto become an administrator?
To say you know what I love,what I'm doing as a teacher, but
I feel like you know this is mynext step.
(08:44):
What inspired that moment?
Josh Rowan (08:46):
Being an activities director was something that was
already there and planted beforeI even.
You know, once I even gotstarted in the career field, you
know, I, even when I started myeducational career, I told my
wife.
I said I, when I start, I'm notstopping, I'm going from, I'll
be a teacher and I want to teachand I want to be able to learn
(09:08):
the ins and outs of being ateacher and things.
But I also want to be anadministrator.
I also want to be a.
I want to be an athleticdirector, like maybe more of a
full-time athletic director.
I'm because I'm just a.
You know, I'm very passionateabout collegiate sports, but
also high school sports, becauseit's just, it's a different
environment than theprofessional world.
(09:30):
It is so much more devotion,it's so much more heart, passion
in my eyes, where, you know,and fans are so much more
dedicated to their hometowns andto their and you know, and to
the communities.
You know.
Skylar is one big, huge exampleof what we've accomplished this
year.
Um, you know, winning a statechampionship in soccer brought
(09:53):
our community closer togetherthan I have ever seen.
Sorry, jeff.
Principal JL (09:59):
Not to mo.
Not to mention, you guys beatus in the semifinals at the
state tournament, which good foryou guys, cause you guys are
hitting shots that I was like,yeah, that's undefendable, yeah,
you can't defend that shot.
And when you guys are makingthese shots, from where you were
making them and how they werejust bending it like Beckham
(10:19):
into that goal, I was like God,this is Skyler's year.
Josh Rowan (10:26):
We had a good team, but you guys were on a different
level.
Yeah, phenomenal group, those,the final four.
I mean it could have beenanybody's, it could have been
anybody's tournament, but it uh,you know, and when you have a
kid who makes the sports centertop 10, you know, that just says
the level of dedication thatthose kids put into their season
and so it really just lit afire into this community.
(10:48):
And so that's what's sopassionate about for me, about
being an activities director andstuff, and it's being able to
see those things, being able towatch those kids.
I was here with my son because,you know, my son was only maybe
a week old at the time, so Iwas.
I didn't get to visually see itin person, but I watched it at
home when my wife actually hadto take the baby from me because
(11:09):
I was getting way too into thegame.
Um, but watching the kids runout onto the field and celebrate
with, you know, with theplayers, which you're not really
supposed to do, but in themoment, you know, I don't, you
know, in the moment there wasn'tanything.
Obviously, no one was,obviously no one was in any
danger.
It was just a great thing tosee for the community and that
(11:34):
just makes being an AD so muchfun and that's what I love about
it.
And so you know I've had in mymiddle school kids.
We broke two track records thisyear and those records were over
40 years old and so you know,the kids made the paper, the
kids were making social mediaand kid people were reaching out
and it was just a big deal.
The kids just ate it up andthey were so excited and, um, we
(11:57):
made a huge deal about it andgot their trope, you know, got
their batons and stuff and putin the trophy case for them.
And it's those little thingsthat those kids see on how you
want to make them feel specialand that's when they see that
their faces light up and theyget to see their names on the
record board and they get to seetheir names and their pictures
and trophy case.
That is just that's what makesit all worth it.
Principal JL (12:20):
Yeah, so when you went from teacher to become the
assistant principal at Schuyler,was it easy?
Was it an easy transition foryou?
Was it something that you knowyou had to get the job?
What was that like?
How many times did you put yourname out there?
Kind of what's that processlike going from teacher into
(12:40):
assistant principalship?
Josh Rowan (12:42):
Yeah so starting when you finally decide that
it's time to start making thetransition.
You know, you just start askingquestions and you just start
asking people what are some?
What are some questions Ishould be prepared for, what
just kind of get into your headmore of thinking like an
administrator and thinking moreof like hey, what are some
(13:03):
questions I actually need to beready for?
Because obviously the questionsas a teacher and the questions
as an administrator are vastlydifferent, because you're going
to be relying more on questionsabout behaviors and you're going
to be questioning more aboutconflicts between teachers,
conflicts between students.
You're going to be talkingabout analyzing data and you
(13:24):
know how much do you analyze, um, how much?
How much should you beanalyzing?
Was the and things like that?
And it's fat, it's so muchdifferent.
And so I really started workinghard on, you know, building a
solid resume and putting thingstogether for my teaching.
And you know, obviously workingin a you know, working council
(13:44):
bluffs was a huge step, becauseI also were.
It was a part of theirleadership Academy, so that was
something, um, and that was thefirst or second only, I think
only the second class they everhad there, and I was one of only
four people that got selectedout of the district to be part
of it.
So that was a huge um.
I felt like that was a huge winfor me.
(14:05):
I was, I was very proud of that.
It's a lot, it's a lot of workand you know and you and I
talked about it a lot when Isearched for that first job
because, um, the first one isalways the hardest.
It is always the hardest to getthe.
The one thing that I can tellpeople now that are getting into
the field and possibly aregetting frustrated because
(14:28):
they've maybe reached theirsixth or seventh interview and
still haven't gotten anythingand don't understand where
they're going wrong it's justnot the right time and it's just
not the right fit.
That's the number one thing Ican say.
It's not because they don'twant you, it's because you have
to check off the boxes.
You have to check off what theywant to see in somebody for
(14:49):
their district.
And so when I finally got thisposition at Schuyler, that those
are the things they wanted tosee in me, that's, those are the
things they saw in me when theychecked off is I'm, you know,
I'm a go-getter, I'm somebodywho really is about culture, is
about establishing a goodculture in a building where you
(15:11):
know, obviously we want learningas the the most important thing
happening, but we also wantkids to be respectful.
We also want kids to beaccountable for things.
We want kids to be able totreat each other with respect.
It's kind of there's also avery diverse community and so we
all have to learn to we allkids to be able to treat each
other with respect because, kindof, there's also a very diverse
community and so we all have tolearn to.
We all have to learn to worktogether and you know, I'll have
to learn to lit to uh, be inclass together and being as
(15:35):
sports together and, you know,be in activities, and we have to
learn to adjust to that andthat's um.
For me that was never adifficult thing, coming from
lexington and then coming fromomaha and council bluffs all
very diverse districts, so itwas never an issue for me.
Um, but yeah, I went through 12different interviews through a
(15:57):
span of february, throughprobably february, through
probably end of april, before Iactually finally got my, before
I actually got the phone call,um, and you know the number one
thing that most uhadministrators told me,
especially last year at admindays, when they when they saw me
(16:17):
that I was an administrator,obviously the congratulatory and
things like that.
But they, you are a greatcandidate, you are a great
interviewer.
It's just that we had somebodywho had this instead of this.
And so I mean it will befrustrating, and it was
certainly frustrating towardsthe end of the end of the road,
(16:38):
but it is so worth it when youfinally get that phone call from
somebody that says hey, call.
Or, in my case, terry justtexted me that says hey, call me
.
Or, in my case, terry justtexted me and say hey, give me a
call back and I was like, oh,this is right, this is actually
happening.
So it was an exciting time.
So, um, but yeah, it'sdefinitely a process, but you
have to be mentally prepared forthat transition because you
(17:01):
have to take yourself after thatout of that teaching mindset
and think and put yourself intothat principalship role and
start thinking of questions, ofwhat you would be answering as a
, as an administrator I thinkthe biggest advice or trick I
could give people is take theexperiences you have as a
teacher and know how you canrelate that experience into that
(17:23):
principalship.
Principal JL (17:25):
How does this translate into this?
How does this skill translateinto student discipline, making
decisions, evaluating teachers,different things like that?
As you go through thosequestions, because if you could
take your experiences and showthem, hey, I can do this job.
Here's experiences that aresimilar and how you can have
(17:46):
them.
See you and that seed is reallyspot on.
And yes, it takes time.
Like you, I probably went onseven, eight, nine interviews
before I got my first principaljob.
But at the same time you learnsomething through every
experience that made you betterfor the next time.
So if you are trying to breakinto being a principal, don't
(18:09):
get discouraged.
It will happen.
Sometimes, like you said, it'snot the right time or it's not
the right fit and you want tomake sure you're in the right
fit when you get that job,because the worst thing that
could happen is be hired andyou're not a right fit for that
district.
That is not a lot of fun forpeople that I know.
I've always been hired decentlyso I fit the districts I've
(18:34):
been hired in, but that's why alot of times you get passed up
on is because they don't see youfit in their district quite the
way you may think you fit, butwhen you do get that job, it all
works out really well.
So, josh, let's talk about thispast year.
You're a first year assistantprincipal.
(18:55):
Let's talk about some highs,some lows.
Were you ready?
You know what are some thingsthat you know you weren't
expecting in the role, but whatare some things that, yeah, you
went through the leadershipacademy and those are great and
everything.
But how did that help youprepare for the job?
And just kind of give us awhole summary of your past year
(19:19):
as an assistant principal?
You can start at the beginningof the year and kind of bring us
to full circle at the end.
Josh Rowan (19:26):
So um, I will tell, I will glad I will honestly tell
any new principal that what youlearn in college, what you
learn in any type of leadershipacademy, any type of you know
conferences, whatever you go toto want to be, before you even
(19:46):
become a principal and you startlearning about those, those
don't even pale in comparison tothe real thing.
I'll just say that now becauseit just it again.
It's a whole different ballgame.
It's like any job that you get.
They train you and you learnabout different things.
But when you're actually in themoment and you get to see
things in real life, that's whenyou start figuring out who you
(20:07):
are as an administrator.
So, like even just for a weekbefore the school year started,
you know, I moved here to Skylarmiddle of July last year
because our house sold andclosed late.
So we got here in the middle ofJuly.
So by the time I got here I wasalready hitting the ground
running.
I didn't even have time tounpack my house.
I had time to unpack my closet,have my wardrobe ready to go
(20:30):
and I was there in the buildingthe first week.
Like second week I was here andthen that very next week we
were off to admin days inKearney.
I mean it was very fast so Ididn't feel like for me.
I didn't have a lot of time toadjust.
But that's on me.
You know, obviously we got.
I mean, that's just how thelife works when your house sells
(20:52):
quickly and you have to getthere and then you're automatic,
you're already in your office.
Um, but that first year isreally a lot is it's a huge
learning curve because you haveto get everything established
your first year.
And so planning, building,establishing how you want to
communicate with people you knowyour programs talking with your
(21:14):
coaches about what you expectfrom them and how you want them
to handle things within theirprograms.
Um, you know, and I took over,uh, our youth program here in
town.
That's a building process.
That's a good three to fiveyear building process because
we're getting new thingsestablished.
We're getting community membersestablished within our programs
(21:35):
.
We're establishing our you knowour varsity programs where
we're getting our players andstuff involved with the kids.
I mean we're just we're reallytrying to establish a really big
community connection with ouryouth program.
Um, and we already have somebig community members and
programs with our wrestlingprograms and our soccer programs
.
But now we're bringing in.
(21:57):
Now we're bringing in folks whohave done things like football
and softball and basketball andwe're getting those implemented
as well, because, you know, ourskylar girls had a had one of
their better years in 2025 years, and so they're they're wanting
to build on that and and so weare trying our best to tap into
(22:17):
any of those resources that weknow that would work.
Um, it really is just a lotabout establishing and just
preparing for that learningcurve, because you think, when
you first get started and youreally think you're
communicating, sometimes youfeel like you're not.
You feel like you're overcommunicating, you're not
communicating enough.
(22:37):
So you really feel like, oh, Ifelt like I sent this out or I
felt like I communicated this,but really you have to sit down
and you have to strategize aboutwho you really want to know
this information Instead of justsending out one email.
You have to sit back and say,ok, who all really needs to hear
this?
Does it need to be our parents?
Does it need to be ourstakeholders?
(22:58):
Does it need to be our businesspartners, maybe?
Who are sponsoring our boardsand stuff at the school?
Is this a senior night, so dowe just need to contact senior
parents.
How does senior, how doessenior night work for that
Eighth grade graduation at theend of our year?
Who do we need to communicatewith that?
Do we need to have?
Do we need to contact parents?
(23:18):
We need to contact, you know,food service and we need to have
something set up for foodservice at the end of the
graduation, things like that.
It is a lot of communication, um, and if you don't feel like you
communicated enough,communicate more.
I mean, send out emails, makephone calls, social media social
media is a huge aspect of, andit's becoming a huge aspect in
(23:41):
any type of school activities.
Um, because they you know,parents like to see updates.
If they can't make games, sothey want to see updates on
games they want to see.
Has anything been canceled dueto the weather or due to, um,
hot weather, you know, sincewe're dealing with 100 degree
temperatures right now?
Um, you know they want to knoweverything and so you have to be
(24:01):
, you have to be strategized howyou want to want that to look.
Um, you know the the toughestpart for me this year was
getting into the classrooms.
Um, because I would say,throughout your day as an
administrator, I would say,anywhere from 80 to 90% of the
things that you're handling on adaily basis is behaviors, um,
(24:23):
and so, being able to implementa strategy through your, you
know, through MTSS or PBIS orwhatever type of behavioral
strategy or model that you'reusing in your districts, it's
very important to be able toschedule those committees on a
weekly basis or a bi-weeklybasis and be able to work with
(24:43):
those teachers on those specificstudents, how, what
interventions are we using andthings like that.
And it really, and it's toughsometimes with being able to put
those, put that kind of thingsin the classrooms, because
sometimes behavior sometimes area little bit more minimal than
they are.
Office managed behaviors.
You know, those office managerbehaviors are like.
(25:03):
You know, we have kids that are, you know about to, you know,
have a confrontation in theclassroom.
Yeah, those are the momentswhere definitely need to have an
administrator there.
So that first year as anadministrator is trying to be
able to decide what can behandled in the moment at that
time, or what needs to be putoff until maybe at a later point
(25:24):
throughout the day or maybe onanother day, because it's very
easy to get caught up in thosesimple things like behaviors or
emails or things like that, andthen you're getting caught in
your office and then you're not,and then you're in your office
for two hours, three hours, andyou don't even know, and then
you've missed two or threepassing periods in a kid and you
haven't seen anything happen.
So learning that first year wasdefinitely, in my opinion, all
(25:51):
administrators are going to doit.
They're all going to go throughthat first year learning curve.
You know there were a lot ofkids about their stories and
getting to meet staff membersand getting to talk to them
about you know the, about youknow differences between you
(26:11):
know Skylar and Lexington, whichreally isn't a lot, but, um,
you get to tell them about youknow where you're from and how
you got there and being able tohear stories about and sometimes
you feel think you hear thingsfrom teachers that you know, you
may not, you may not know, andit connects maybe somewhere in
those six degrees of separationto your hometown or something.
So it gives you an opportunityto learn more about your, your
(26:33):
team and and things like that.
So that was a really good highpoint for me was being able to
share some really big highs inmy life too, like you know the
birth of my son and being ableto share that with my.
You know my teaching and uh andmy with my teacher.
Sorry, we definitely had some.
You know we had some lows, wedefinitely had some.
(26:55):
You know some instances thathappened at our buildings where
we've had to, where we had tohave, uh, police presence
involved, and you know thingslike that, and those are scary
things, especially as a firstyear.
That and those are scary things, especially as a first-year
administrator, and those are.
Those are also big, importantthings that people need will
look at you as an administrator.
How are you going to handle it?
How calm are you in the moment?
(27:17):
And so they watch for thosetypes of things and so, and
again, being able to communicatethose things clearly to your
other staff and to your otheradministrative team that are out
there, and and things like that.
So, um, yeah, the any, everyschool year, too, is going to
have those ebbs and flows.
They're going to have thosehigh points and low points every
(27:39):
year.
Um, as a first yearadministrator, though, that's
probably where you're going tosee the most is because you're
going to see those in thebuilding, but you're also going
to feel those highs and lows,mentally too, you know.
So, to answer your questionbefore, did I feel ready?
Absolutely not.
(28:00):
You know I, mentally you'renever prepared for something
like this.
But it takes time to adjust.
Um, and I'm still adjusting,I'm still working through a lot
of it and but it comes with time.
I mean it really comes withtime and learning the process of
how each district handles thosethings.
So how do you handle getting thecash boxes to your people
(28:23):
during home events?
How do you?
Where do you get where you'regoing to station yourself during
events to watch for supervision?
Um, do you, when do you go makerounds around the building or
make rounds around the courts orthings like that to make sure
kids aren't misbehaving in thebuilding during events?
You know those are, those aretough things to do because we're
only a two administrator teamat our middle school.
(28:46):
So it's, um, you know myprincipal is there as well and
she's doing the same thing.
So it's just, it takes a lot ofworking together and making
sure we have that well oiledmachine going at all times
during those events.
Yeah, it's not, you're neverready for it, but it just, it
just takes time to adjust.
Principal JL (29:04):
Yeah, you're never ready for it, but it just takes
time to adjust.
So you kind of hit on a lot ofthings there I think are really
important to kind of bring out.
I think how do you communicatewith everybody, not just your
staff, but your students, yourcommunity members?
I think that's a big thing, isunderstanding how to do that,
what to communicate, and theclarity of that communication is
also really important.
(29:25):
Is there anything that you didlike oh wait, that got?
You had an aha moment Like thisis something that if I do it
this way, it'll make my, my jobeasier.
Is you have any of thosemoments throughout the year?
Oh yeah, if you did, what arethey?
Josh Rowan (29:44):
Just a lot of.
You have a lot of aha moments,you know you, you really learn.
Probably the biggest aha momentis you really learn to lean on
your administrative assistantsin the building, because they
are a very crucial piece to howthe office runs in that building
.
So they see everything, you,you know they see everything.
(30:04):
They've talked with so manyadministrators Our two, we have
our.
They're amazing ladies.
They work super hard every day.
Um one that we have there who iswe kind of consider her the
principal secretary.
She's been there for 17 years,so she's been there through a
number of differentadministrators and how each one
(30:26):
has been different.
But she also has a wealth ofknowledge of how they've been
doing things in the building tokind of help us understand how
we want to, how we want to moldour culture here.
So I think for any newadministrator it's very
important really to talk to youradministrative assistance,
getting to know them and gettingto understand, getting them to
(30:47):
know like, or getting them totalk to you about like, what
they've seen, what they'veexperienced and kind of what
they've seen that has worked,cause I'm sure there were things
that she had seen in the last17 years.
I probably didn't work so well,but it's all about what's best
for kids and so being able toagain reach out to those people
(31:09):
and reach out to those resourcesCause again people are going to
come to you for answers andsometimes you're not going to
have those answers, so you haveto have, you have to have those
resources you can go to andthose people that you can talk
to um about the district, aboutthe community, about your sports
teams, about your activitiesand what they've done in the
(31:30):
past, so that way you can startto learn more about that.
Principal JL (31:33):
Yeah, I think that's really a smart thing to
do, especially as a first yearprincipal, is to lean in on your
administrative assistancebecause, like you said, they've
been in the building.
They kind of seen a lot,especially if you've had one
that's been there for a while.
They've been through a fewother administrators.
They can help you understand.
(31:54):
This is where you're at and, tobe honest, they are the
backbone of your school becausethey are the ones that keep
things running so you can doyour job, and if you don't have
a good administrative assistance, it makes your job a lot harder
, a lot more difficult when youdon't have someone that's in
that role that does a nice job.
So, josh, let's talk aboutwork-life balance in your first
(32:18):
year.
You know, I know, you knowyou're married, you have Ivy, as
well as your newborn Graham,balancing your work and your you
know, just having the baby andfamily and all that in that
first year.
What was that like?
How did you do that and do youhave any tips for people to help
(32:41):
them out with that?
Josh Rowan (32:43):
you know, I commend my wife so much because there is
so much dedication on her part,as you know, as an
administrative wife, becausethere is a lot of sacrifice that
I have to make, being away fromhere because I can't be here.
For a lot of times I'm notgoing to be here for bedtimes or
I'm not going to be here fordinner times because of events
(33:06):
or if I have meetings or thingslike that.
So I am so grateful because sheholds down the fort and does
things um all the time.
And so, with you know, with oursix year old, we finally got
ourselves into a good rhythm,probably very early on um with
our six year old old, before wefound out we were pregnant with
(33:28):
our son.
But being that our house isonly like two and a half blocks
away from the middle school, itmakes it so much easier.
So we're able to, you know,have a system in place of
getting things ready to go andhaving things ready to go when
we get out the door.
And but with a baby, thiscoming, you know, know,
obviously, with our son, and youknow, this next coming year,
(33:49):
things are going to be a littlebit different, but I little did
I know that our babysitter isactually the same, literally the
same direction towards themiddle school, but it's only
like a block and a half so it'sall her in the middle school.
The our babysitter and ourmiddle school are on the same
street so he couldn't have, Imean, I couldn't have written
(34:11):
that any better.
So that makes it super easybecause it's convenient.
That kind of makes the hustleand bustle of being a parent of
two now, makes it a lot easier.
Still doesn't take away fromthe fact that, hey, we've got
two kids now, so now we stillman-to-man defense, if you want
to say that, but, um, whichstill makes it easier, but um,
(34:35):
so I have that adjustment periodwith ivy and she's she's doing
such a good job at that, and butit's, you know that first week,
that first month right now, ofsurvival mode, you're just,
you're with the baby night andday, and so my wife and I are
doing shifts right now while I'mstill finishing up my last week
on duty.
Um, you know, I'm up by 6, 37o'clock and I'm out the door by
(34:57):
7, 30 and, and then I, you knowI, during the afternoons I come
home, I give her a chance totake, you know, to rest for a
little while so as I'm gettinghome from work so I can spend
some time with him.
But then I take the nightshifts so I'm I'm usually up
from, you know, four or fiveo'clock in the afternoon and
then I'm uh, I go to bed like 12, 31 o'clock so I give her a
(35:19):
chance to get some rest becauseshe does a lot during the day
because she's watching two kidsby herself.
So, but that'll change a lotnext week when I'm home for a
good amount of time, just us twoand we can.
We can kind of figure out howthat's going to look and we'll
get ourselves into a bettersystem.
But yeah, it's, it's crazy andyou know, as a, as an
administrator, you have to learnagain.
(35:41):
As a teacher, you know thereare those things that you do
like if you're a coach or ifyou're, if you're in committees
or if you're in things like that.
Yeah, there are going to bethose sacrifices.
But as an administrator it's adifferent ballgame, because now
you, you have the weight of theentire school, they're on your
shoulders of how it runs and theculture and how everything is.
(36:04):
How everything runs is based onhow you do it and how
everything runs is based on howyou do it.
So, yeah, there are going to benights where I'm there until
7.30, 8 o'clock at a volleyballmatch or at a basketball game,
or I may travel to Papillion ona Saturday for state cross
country for our middle schoolers, and so those are things that,
(36:24):
as an administrative wife,sometimes it's a very sharp
adjustment, because some youenjoy teaching in the same
building as your wife, but thenall of a sudden now, boom, my
husband's an administrator andnow he's there from 7 30 until
at least minimum of 4 30 in theafternoon.
So it's a lot different for so,but we're making it work and
(36:47):
it's it just.
It's all about, you know,having a good team at home too.
Principal JL (36:52):
You bet yeah, I mean a lot of people.
I mean, if you have a spouse athome and you're they, they are
your, your backbone, they're thepeople that keep the the home
going while you're doing yourjob and being able to do that
job.
And it's tough.
I mean, I love being anadministrator but at the same
time there's times where youknow there is that grind, and
(37:15):
when you get into the schoolyear.
That's why you know having ourtime off when we have it is nice
, because then we can rechargeand get ready for the next year.
Because right now we're sittingin that timeframe where you
know I got a lot of thingsalready done the next year.
Because right now we're sittingin that time frame where you
know I got a lot of thingsalready done for next year, but
I now I'm in my recharge mode,so when I come back in July I'll
be able to hit the groundrunning, get some things done,
(37:37):
and having a great spouse onbuyer side is key.
You know, within this position,let's you know kind of talk
about.
You know, within this position,let's you know kind of talk
about you know you're at the endof your first year of being
assistant principal activitiesdirector.
What advice would you givesomebody that's looking into
(38:00):
stepping into their first yearas a principal that you wish you
would have known previously,that something that you learned,
that you would say, hey, thisis something I learned.
I want to give this advice toyou so maybe they won't struggle
as much, or something they canlearn from you from your first
(38:22):
year?
What advice would you give tonew leaders that are going to
step into this role brand newstarted in in this fall well, I
think the two most importantthings that I would tell anybody
that's new.
Josh Rowan (38:36):
Uh, the first thing is don't be afraid to ask
questions, is don't be afraid togo to somebody.
Um, again, nine times out often you're not to get that
position.
In your hometown, you're notgoing to be it.
Or in the school building thatyou work in, you know.
So you're not going to befamiliar with a lot of people
(38:56):
that you, that you come across,um, you're going to be the new
man or you're going to be thenew woman there, and so it's a,
it's a new environment, it's anew, it's a whole new, it's a,
just, it's a.
It's a new environment, it's anew, it's a whole new.
It's a, it's a, it's, it's.
It's a culture shock to say,because you're going into a
place and you're going to knownobody, and so don't be afraid
(39:17):
to ask questions.
You know, get out there and talkto everybody, tried to, you
know, introduce myself to asmany people as I could.
You know, when I first got hereand I tried to send out like a
welcome email to everybody whenthey hired me, you know, then,
when I got everything set up, Isent an email out to our staff
(39:37):
and said hey, I'm super excitedto come to Skylar middle school,
I can't wait to sit down andtalk with you and things.
And I did get some you knowsome emails back from a couple
of teachers, but then I reallygot to know my teachers once I
got here.
But it's very important whenyou get there to know your staff
and to know your people, don'tbe that I mean I it's, it does.
(40:00):
And it's going to feeldifferent because if you're a
teacher for five years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, once you
step into that role, it's goingto feel a lot different from the
administrative side, becausepeople are going to talk to you
and address you so muchdifferently and you're not going
to be prepared for it becauseyou feel like, hey, we're all in
(40:22):
this together, we're all herefor the same mission.
Yes and no.
Because now you're anadministrator, now you're the,
now that you are the assistantprincipal, now you're the
principal.
People are now coming to youfor the answers.
People are coming to you to seethis ship run in its best, and
so it's going to be a different.
It's going to be a differentbeast, but being able to sit
(40:43):
down as a person, you know, andthat's what I tried to do when I
first got here was sitting downjust as a person and say, hey,
I just want to know who you are,tell me about, tell me a little
bit about yourself.
You know, are you?
You know even simple things.
Are you an avid Husker fan?
Do you like video games?
Hey, I heard you were a memberof the military.
Thank you for your service.
Those simple things.
(41:09):
When they figure those thingsout and when they because
teachers will they will pick upon that quicker than anything is
when they, they notice that younotice, um, and so talk to
teachers, talk to staff members,talk to your custodial staff,
talk to your kitchen staff,because when they see you, I
mean again, when I first startedand I walked into the cafeteria
for the first time, a lot ofthose, a lot of those kitchen
(41:30):
staff ladies came up to me andthey're like can I help you with
something?
Can I help you find something?
Did you knock them in the rightdoor and I'm like, oh, I'm the
assistant principal, and theireyes just like they didn't know
what to think.
And so, yeah, it's so it's veryimportant to be able to talk to
those staff members, even thecustodial staff, because their
jobs are just as important atkeeping the school running than
(41:52):
as a teacher or as an assistantprincipal.
And then the second thing Iwill tell people is presence,
presence.
Presence is everything you know.
When you think of presence, youthink of presence is like, oh,
being out in the hallways andwatching kids and talking to
kids in the hallways as they goto class.
It's much more than that, youknow.
(42:14):
Being on the hallways, yes,because you want to be out there
and helping, you know, patrolthe hallways and monitor and
keeping the flow and making surekids aren't being late.
But it's walking intoclassrooms and seeing and being
genuinely interested in whatthose teachers are doing.
Um, not just with observations,but just being able to walk in
(42:35):
and just say, hey, I'm juststopping out, we'll see what you
guys are doing today.
And the kids notice that, um, atevents again, being at events
and sometimes going to thosestatewide events.
You know, our kids qualifiedfor state cross country for a
middle school.
I was there, I wanted to bethere, I went up to him, I
(42:56):
congratulated him, I wish themluck and everything, and the
kids recognize that.
And then, uh, you know cause.
Then they approach you onMonday hey, I saw you at state
cross country.
Did you see how I finished?
And I said, yeah, I got theresults.
I saw that you did great.
You know the kids really pickup on that stuff.
So, being present, you know whenyou think, when you, if you
(43:17):
were sitting in your office andthere's something that's coming
up, where whether it's like arecital, or maybe this teacher
emailed you and say, hey, wehave this really cool lesson
going on this week.
We really like you to stop in,and you see that email again and
you're like, oh, that teacheremailed me.
I can you know if you thinkabout it.
You should probably do itBecause again the teacher
(43:39):
emailed you wanting you to bethere.
So that teacher is sayingplease be here.
The kids really want to showyou what they're doing and so
walk into those classrooms, justwalk the hallways, you know.
Talk to the custodial staff whenyou see them.
Talk to the nurse.
You know I got to know thenurse very well.
(44:00):
Her office was right next tomine this year, so being able to
talk to her and being able touse her as a resource for things
is huge, because then you alsoget to know things about the May
1st rule as an AD.
You know, as a teacher I neverreally understood it, but once
you got there and understoodwhat that May 1st rule does with
physicals and things like that,it opened your eyes to a whole
(44:22):
bunch of things.
So they can teach you more aboutthe medical side and the health
side about being an AD than anydoctor can.
They're an invaluable toolthere.
So, um, it really is amazing toknow, once you become an
administrator, like, how manyinvaluable people you have in
(44:43):
your building, from your nursesto your administrative
assistants, to your kitchenstaff, because they they'll,
they'll know things that youwould have never thought in a
million years.
So it's never.
It's never a bad thing to askthose questions to them.
But again, being present thereso all that, they see you
wherever it's at, whether it'sat lunch duty, whether it's at a
(45:04):
p, whether it's at an event,whether it's at graduation PE,
whether it's at an event,whether it's at graduation being
present and being there is isextremely important.
Principal JL (45:14):
Wow, josh, that's a lot, a lot of great advice
there that you, that people thatare stepping in this role, I
would really encourage you guysto do those things.
You know, get to know yourstaff, talk with them, not just
your teachers, but yourcustodial staff, your, your
parents, your nurses, your, youknow, your support staff, your
(45:34):
kitchen staff.
Those people matter is they'regoing to pick up on things
before you will.
They're going to be able togive you information about
students or people before you do, because they will see it
before you will.
And it's really important tohave a relationship because I've
had situations where, hey, Isaw this kid, does it look?
(45:55):
So you know there might besomething going on.
Could we check in on them?
Boom, you know.
And so that's really importantto do is you know, yes, you're
there to help your teachers andyour students, but everybody in
that building is an importantpiece to that building running
smoothly.
You talked about youradministrative assistants.
They're huge.
(46:15):
Those are people you want toconnect with, that you want to
build relationships with, butthey will also give you great
information to help youtransition into that role as a
principal.
And, like you say, askquestions, don't be afraid to
ask.
Everybody knows, when you're inthat first year, you're not
going to know everything.
Don't pretend to.
Don't pretend you knowsomething, because figure it out
(46:36):
so you can give someone a goodanswer, so you can give somebody
a good information, so you'renot just giving them something
to get rid of them, but you'regiving them something that's
actually usable and valuable forthem to use.
(46:58):
So those are really greatpieces of advice that I would
encourage people to really do ifthey're getting ready to head
into that first year of being aprincipal.
And so, josh, this was a greattime today.
It's hard to believe, man,we're, we're at the end of it
and I really appreciate youcoming on the show today.
(47:19):
Um, is there anything you'dlike to say?
Um, before we end the show, Idon't know.
Josh Rowan (47:26):
I mean, I don't really think so.
I think we've really touched alot on a girl, a lot of
important things here, but I'vealways enjoyed the podcast.
I think you really touch on alot of things that as an as an
educator, but also as a as aadministrator, it's easy for
both For both sides of the fenceto be able to watch this
podcast and learn a lot aboutthis stuff, and for people to
(47:49):
maybe are on the fence aboutwanting to be an educational
leader, this is also a goodpodcast to listen to, to be able
to say, to give you that boostto get into leadership, because
you know, just like we need moreteachers, we need more
educational leaders Because,just like teaching is a
extremely hard job, so is beingan administrator and it takes
(48:11):
those.
We need, those people therethat are wanting to be here for
our kids.
Principal JL (48:16):
All right, Josh.
Hey, it was great having you onthe show.
I really appreciate theendorsement of the show.
See you down the road, Josh.
Talk to you later.
Josh Rowan (48:24):
All right, sounds great, jeff, thank you,
Principal JL (48:27):
what a great episode with Mr Josh Rowan.
His story is a reminder that youdon't have to take the
traditional path to maketransformational impact.
If you're a new or aspiringleader, take Josh's words to
heart Lead with intention, staygrounded in your purpose and
don't be afraid to grow.
If you enjoyed this episode,share it with a colleague, leave
(48:49):
a review and join us the nexttime for more conversations that
empower and inspire the leadersof today and tomorrow.
Until next time, be 1% better.
Let me ask you a question.
Have you ever wondered what itwould be like to be a first-year
administrator?
Well, you're in for a realtreat today, because our guest
is Mr Josh Rowan is going totalk to us about being that
first-year assistant principaland activities director.
Now, josh is a Lexington,nebraska, native, a University
(00:22):
of Nebraska Kearney graduate anda proud husband and father.
In today's show we're going toexplore his powerful,
non-traditional path intoeducation, his experiences in
the classroom and what it's likestepping into the assistant
principal role.
Whether you're new toleadership or just curious about
the transition, this one ispacked with insight.
(00:45):
Now let's get to ourconversation with Mr Josh Rowan.
Welcome back everybody toanother episode of the
Educational Leadership Podcast.
(01:08):
Today.
I am so excited I'm going tobring in my good friend Josh
Rowan to the show Now.
Josh just completed his firstyear as an assistant principal
at Schuyler Community Schools.
As the assistant principal ofSchuyler Middle School and
Activities director, josh,welcome to the show.
Josh Rowan (01:25):
Thanks for having me , Jeff.
Glad to be here.
Principal JL (01:28):
All right, josh, I'm going to start you off, like
I start everybody else off, onthis show.
What inspired you to become aneducator?
Josh Rowan (01:38):
You know mine was not a traditional.
You know this felt like I meanit.
It was.
It did feel like a calling.
It just wasn't heard untillater on in my life.
I went to college initially tobe a broadcaster and work in the
broadcasting field.
You know I really wanted to dothings like ESPN, abc, things
(01:59):
like that, but those are youhave to kind of have.
In my opinion, and in thingsthat I've noticed and things
that I've kind of worked with inthe broadcasting field there
are just certain elements yougot to have and I don't have
those.
So I decided to go a differentroute and for a while after
(02:20):
college I just kind of I wasjuggling things around and then
when I worked for my hometownnewspaper, I was just in the
school.
I was a lot of being in theschools and working at, you know
, working at football games orbasketball games or wrestling
meets or conference events andthings of that nature, and got
to talking to, you know, friendsof mine who are teachers or, um
(02:42):
, you know Kyle Hainer fromLexington who was the principal
in the AD there for a long time.
Um, he, you know, he kind ofgot me.
He's the one who kind of putthe bug in my ear of you know
what, josh, I think you can use.
I think education would be areally good fit for you and you
know, and just being around thekids and being around the
atmosphere of those being atthose activities and stuff just
(03:05):
really is what started it for me.
Um, and so then in 2015, 2016,I moved from carney over to
lincoln and that's when Istarted getting my english
endorsement and finished that upand then I got started at omaha
burke high school and it wasjust off and running from there.
Principal JL (03:24):
All right, so let's talk about those early
years in the classroom as ateacher.
What are some takeaways or somethings you learned as a teacher
in that role that helps youtoday?
Josh Rowan (03:38):
You know you really have to.
As an educator and as aadministrator, I think the
number one common denominatorwith them are relationships.
You know the relationships arekey with everything.
It's just at a different levelWith your as a teacher.
You're working night and dayworking on building those
relationships and knowing whoyour kids are, you know.
(04:02):
And being a coach or being amentor, like a teammate's mentor
, things like that those greatlyhelp because the kids see it.
Um, and you know, as someone whojust basically came in from the
workforce to a teachingposition, that was something
that was hard for me tocomprehend at first.
(04:22):
You know, it's like you'recoming in straight from the
workforce learning how the worldof education really works, and
it's, you know, the kids theynotice everything.
They notice absolutelyeverything that you do.
And so for me, I wanted to tryand get it evolved as much as I
could.
So I first started.
(04:42):
You know I wanted to be afootball coach.
That was a huge dream of mine.
So I signed up to be a footballcoach, for I mean, I wasn't
able to fulfill it as much as Iwanted it to be.
I had a baby at the time, so itwas a, for me, felt like a huge
undertaking because I just didnot have the tools like a
teacher toolbox as they alwaystalk about.
(05:04):
I was getting started, so Ireally didn't feel like I had
much of that in there, so I hadto dial back a little bit what I
was doing and focus more on mycraft as a teacher, um, and I
think that greatly helped, um.
And there are way more otherthings that you can do that
shows the kids how, howimportant they are to you.
Whether you don't have to be acoach, but go to those games.
(05:25):
You don't have to be theteacher.
You don't have to be the artteacher, but go to their art
shows or go to their music shows.
When you're present and you'revisible and those kids see that
you go for them.
That's when it makes the biggestdifference for your
relationships with the kids inthe classroom and I think that's
the biggest thing too, as anadministrator is and as an
(05:46):
activities director, I'm thereall the time.
You know, when it comes to homeevents, I'm there, um, and the
kids see that a lot, and youknow, and again, when the minute
when the administrators aretalking about it the next day
hey, great run.
Last night, hey, I heard youplay swatch cross country event.
Um, hey, you guys sing reallywell.
(06:10):
You guys played really well atyour recital the other night.
Me and the principal were boththere.
It was you guys sounded great.
The kids feed off that and thenit's just, it's immediate with
them.
And so then the next you startnoticing, days after days.
You know the kids are like I'mMr Owen, I'm Mr Owen in the
hallways and that's a goodfeeling, is when they can, is
when they acknowledge.
It's not necessarily anacknowledgement about oh,
there's the principal, it's agenuine hi, how are you?
(06:33):
Because they know that you'reinvested in them.
Principal JL (06:36):
Yeah, I think some things you kind of pointed out
there is as a teacher, you gotinvolved with going to
activities and seeing the kidsand different things, and I
think that's really important inthat teacher role to do that,
because you have those kids inyour classroom and you can say,
hey, you know, you did a greatjob at.
You know your basketball game,your volleyball match, your, you
(06:58):
know your run.
I got to watch that.
That was really cool.
I think when you start that asa teacher, it just naturally
comes to you in theprincipalship, because you've
already done that, because we'veall seen the teachers that are
eight to four.
They're there from eight tofour.
They don't do nothing extra,they don't go that extra mile.
But they're also the ones thatstruggle the most in the
(07:20):
classroom because they're notbuilding relationships as much
and you don't have to like be atevery event all the time.
It's.
Go to a few here, pick a fewout, go to one event this week,
go to a different event the nextweek, hit every event as much
as you can.
I know for me as a principal,being a building principal at
(07:40):
the building I'm at, I can't beat everything, but I pick and
choose.
Okay, I'll go to this one.
This time I'll go.
So I try to see everybody insomething and I think that's
really impactful and I thinkthat's something that people
don't really understand.
On, building relationships withtheir kids is not just building
it in the classroom, but you gotto build it outside of that
classroom setting as well, andeven you're going to see them
(08:03):
out in the public too, and beingable to say hi and have those
genuine conversations areimportant.
So I think that was reallyreally nice how you kind of
talked about how all that goestogether from teaching and to
being the principalship.
Let's talk about going intothat principalship.
(08:23):
Right, you've been teaching fora little bit.
You've taught not just inNebraska, but you taught also in
Iowa, over in the CouncilBluffs area.
So with that, what inspired youto become an administrator?
To say you know what I love,what I'm doing as a teacher, but
I feel like you know this is mynext step.
(08:44):
What inspired that moment?
Josh Rowan (08:46):
Being an activities director was something that was
already there and planted beforeI even.
You know, once I even gotstarted in the career field, you
know, I, even when I started myeducational career, I told my
wife.
I said I, when I start, I'm notstopping, I'm going from, I'll
be a teacher and I want to teachand I want to be able to learn
(09:08):
the ins and outs of being ateacher and things.
But I also want to be anadministrator.
I also want to be a.
I want to be an athleticdirector, like maybe more of a
full-time athletic director.
I'm because I'm just a.
You know, I'm very passionateabout collegiate sports, but
also high school sports, becauseit's just, it's a different
environment than theprofessional world.
(09:30):
It is so much more devotion,it's so much more heart, passion
in my eyes, where, you know,and fans are so much more
dedicated to their hometowns andto their and you know, and to
the communities.
You know.
Skylar is one big, huge exampleof what we've accomplished this
year.
Um, you know, winning a statechampionship in soccer brought
(09:53):
our community closer togetherthan I have ever seen.
Sorry, jeff.
Principal JL (09:59):
Not to mo.
Not to mention, you guys beatus in the semifinals at the
state tournament, which good foryou guys, cause you guys are
hitting shots that I was like,yeah, that's undefendable, yeah,
you can't defend that shot.
And when you guys are makingthese shots, from where you were
making them and how they werejust bending it like Beckham
(10:19):
into that goal, I was like God,this is Skyler's year.
Josh Rowan (10:26):
We had a good team, but you guys were on a different
level.
Yeah, phenomenal group, those,the final four.
I mean it could have beenanybody's, it could have been
anybody's tournament, but it uh,you know, and when you have a
kid who makes the sports centertop 10, you know, that just says
the level of dedication thatthose kids put into their season
and so it really just lit afire into this community.
(10:48):
And so that's what's sopassionate about for me, about
being an activities director andstuff, and it's being able to
see those things, being able towatch those kids.
I was here with my son because,you know, my son was only maybe
a week old at the time, so Iwas.
I didn't get to visually see itin person, but I watched it at
home when my wife actually hadto take the baby from me because
(11:09):
I was getting way too into thegame.
Um, but watching the kids runout onto the field and celebrate
with, you know, with theplayers, which you're not really
supposed to do, but in themoment, you know, I don't, you
know, in the moment there wasn'tanything.
Obviously, no one was,obviously no one was in any
danger.
It was just a great thing tosee for the community and that
(11:34):
just makes being an AD so muchfun and that's what I love about
it.
And so you know I've had in mymiddle school kids.
We broke two track records thisyear and those records were over
40 years old and so you know,the kids made the paper, the
kids were making social mediaand kid people were reaching out
and it was just a big deal.
The kids just ate it up andthey were so excited and, um, we
(11:57):
made a huge deal about it andgot their trope, you know, got
their batons and stuff and putin the trophy case for them.
And it's those little thingsthat those kids see on how you
want to make them feel specialand that's when they see that
their faces light up and theyget to see their names on the
record board and they get to seetheir names and their pictures
and trophy case.
That is just that's what makesit all worth it.
Principal JL (12:20):
Yeah, so when you went from teacher to become the
assistant principal at Schuyler,was it easy?
Was it an easy transition foryou?
Was it something that you knowyou had to get the job?
What was that like?
How many times did you put yourname out there?
Kind of what's that processlike going from teacher into
(12:40):
assistant principalship?
Josh Rowan (12:42):
Yeah so starting when you finally decide that
it's time to start making thetransition.
You know, you just start askingquestions and you just start
asking people what are some?
What are some questions Ishould be prepared for, what
just kind of get into your headmore of thinking like an
administrator and thinking moreof like hey, what are some
(13:03):
questions I actually need to beready for?
Because obviously the questionsas a teacher and the questions
as an administrator are vastlydifferent, because you're going
to be relying more on questionsabout behaviors and you're going
to be questioning more aboutconflicts between teachers,
conflicts between students.
You're going to be talkingabout analyzing data and you
(13:24):
know how much do you analyze, um, how much?
How much should you beanalyzing?
Was the and things like that?
And it's fat, it's so muchdifferent.
And so I really started workinghard on, you know, building a
solid resume and putting thingstogether for my teaching.
And you know, obviously workingin a you know, working council
(13:44):
bluffs was a huge step, becauseI also were.
It was a part of theirleadership Academy, so that was
something, um, and that was thefirst or second only, I think
only the second class they everhad there, and I was one of only
four people that got selectedout of the district to be part
of it.
So that was a huge um.
I felt like that was a huge winfor me.
(14:05):
I was, I was very proud of that.
It's a lot, it's a lot of workand you know and you and I
talked about it a lot when Isearched for that first job
because, um, the first one isalways the hardest.
It is always the hardest to getthe.
The one thing that I can tellpeople now that are getting into
the field and possibly aregetting frustrated because
(14:28):
they've maybe reached theirsixth or seventh interview and
still haven't gotten anythingand don't understand where
they're going wrong it's justnot the right time and it's just
not the right fit.
That's the number one thing Ican say.
It's not because they don'twant you, it's because you have
to check off the boxes.
You have to check off what theywant to see in somebody for
(14:49):
their district.
And so when I finally got thisposition at Schuyler, that those
are the things they wanted tosee in me, that's, those are the
things they saw in me when theychecked off is I'm, you know,
I'm a go-getter, I'm somebodywho really is about culture, is
about establishing a goodculture in a building where you
(15:11):
know, obviously we want learningas the the most important thing
happening, but we also wantkids to be respectful.
We also want kids to beaccountable for things.
We want kids to be able totreat each other with respect.
It's kind of there's also avery diverse community and so we
all have to learn to we allkids to be able to treat each
other with respect because, kindof, there's also a very diverse
community and so we all have tolearn to.
We all have to learn to worktogether and you know, I'll have
to learn to lit to uh, be inclass together and being as
(15:35):
sports together and, you know,be in activities, and we have to
learn to adjust to that andthat's um.
For me that was never adifficult thing, coming from
lexington and then coming fromomaha and council bluffs all
very diverse districts, so itwas never an issue for me.
Um, but yeah, I went through 12different interviews through a
(15:57):
span of february, throughprobably february, through
probably end of april, before Iactually finally got my, before
I actually got the phone call,um, and you know the number one
thing that most uhadministrators told me,
especially last year at admindays, when they when they saw me
(16:17):
that I was an administrator,obviously the congratulatory and
things like that.
But they, you are a greatcandidate, you are a great
interviewer.
It's just that we had somebodywho had this instead of this.
And so I mean it will befrustrating, and it was
certainly frustrating towardsthe end of the end of the road,
(16:38):
but it is so worth it when youfinally get that phone call from
somebody that says hey, call.
Or, in my case, terry justtexted me that says hey, call me
.
Or, in my case, terry justtexted me and say hey, give me a
call back and I was like, oh,this is right, this is actually
happening.
So it was an exciting time.
So, um, but yeah, it'sdefinitely a process, but you
have to be mentally prepared forthat transition because you
(17:01):
have to take yourself after thatout of that teaching mindset
and think and put yourself intothat principalship role and
start thinking of questions, ofwhat you would be answering as a
, as an administrator I thinkthe biggest advice or trick I
could give people is take theexperiences you have as a
teacher and know how you canrelate that experience into that
(17:23):
principalship.
Principal JL (17:25):
How does this translate into this?
How does this skill translateinto student discipline, making
decisions, evaluating teachers,different things like that?
As you go through thosequestions, because if you could
take your experiences and showthem, hey, I can do this job.
Here's experiences that aresimilar and how you can have
(17:46):
them.
See you and that seed is reallyspot on.
And yes, it takes time.
Like you, I probably went onseven, eight, nine interviews
before I got my first principaljob.
But at the same time you learnsomething through every
experience that made you betterfor the next time.
So if you are trying to breakinto being a principal, don't
(18:09):
get discouraged.
It will happen.
Sometimes, like you said, it'snot the right time or it's not
the right fit and you want tomake sure you're in the right
fit when you get that job,because the worst thing that
could happen is be hired andyou're not a right fit for that
district.
That is not a lot of fun forpeople that I know.
I've always been hired decentlyso I fit the districts I've
(18:34):
been hired in, but that's why alot of times you get passed up
on is because they don't see youfit in their district quite the
way you may think you fit, butwhen you do get that job, it all
works out really well.
So, josh, let's talk about thispast year.
You're a first year assistantprincipal.
(18:55):
Let's talk about some highs,some lows.
Were you ready?
You know what are some thingsthat you know you weren't
expecting in the role, but whatare some things that, yeah, you
went through the leadershipacademy and those are great and
everything.
But how did that help youprepare for the job?
And just kind of give us awhole summary of your past year
(19:19):
as an assistant principal?
You can start at the beginningof the year and kind of bring us
to full circle at the end.
Josh Rowan (19:26):
So um, I will tell, I will glad I will honestly tell
any new principal that what youlearn in college, what you
learn in any type of leadershipacademy, any type of you know
conferences, whatever you go toto want to be, before you even
(19:46):
become a principal and you startlearning about those, those
don't even pale in comparison tothe real thing.
I'll just say that now becauseit just it again.
It's a whole different ballgame.
It's like any job that you get.
They train you and you learnabout different things.
But when you're actually in themoment and you get to see
things in real life, that's whenyou start figuring out who you
(20:07):
are as an administrator.
So, like even just for a weekbefore the school year started,
you know, I moved here to Skylarmiddle of July last year
because our house sold andclosed late.
So we got here in the middle ofJuly.
So by the time I got here I wasalready hitting the ground
running.
I didn't even have time tounpack my house.
I had time to unpack my closet,have my wardrobe ready to go
(20:30):
and I was there in the buildingthe first week.
Like second week I was here andthen that very next week we
were off to admin days inKearney.
I mean it was very fast so Ididn't feel like for me.
I didn't have a lot of time toadjust.
But that's on me.
You know, obviously we got.
I mean, that's just how thelife works when your house sells
(20:52):
quickly and you have to getthere and then you're automatic,
you're already in your office.
Um, but that first year isreally a lot is it's a huge
learning curve because you haveto get everything established
your first year.
And so planning, building,establishing how you want to
communicate with people you knowyour programs talking with your
(21:14):
coaches about what you expectfrom them and how you want them
to handle things within theirprograms.
Um, you know, and I took over,uh, our youth program here in
town.
That's a building process.
That's a good three to fiveyear building process because
we're getting new thingsestablished.
We're getting community membersestablished within our programs
(21:35):
.
We're establishing our you knowour varsity programs where
we're getting our players andstuff involved with the kids.
I mean we're just we're reallytrying to establish a really big
community connection with ouryouth program.
Um, and we already have somebig community members and
programs with our wrestlingprograms and our soccer programs
.
But now we're bringing in.
(21:57):
Now we're bringing in folks whohave done things like football
and softball and basketball andwe're getting those implemented
as well, because, you know, ourskylar girls had a had one of
their better years in 2025 years, and so they're they're wanting
to build on that and and so weare trying our best to tap into
(22:17):
any of those resources that weknow that would work.
Um, it really is just a lotabout establishing and just
preparing for that learningcurve, because you think, when
you first get started and youreally think you're
communicating, sometimes youfeel like you're not.
You feel like you're overcommunicating, you're not
communicating enough.
(22:37):
So you really feel like, oh, Ifelt like I sent this out or I
felt like I communicated this,but really you have to sit down
and you have to strategize aboutwho you really want to know
this information Instead of justsending out one email.
You have to sit back and say,ok, who all really needs to hear
this?
Does it need to be our parents?
Does it need to be ourstakeholders?
(22:58):
Does it need to be our businesspartners, maybe?
Who are sponsoring our boardsand stuff at the school?
Is this a senior night, so dowe just need to contact senior
parents.
How does senior, how doessenior night work for that
Eighth grade graduation at theend of our year?
Who do we need to communicatewith that?
Do we need to have?
Do we need to contact parents?
(23:18):
We need to contact, you know,food service and we need to have
something set up for foodservice at the end of the
graduation, things like that.
It is a lot of communication, um, and if you don't feel like you
communicated enough,communicate more.
I mean, send out emails, makephone calls, social media social
media is a huge aspect of, andit's becoming a huge aspect in
(23:41):
any type of school activities.
Um, because they you know,parents like to see updates.
If they can't make games, sothey want to see updates on
games they want to see.
Has anything been canceled dueto the weather or due to, um,
hot weather, you know, sincewe're dealing with 100 degree
temperatures right now?
Um, you know they want to knoweverything and so you have to be
(24:01):
, you have to be strategized howyou want to want that to look.
Um, you know the the toughestpart for me this year was
getting into the classrooms.
Um, because I would say,throughout your day as an
administrator, I would say,anywhere from 80 to 90% of the
things that you're handling on adaily basis is behaviors, um,
(24:23):
and so, being able to implementa strategy through your, you
know, through MTSS or PBIS orwhatever type of behavioral
strategy or model that you'reusing in your districts, it's
very important to be able toschedule those committees on a
weekly basis or a bi-weeklybasis and be able to work with
(24:43):
those teachers on those specificstudents, how, what
interventions are we using andthings like that.
And it really, and it's toughsometimes with being able to put
those, put that kind of thingsin the classrooms, because
sometimes behavior sometimes area little bit more minimal than
they are.
Office managed behaviors.
You know, those office managerbehaviors are like.
(25:03):
You know, we have kids that are, you know about to, you know,
have a confrontation in theclassroom.
Yeah, those are the momentswhere definitely need to have an
administrator there.
So that first year as anadministrator is trying to be
able to decide what can behandled in the moment at that
time, or what needs to be putoff until maybe at a later point
(25:24):
throughout the day or maybe onanother day, because it's very
easy to get caught up in thosesimple things like behaviors or
emails or things like that, andthen you're getting caught in
your office and then you're not,and then you're in your office
for two hours, three hours, andyou don't even know, and then
you've missed two or threepassing periods in a kid and you
haven't seen anything happen.
So learning that first year wasdefinitely, in my opinion, all
(25:51):
administrators are going to doit.
They're all going to go throughthat first year learning curve.
You know there were a lot ofkids about their stories and
getting to meet staff membersand getting to talk to them
about you know the, about youknow differences between you
(26:11):
know Skylar and Lexington, whichreally isn't a lot, but, um,
you get to tell them about youknow where you're from and how
you got there and being able tohear stories about and sometimes
you feel think you hear thingsfrom teachers that you know, you
may not, you may not know, andit connects maybe somewhere in
those six degrees of separationto your hometown or something.
So it gives you an opportunityto learn more about your, your
(26:33):
team and and things like that.
So that was a really good highpoint for me was being able to
share some really big highs inmy life too, like you know the
birth of my son and being ableto share that with my.
You know my teaching and uh andmy with my teacher.
Sorry, we definitely had some.
You know we had some lows, wedefinitely had some.
(26:55):
You know some instances thathappened at our buildings where
we've had to, where we had tohave, uh, police presence
involved, and you know thingslike that, and those are scary
things, especially as a firstyear.
That and those are scary things, especially as a first-year
administrator, and those are.
Those are also big, importantthings that people need will
look at you as an administrator.
How are you going to handle it?
How calm are you in the moment?
(27:17):
And so they watch for thosetypes of things and so, and
again, being able to communicatethose things clearly to your
other staff and to your otheradministrative team that are out
there, and and things like that.
So, um, yeah, the any, everyschool year, too, is going to
have those ebbs and flows.
They're going to have thosehigh points and low points every
(27:39):
year.
Um, as a first yearadministrator, though, that's
probably where you're going tosee the most is because you're
going to see those in thebuilding, but you're also going
to feel those highs and lows,mentally too, you know.
So, to answer your questionbefore, did I feel ready?
Absolutely not.
(28:00):
You know I, mentally you'renever prepared for something
like this.
But it takes time to adjust.
Um, and I'm still adjusting,I'm still working through a lot
of it and but it comes with time.
I mean it really comes withtime and learning the process of
how each district handles thosethings.
So how do you handle getting thecash boxes to your people
(28:23):
during home events?
How do you?
Where do you get where you'regoing to station yourself during
events to watch for supervision?
Um, do you, when do you go makerounds around the building or
make rounds around the courts orthings like that to make sure
kids aren't misbehaving in thebuilding during events?
You know those are, those aretough things to do because we're
only a two administrator teamat our middle school.
(28:46):
So it's, um, you know myprincipal is there as well and
she's doing the same thing.
So it's just, it takes a lot ofworking together and making
sure we have that well oiledmachine going at all times
during those events.
Yeah, it's not, you're neverready for it, but it just, it
just takes time to adjust.
Principal JL (29:04):
Yeah, you're never ready for it, but it just takes
time to adjust.
So you kind of hit on a lot ofthings there I think are really
important to kind of bring out.
I think how do you communicatewith everybody, not just your
staff, but your students, yourcommunity members?
I think that's a big thing, isunderstanding how to do that,
what to communicate, and theclarity of that communication is
also really important.
(29:25):
Is there anything that you didlike oh wait, that got?
You had an aha moment Like thisis something that if I do it
this way, it'll make my, my jobeasier.
Is you have any of thosemoments throughout the year?
Oh yeah, if you did, what arethey?
Josh Rowan (29:44):
Just a lot of.
You have a lot of aha moments,you know you, you really learn.
Probably the biggest aha momentis you really learn to lean on
your administrative assistantsin the building, because they
are a very crucial piece to howthe office runs in that building
.
So they see everything, you,you know they see everything.
(30:04):
They've talked with so manyadministrators Our two, we have
our.
They're amazing ladies.
They work super hard every day.
Um one that we have there who iswe kind of consider her the
principal secretary.
She's been there for 17 years,so she's been there through a
number of differentadministrators and how each one
(30:26):
has been different.
But she also has a wealth ofknowledge of how they've been
doing things in the building tokind of help us understand how
we want to, how we want to moldour culture here.
So I think for any newadministrator it's very
important really to talk to youradministrative assistance,
getting to know them and gettingto understand, getting them to
(30:47):
know like, or getting them totalk to you about like, what
they've seen, what they'veexperienced and kind of what
they've seen that has worked,cause I'm sure there were things
that she had seen in the last17 years.
I probably didn't work so well,but it's all about what's best
for kids and so being able toagain reach out to those people
(31:09):
and reach out to those resourcesCause again people are going to
come to you for answers andsometimes you're not going to
have those answers, so you haveto have, you have to have those
resources you can go to andthose people that you can talk
to um about the district, aboutthe community, about your sports
teams, about your activitiesand what they've done in the
(31:30):
past, so that way you can startto learn more about that.
Principal JL (31:33):
Yeah, I think that's really a smart thing to
do, especially as a first yearprincipal, is to lean in on your
administrative assistancebecause, like you said, they've
been in the building.
They kind of seen a lot,especially if you've had one
that's been there for a while.
They've been through a fewother administrators.
They can help you understand.
(31:54):
This is where you're at and, tobe honest, they are the
backbone of your school becausethey are the ones that keep
things running so you can doyour job, and if you don't have
a good administrative assistance, it makes your job a lot harder
, a lot more difficult when youdon't have someone that's in
that role that does a nice job.
So, josh, let's talk aboutwork-life balance in your first
(32:18):
year.
You know, I know, you knowyou're married, you have Ivy, as
well as your newborn Graham,balancing your work and your you
know, just having the baby andfamily and all that in that
first year.
What was that like?
How did you do that and do youhave any tips for people to help
(32:41):
them out with that?
Josh Rowan (32:43):
you know, I commend my wife so much because there is
so much dedication on her part,as you know, as an
administrative wife, becausethere is a lot of sacrifice that
I have to make, being away fromhere because I can't be here.
For a lot of times I'm notgoing to be here for bedtimes or
I'm not going to be here fordinner times because of events
(33:06):
or if I have meetings or thingslike that.
So I am so grateful because sheholds down the fort and does
things um all the time.
And so, with you know, with oursix year old, we finally got
ourselves into a good rhythm,probably very early on um with
our six year old old, before wefound out we were pregnant with
(33:28):
our son.
But being that our house isonly like two and a half blocks
away from the middle school, itmakes it so much easier.
So we're able to, you know,have a system in place of
getting things ready to go andhaving things ready to go when
we get out the door.
And but with a baby, thiscoming, you know, know,
obviously, with our son, and youknow, this next coming year,
(33:49):
things are going to be a littlebit different, but I little did
I know that our babysitter isactually the same, literally the
same direction towards themiddle school, but it's only
like a block and a half so it'sall her in the middle school.
The our babysitter and ourmiddle school are on the same
street so he couldn't have, Imean, I couldn't have written
(34:11):
that any better.
So that makes it super easybecause it's convenient.
That kind of makes the hustleand bustle of being a parent of
two now, makes it a lot easier.
Still doesn't take away fromthe fact that, hey, we've got
two kids now, so now we stillman-to-man defense, if you want
to say that, but, um, whichstill makes it easier, but um,
(34:35):
so I have that adjustment periodwith ivy and she's she's doing
such a good job at that, and butit's, you know that first week,
that first month right now, ofsurvival mode, you're just,
you're with the baby night andday, and so my wife and I are
doing shifts right now while I'mstill finishing up my last week
on duty.
Um, you know, I'm up by 6, 37o'clock and I'm out the door by
(34:57):
7, 30 and, and then I, you knowI, during the afternoons I come
home, I give her a chance totake, you know, to rest for a
little while so as I'm gettinghome from work so I can spend
some time with him.
But then I take the nightshifts so I'm I'm usually up
from, you know, four or fiveo'clock in the afternoon and
then I'm uh, I go to bed like 12, 31 o'clock so I give her a
(35:19):
chance to get some rest becauseshe does a lot during the day
because she's watching two kidsby herself.
So, but that'll change a lotnext week when I'm home for a
good amount of time, just us twoand we can.
We can kind of figure out howthat's going to look and we'll
get ourselves into a bettersystem.
But yeah, it's, it's crazy andyou know, as a, as an
administrator, you have to learnagain.
(35:41):
As a teacher, you know thereare those things that you do
like if you're a coach or ifyou're, if you're in committees
or if you're in things like that.
Yeah, there are going to bethose sacrifices.
But as an administrator it's adifferent ballgame, because now
you, you have the weight of theentire school, they're on your
shoulders of how it runs and theculture and how everything is.
(36:04):
How everything runs is based onhow you do it and how
everything runs is based on howyou do it.
So, yeah, there are going to benights where I'm there until
7.30, 8 o'clock at a volleyballmatch or at a basketball game,
or I may travel to Papillion ona Saturday for state cross
country for our middle schoolers, and so those are things that,
(36:24):
as an administrative wife,sometimes it's a very sharp
adjustment, because some youenjoy teaching in the same
building as your wife, but thenall of a sudden now, boom, my
husband's an administrator andnow he's there from 7 30 until
at least minimum of 4 30 in theafternoon.
So it's a lot different for so,but we're making it work and
(36:47):
it's it just.
It's all about, you know,having a good team at home too.
Principal JL (36:52):
You bet yeah, I mean a lot of people.
I mean, if you have a spouse athome and you're they, they are
your, your backbone, they're thepeople that keep the the home
going while you're doing yourjob and being able to do that
job.
And it's tough.
I mean, I love being anadministrator but at the same
time there's times where youknow there is that grind, and
(37:15):
when you get into the schoolyear.
That's why you know having ourtime off when we have it is nice
, because then we can rechargeand get ready for the next year.
Because right now we're sittingin that timeframe where you
know I got a lot of thingsalready done the next year.
Because right now we're sittingin that time frame where you
know I got a lot of thingsalready done for next year, but
I now I'm in my recharge mode,so when I come back in July I'll
be able to hit the groundrunning, get some things done,
(37:37):
and having a great spouse onbuyer side is key.
You know, within this position,let's you know kind of talk
about.
You know, within this position,let's you know kind of talk
about you know you're at the endof your first year of being
assistant principal activitiesdirector.
What advice would you givesomebody that's looking into
(38:00):
stepping into their first yearas a principal that you wish you
would have known previously,that something that you learned,
that you would say, hey, thisis something I learned.
I want to give this advice toyou so maybe they won't struggle
as much, or something they canlearn from you from your first
(38:22):
year?
What advice would you give tonew leaders that are going to
step into this role brand newstarted in in this fall well, I
think the two most importantthings that I would tell anybody
that's new.
Josh Rowan (38:36):
Uh, the first thing is don't be afraid to ask
questions, is don't be afraid togo to somebody.
Um, again, nine times out often you're not to get that
position.
In your hometown, you're notgoing to be it.
Or in the school building thatyou work in, you know.
So you're not going to befamiliar with a lot of people
(38:56):
that you, that you come across,um, you're going to be the new
man or you're going to be thenew woman there, and so it's a,
it's a new environment, it's anew, it's a whole new, it's a,
just, it's a.
It's a new environment, it's anew, it's a whole new.
It's a, it's a, it's, it's.
It's a culture shock to say,because you're going into a
place and you're going to knownobody, and so don't be afraid
(39:17):
to ask questions.
You know, get out there and talkto everybody, tried to, you
know, introduce myself to asmany people as I could.
You know, when I first got hereand I tried to send out like a
welcome email to everybody whenthey hired me, you know, then,
when I got everything set up, Isent an email out to our staff
(39:37):
and said hey, I'm super excitedto come to Skylar middle school,
I can't wait to sit down andtalk with you and things.
And I did get some you knowsome emails back from a couple
of teachers, but then I reallygot to know my teachers once I
got here.
But it's very important whenyou get there to know your staff
and to know your people, don'tbe that I mean I it's, it does.
(40:00):
And it's going to feeldifferent because if you're a
teacher for five years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, once you
step into that role, it's goingto feel a lot different from the
administrative side, becausepeople are going to talk to you
and address you so muchdifferently and you're not going
to be prepared for it becauseyou feel like, hey, we're all in
(40:22):
this together, we're all herefor the same mission.
Yes and no.
Because now you're anadministrator, now you're the,
now that you are the assistantprincipal, now you're the
principal.
People are now coming to youfor the answers.
People are coming to you to seethis ship run in its best, and
so it's going to be a different.
It's going to be a differentbeast, but being able to sit
(40:43):
down as a person, you know, andthat's what I tried to do when I
first got here was sitting downjust as a person and say, hey,
I just want to know who you are,tell me about, tell me a little
bit about yourself.
You know, are you?
You know even simple things.
Are you an avid Husker fan?
Do you like video games?
Hey, I heard you were a memberof the military.
Thank you for your service.
Those simple things.
(41:09):
When they figure those thingsout and when they because
teachers will they will pick upon that quicker than anything is
when they, they notice that younotice, um, and so talk to
teachers, talk to staff members,talk to your custodial staff,
talk to your kitchen staff,because when they see you, I
mean again, when I first startedand I walked into the cafeteria
for the first time, a lot ofthose, a lot of those kitchen
(41:30):
staff ladies came up to me andthey're like can I help you with
something?
Can I help you find something?
Did you knock them in the rightdoor and I'm like, oh, I'm the
assistant principal, and theireyes just like they didn't know
what to think.
And so, yeah, it's so it's veryimportant to be able to talk to
those staff members, even thecustodial staff, because their
jobs are just as important atkeeping the school running than
(41:52):
as a teacher or as an assistantprincipal.
And then the second thing Iwill tell people is presence,
presence.
Presence is everything you know.
When you think of presence, youthink of presence is like, oh,
being out in the hallways andwatching kids and talking to
kids in the hallways as they goto class.
It's much more than that, youknow.
(42:14):
Being on the hallways, yes,because you want to be out there
and helping, you know, patrolthe hallways and monitor and
keeping the flow and making surekids aren't being late.
But it's walking intoclassrooms and seeing and being
genuinely interested in whatthose teachers are doing.
Um, not just with observations,but just being able to walk in
(42:35):
and just say, hey, I'm juststopping out, we'll see what you
guys are doing today.
And the kids notice that, um, atevents again, being at events
and sometimes going to thosestatewide events.
You know, our kids qualifiedfor state cross country for a
middle school.
I was there, I wanted to bethere, I went up to him, I
(42:56):
congratulated him, I wish themluck and everything, and the
kids recognize that.
And then, uh, you know cause.
Then they approach you onMonday hey, I saw you at state
cross country.
Did you see how I finished?
And I said, yeah, I got theresults.
I saw that you did great.
You know the kids really pickup on that stuff.
So, being present, you know whenyou think, when you, if you
(43:17):
were sitting in your office andthere's something that's coming
up, where whether it's like arecital, or maybe this teacher
emailed you and say, hey, wehave this really cool lesson
going on this week.
We really like you to stop in,and you see that email again and
you're like, oh, that teacheremailed me.
I can you know if you thinkabout it.
You should probably do itBecause again the teacher
(43:39):
emailed you wanting you to bethere.
So that teacher is sayingplease be here.
The kids really want to showyou what they're doing and so
walk into those classrooms, justwalk the hallways, you know.
Talk to the custodial staff whenyou see them.
Talk to the nurse.
You know I got to know thenurse very well.
(44:00):
Her office was right next tomine this year, so being able to
talk to her and being able touse her as a resource for things
is huge, because then you alsoget to know things about the May
1st rule as an AD.
You know, as a teacher I neverreally understood it, but once
you got there and understoodwhat that May 1st rule does with
physicals and things like that,it opened your eyes to a whole
(44:22):
bunch of things.
So they can teach you more aboutthe medical side and the health
side about being an AD than anydoctor can.
They're an invaluable toolthere.
So, um, it really is amazing toknow, once you become an
administrator, like, how manyinvaluable people you have in
(44:43):
your building, from your nursesto your administrative
assistants, to your kitchenstaff, because they they'll,
they'll know things that youwould have never thought in a
million years.
So it's never.
It's never a bad thing to askthose questions to them.
But again, being present thereso all that, they see you
wherever it's at, whether it'sat lunch duty, whether it's at a
(45:04):
p, whether it's at an event,whether it's at graduation PE,
whether it's at an event,whether it's at graduation being
present and being there is isextremely important.
Principal JL (45:14):
Wow, josh, that's a lot, a lot of great advice
there that you, that people thatare stepping in this role, I
would really encourage you guysto do those things.
You know, get to know yourstaff, talk with them, not just
your teachers, but yourcustodial staff, your, your
parents, your nurses, your, youknow, your support staff, your
(45:34):
kitchen staff.
Those people matter is they'regoing to pick up on things
before you will.
They're going to be able togive you information about
students or people before you do, because they will see it
before you will.
And it's really important tohave a relationship because I've
had situations where, hey, Isaw this kid, does it look?
(45:55):
So you know there might besomething going on.
Could we check in on them?
Boom, you know.
And so that's really importantto do is you know, yes, you're
there to help your teachers andyour students, but everybody in
that building is an importantpiece to that building running
smoothly.
You talked about youradministrative assistants.
They're huge.
(46:15):
Those are people you want toconnect with, that you want to
build relationships with, butthey will also give you great
information to help youtransition into that role as a
principal.
And, like you say, askquestions, don't be afraid to
ask.
Everybody knows, when you're inthat first year, you're not
going to know everything.
Don't pretend to.
Don't pretend you knowsomething, because figure it out
(46:36):
so you can give someone a goodanswer, so you can give somebody
a good information, so you'renot just giving them something
to get rid of them, but you'regiving them something that's
actually usable and valuable forthem to use.
(46:58):
So those are really greatpieces of advice that I would
encourage people to really do ifthey're getting ready to head
into that first year of being aprincipal.
And so, josh, this was a greattime today.
It's hard to believe, man,we're, we're at the end of it
and I really appreciate youcoming on the show today.
(47:19):
Um, is there anything you'dlike to say?
Um, before we end the show, Idon't know.
Josh Rowan (47:26):
I mean, I don't really think so.
I think we've really touched alot on a girl, a lot of
important things here, but I'vealways enjoyed the podcast.
I think you really touch on alot of things that as an as an
educator, but also as a as aadministrator, it's easy for
both For both sides of the fenceto be able to watch this
podcast and learn a lot aboutthis stuff, and for people to
(47:49):
maybe are on the fence aboutwanting to be an educational
leader, this is also a goodpodcast to listen to, to be able
to say, to give you that boostto get into leadership, because
you know, just like we need moreteachers, we need more
educational leaders Because,just like teaching is a
extremely hard job, so is beingan administrator and it takes
(48:11):
those.
We need, those people therethat are wanting to be here for
our kids.
Principal JL (48:16):
All right, Josh.
Hey, it was great having you onthe show.
I really appreciate theendorsement of the show.
See you down the road, Josh.
Talk to you later.
Josh Rowan (48:24):
All right, sounds great, jeff, thank you,
Principal JL (48:27):
what a great episode with Mr Josh Rowan.
His story is a reminder that youdon't have to take the
traditional path to maketransformational impact.
If you're a new or aspiringleader, take Josh's words to
heart Lead with intention, staygrounded in your purpose and
don't be afraid to grow.
If you enjoyed this episode,share it with a colleague, leave
(48:49):
a review and join us the nexttime for more conversations that
empower and inspire the leadersof today and tomorrow.
Until next time, be 1% better.
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