First, the newly assigned school leader should have his secretary screen
his mail. Mr. Thelen found that his predecessor wanted to see every piece
of mail addressed to him. Much of what came in was junk mail, however,
so Mr. Thelen directed his secretary to either dispose of it or, if she felt
it may have some value, forward it to the appropriate staff member. He
made it a practice never to receive any personal correspondence at the
school so his secretary could open all his mail. When she felt an item was
of prime importance, she attached a brightly colored sticky note to bring
it to his attention.
Mr. Thelen also worked with his secretary for several weeks so she
clearly understood what he felt was junk, what need to be forwarded, and
what was important for him to see. Once this procedure was in place, his
time spent reviewing his mail was dramatically reduced.
Today, principals have electronic mail. If permitted by the district, the
principal should give his trained administrative assistant the ability to
review this for him, deleting the dregs, responding to simple items, and
forwarding appropriate items to other staff members. In this way, he only
need deal with the important items that are left. The principal is the CEO
of a school, and his administrative assistant should do what any corporate
administrative assistant would do.
Second, the newly assigned school leader should review the common
practices he inherits. Principal Nguyen found that it was common practice
for her technologically challenged predecessor to dictate each lesson ob-
servation to the secretary, have her type it up, personally review and edit
it, and then have his secretary type it up again. In addition to extending
the time it took for the teacher to get the report, each observation required
several hours of repetitive work.
Ms. Nguyen immediately discontinued this practice. With far less time
and effort involved, she word processed, proofread, and corrected her own
reports, freeing her secretary to take care of other tasks, such as handling
school rentals, helping set up the Career Fair, creating the graduation
program, and so on. A good administrative assistant should not be given
menial tasks that a computer can do, but challenging tasks that, once
trained, she can handle on her own.
Third, the new school leader should consider more efficient ways to ac-
complish simple tasks. For example, Ms. Valletta found that her secretary
spent part of her early morning time in the mailroom putting materials in
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