Educational Leadership with Principal JL
Principal JL is an educational leader who explores various topics facing educational leaders today! The Mission of this podcast is to inform and inspire other Educational Leaders on how to be their best for their Schools by honing their skills and talents so they may impact their teachers, staff members, students, parents/guardians, and community members positively for their School District! Come with a Growth Mindset as we journey through Educational Leadership!
Educational Leadership with Principal JL
Episode 34:Transitioning from Teacher to Administrator: Josh Rowan's Insights as a First-Year Assistant Principal
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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Let me ask you a question. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a first-year administrator? Well, you're in for a real treat today, because our guest is Mr Josh Rowan is going to talk to us about being that first-year assistant principal and activities director. Now, josh is a Lexington, nebraska, native, a University of Nebraska Kearney graduate and a proud husband and father. In today's show we're going to explore his powerful, non-traditional path into education, his experiences in the classroom and what it's like stepping into the assistant principal role. Whether you're new to leadership or just curious about the transition, this one is packed with insight. Now let's get to our conversation with Mr Josh Rowan. Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Educational Leadership Podcast. Today. I am so excited I'm going to bring in my good friend Josh Rowan to the show Now. Josh just completed his first year as an assistant principal at Schuyler Community Schools. As the assistant principal of Schuyler Middle School and Activities director, josh, welcome to the show.
Josh Rowan:Thanks for having me, Jeff. Glad to be here.
Principal JL:All right, josh, I'm going to start you off, like I start everybody else off, on this show.
Principal JL:What inspired you to become an educator?
Josh Rowan:You know mine was not a traditional. You know this felt like I mean it. It was. It did feel like a calling. It just wasn't heard until later on in my life.
Josh Rowan:I went to college initially to be a broadcaster and work in the broadcasting field. You know I really wanted to do things like ESPN, abc, things like that, but those are you have to kind of have. In my opinion, and in things that I've noticed and things that I've kind of worked with in the broadcasting field there are just certain elements you got to have and I don't have those. So I decided to go a different route and for a while after college I just kind of I was juggling things around and then when I worked for my hometown newspaper, I was just in the school.
Josh Rowan:I was a lot of being in the schools and working at, you know, working at football games or basketball games or wrestling meets or conference events and things of that nature, and got to talking to, you know, friends of mine who are teachers or, um, you know Kyle Hainer from Lexington who was the principal in the AD there for a long time. Um, he, you know, he kind of got me. He's the one who kind of put the bug in my ear of you know what, josh, I think you can use. I think education would be a really good fit for you and you know, and just being around the kids and being around the atmosphere of those being at those activities and stuff just 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 I started getting my english endorsement and finished that up and then I got started at omaha burke high school and it was just off and running from there.
Principal JL:All right, so let's talk about those early years in the classroom as a teacher. What are some takeaways or some things you learned as a teacher in that role that helps you today?
Josh Rowan:You know you really have to. As an educator and as a administrator, I think the number one common denominator with them are relationships. You know the relationships are key with everything. It's just at a different level With your as a teacher. You're working night and day working on building those relationships and knowing who your kids are, you know. And being a coach or being a mentor, like a teammate's mentor, things like that those greatly help because the kids see it.
Josh Rowan:Um, and you know, as someone who just basically came in from the workforce to a teaching position, that was something that was hard for me to comprehend at first. You know, it's like you're coming in straight from the workforce learning how the world of education really works, and it's, you know, the kids they notice everything. They notice absolutely everything that you do. And so for me, I wanted to try and get it evolved as much as I could. So I first started. You know I wanted to be a football coach. That was a huge dream of mine. So I signed up to be a football coach, for I mean, I wasn't able to fulfill it as much as I wanted it to be. I had a baby at the time, so it was a, for me, felt like a huge undertaking because I just did not have the tools like a teacher toolbox as they always talk about. I was getting started, so I really didn't feel like I had much of that in there, so I had to dial back a little bit what I was doing and focus more on my craft as a teacher, um, and I think that greatly helped, um. And there are way more other things that you can do that shows the kids how, how important they are to you. Whether you don't have to be a coach, but go to those games. You don't have to be the teacher. You don't have to be the art teacher, but go to their art shows or go to their music shows. When you're present and you're visible and those kids see that you go for them.
Josh Rowan:That's when it makes the biggest difference for your relationships with the kids in the classroom and I think that's the biggest thing too, as an administrator is and as an activities director, I'm there all the time. You know, when it comes to home events, I'm there, um, and the kids see that a lot, and you know, and again, when the minute when the administrators are talking about it the next day hey, great run. Last night, hey, I heard you play swatch cross country event. Um, hey, you guys sing really well. You guys played really well at your recital the other night. Me and the principal were both there. It was you guys sounded great. The kids feed off that and then it's just, it's immediate with them. And so then the next you start noticing, days after days. You know the kids are like I'm Mr Owen, I'm Mr Owen in the hallways and that's a good feeling, is when they can, is when they acknowledge. It's not necessarily an acknowledgement about oh, there's the principal, it's a genuine hi, how are you? Because they know that you're invested in them.
Principal JL:Yeah, I think some things you kind of pointed out there is as a teacher, you got involved with going to activities and seeing the kids and different things, and I think that's really important in that teacher role to do that, because you have those kids in your classroom and you can say, hey, you know, you did a great job at. You know your basketball game, your volleyball match, your, you know your run. I got to watch that. That was really cool. I think when you start that as a teacher, it just naturally comes to you in the principalship, because you've already done that, because we've all seen the teachers that are eight to four. They're there from eight to four. They don't do nothing extra, they don't go that extra mile. But they're also the ones that struggle the most in the classroom because they're not building relationships as much and you don't have to like be at every event all the time.
Principal JL:It's. Go to a few here, pick a few out, go to one event this week, go to a different event the next week, hit every event as much as you can. I know for me as a principal, being a building principal at the building I'm at, I can't be at everything, but I pick and choose. Okay, I'll go to this one. This time I'll go. So I try to see everybody in something and I think that's really impactful and I think that's something that people don't really understand.
Principal JL:On, building relationships with their kids is not just building it in the classroom, but you got to build it outside of that classroom setting as well, and even you're going to see them out in the public too, and being able to say hi and have those genuine conversations are important. So I think that was really really nice how you kind of talked about how all that goes together from teaching and to being the principalship. Let's talk about going into that principalship. Right, you've been teaching for a little bit. You've taught not just in Nebraska, but you taught also in Iowa, over in the Council Bluffs area. So with that, what inspired you to 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 my next step. What inspired that moment?
Josh Rowan:Being an activities director was something that was already there and planted before I even. You know, once I even got started in the career field, you know, I, even when I started my educational career, I told my wife. I said I, when I start, I'm not stopping, I'm going from, I'll be a teacher and I want to teach and I want to be able to learn the ins and outs of being a teacher and things. But I also want to be an administrator. I also want to be a. I want to be an athletic director, like maybe more of a full-time athletic director. I'm because I'm just a.
Josh Rowan:You know, I'm very passionate about collegiate sports, but also high school sports, because it's just, it's a different environment than the professional world. 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 and to their and you know, and to the communities. You know. Skylar is one big, huge example of what we've accomplished this year. Um, you know, winning a state championship in soccer brought our community closer together than I have ever seen. Sorry, jeff.
Principal JL:Not to mo. Not to mention, you guys beat us in the semifinals at the state tournament, which good for you 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 making these shots, from where you were making them and how they were just bending it like Beckham into that goal, I was like God, this is Skyler's year.
Josh Rowan: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 been anybody's, it could have been anybody's tournament, but it uh, you know, and when you have a kid who makes the sports center top 10, you know, that just says the level of dedication that those kids put into their season and so it really just lit a fire into this community. And so that's what's so passionate about for me, about being an activities director and stuff, and it's being able to see those things, being able to watch those kids. I was here with my son because, you know, my son was only maybe a week old at the time, so I was. I didn't get to visually see it in person, but I watched it at home when my wife actually had to take the baby from me because I was getting way too into the game.
Josh Rowan:Um, but watching the kids run out onto the field and celebrate with, you know, with the players, which you're not really supposed to do, but in the moment, you know, I don't, you know, in the moment there wasn't anything. Obviously, no one was, obviously no one was in any danger. It was just a great thing to see for the community and that just makes being an AD so much fun and that's what I love about it. And so you know I've had in my middle school kids.
Josh Rowan:We broke two track records this year and those records were over 40 years old and so you know, the kids made the paper, the kids were making social media and kid people were reaching out and it was just a big deal. The kids just ate it up and they were so excited and, um, we made a huge deal about it and got their trope, you know, got their batons and stuff and put in the trophy case for them. And it's those little things that those kids see on how you want to make them feel special and that's when they see that their faces light up and they get to see their names on the record board and they get to see their names and their pictures and trophy case. That is just that's what makes it all worth it.
Principal JL:Yeah, so when you went from teacher to become the assistant principal at Schuyler, was it easy? Was it an easy transition for you? Was it something that you know you had to get the job? What was that like? How many times did you put your name out there? Kind of what's that process like going from teacher into assistant principalship?
Josh Rowan:Yeah so starting when you finally decide that it's time to start making the transition. You know, you just start asking questions and you just start asking people what are some? What are some questions I should be prepared for, what just kind of get into your head more of thinking like an administrator and thinking more of like hey, what are some questions I actually need to be ready for? Because obviously the questions as a teacher and the questions as an administrator are vastly different, because you're going to be relying more on questions about behaviors and you're going to be questioning more about conflicts between teachers, conflicts between students. You're going to be talking about analyzing data and you know how much do you analyze, um, how much? How much should you be analyzing? Was the and things like that? And it's fat, it's so much different.
Josh Rowan:And so I really started working hard on, you know, building a solid resume and putting things together for my teaching. And you know, obviously working in a you know, working council bluffs was a huge step, because I also were. It was a part of their leadership Academy, so that was something, um, and that was the first or second only, I think only the second class they ever had there, and I was one of only four people that got selected out of the district to be part of it. So that was a huge um. I felt like that was a huge win for me. I was, I was very proud of that. It's a lot, it's a lot of work and you know and you and I talked about it a lot when I searched for that first job because, um, the first one is always the hardest. It is always the hardest to get the.
Josh Rowan:The one thing that I can tell people now that are getting into the field and possibly are getting frustrated because they've maybe reached their sixth or seventh interview and still haven't gotten anything and don't understand where they're going wrong it's just not the right time and it's just not the right fit. That's the number one thing I can say. It's not because they don't want you, it's because you have to check off the boxes. You have to check off what they want to see in somebody for their district. And so when I finally got this position at Schuyler, that those are the things they wanted to see in me, that's, those are the things they saw in me when they checked off is I'm, you know, I'm a go-getter, I'm somebody who really is about culture, is about establishing a good culture in a building where you know, obviously we want learning as the the most important thing happening, but we also want kids to be respectful.
Josh Rowan:We also want kids to be accountable for things. We want kids to be able to treat each other with respect. It's kind of there's also a very diverse community and so we all have to learn to we all kids to be able to treat each other with respect because, kind of, there's also a very diverse community and so we all have to learn to. We all have to learn to work together and you know, I'll have to learn to lit to uh, be in class together and being as sports together and, you know, be in activities, and we have to learn to adjust to that and that's um. For me that was never a difficult thing, coming from lexington and then coming from omaha and council bluffs all very diverse districts, so it was never an issue for me. Um, but yeah, I went through 12 different interviews through a span of february, through probably february, through probably end of april, before I actually finally got my, before I actually got the phone call, um, and you know the number one thing that most uh administrators told me, especially last year at admin days, when they when they saw me that I was an administrator, obviously the congratulatory and things like that.
Josh Rowan:But they, you are a great candidate, you are a great interviewer. It's just that we had somebody who had this instead of this. And so I mean it will be frustrating, and it was certainly frustrating towards the end of the end of the road, but it is so worth it when you finally get that phone call from somebody that says hey, call. Or, in my case, terry just texted me that says hey, call me. Or, in my case, terry just texted 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's definitely a process, but you have to be mentally prepared for that transition because you have to take yourself after that out of that teaching mindset and think and put yourself into that principalship role and start thinking of questions, of what you would be answering as a, as an administrator I think the biggest advice or trick I could give people is take the experiences you have as a teacher and know how you can relate that experience into that principalship.
Principal JL:How does this translate into this? How does this skill translate into student discipline, making decisions, evaluating teachers, different things like that? As you go through those questions, because if you could take your experiences and show them, hey, I can do this job. Here's experiences that are similar and how you can have them. See you and that seed is really spot on. And yes, it takes time. Like you, I probably went on seven, eight, nine interviews before I got my first principal job. But at the same time you learn something through every experience that made you better for the next time. So if you are trying to break into being a principal, don't get discouraged. It will happen.
Principal JL:Sometimes, like you said, it's not the right time or it's not the right fit and you want to make sure you're in the right fit when you get that job, because the worst thing that could happen is be hired and you're not a right fit for that district. That is not a lot of fun for people that I know. I've always been hired decently so I fit the districts I've been hired in, but that's why a lot of times you get passed up on is because they don't see you fit in their district quite the way you may think you fit, but when you do get that job, it all works out really well. So, josh, let's talk about this past year.
Principal JL:You're a first year assistant principal. Let's talk about some highs, some lows. Were you ready? You know what are some things that you know you weren't expecting in the role, but what are some things that, yeah, you went through the leadership academy and those are great and everything. But how did that help you prepare for the job? And just kind of give us a whole summary of your past year as an assistant principal? You can start at the beginning of the year and kind of bring us to full circle at the end.
Josh Rowan:So um, I will tell, I will glad I will honestly tell any new principal that what you learn in college, what you learn in any type of leadership academy, any type of you know conferences, whatever you go to to want to be, before you even become a principal and you start learning about those, those don't even pale in comparison to the real thing. I'll just say that now because it just it again. It's a whole different ball game. It's like any job that you get. They train you and you learn about different things. But when you're actually in the moment and you get to see things in real life, that's when you start figuring out who you are as an administrator. So, like even just for a week before the school year started, you know, I moved here to Skylar middle of July last year because our house sold and closed late. So we got here in the middle of July. So by the time I got here I was already hitting the ground running. I didn't even have time to unpack my house. I had time to unpack my closet, have my wardrobe ready to go and I was there in the building the first week. Like second week I was here and then that very next week we were off to admin days in Kearney. I mean it was very fast so I didn't feel like for me. I didn't have a lot of time to adjust. But that's on me. You know, obviously we got. I mean, that's just how the life works when your house sells quickly and you have to get there and then you're automatic, you're already in your office. Um, but that first year is really a lot is it's a huge learning curve because you have to get everything established your first year. And so planning, building, establishing how you want to communicate with people you know your programs talking with your coaches about what you expect from them and how you want them to handle things within their programs.
Josh Rowan: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 five year building process because we're getting new things established. We're getting community members established within our programs. We're establishing our you know our varsity programs where we're getting our players and stuff involved with the kids. I mean we're just we're really trying to establish a really big community connection with our youth program. Um, and we already have some big community members and programs with our wrestling programs and our soccer programs. But now we're bringing in. Now we're bringing in folks who have done things like football and softball and basketball and we're getting those implemented as well, because, you know, our skylar 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 we are trying our best to tap into any of those resources that we know that would work.
Josh Rowan:Um, it really is just a lot about establishing and just preparing for that learning curve, because you think, when you first get started and you really think you're communicating, sometimes you feel like you're not. You feel like you're over communicating, you're not communicating enough. So you really feel like, oh, I felt like I sent this out or I felt like I communicated this, but really you have to sit down and you have to strategize about who you really want to know this information Instead of just sending 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 our stakeholders? Does it need to be our business partners, maybe? Who are sponsoring our boards and stuff at the school? Is this a senior night, so do we just need to contact senior parents. How does senior, how does senior night work for that Eighth grade graduation at the end of our year? Who do we need to communicate with that? Do we need to have? Do we need to contact parents? We need to contact, you know, food service and we need to have something set up for food service at the end of the graduation, things like that.
Josh Rowan:It is a lot of communication, um, and if you don't feel like you communicated enough, communicate more. I mean, send out emails, make phone calls, social media social media is a huge aspect of, and it's becoming a huge aspect in any type of school activities. Um, because they you know, parents like to see updates. If they can't make games, so they want to see updates on games they want to see. Has anything been canceled due to the weather or due to, um, hot weather, you know, since we're dealing with 100 degree temperatures right now? Um, you know they want to know everything and so you have to be, you have to be strategized how you want to want that to look.
Josh Rowan:Um, you know the the toughest part 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 a daily basis is behaviors, um, and so, being able to implement a strategy through your, you know, through MTSS or PBIS or whatever type of behavioral strategy or model that you're using in your districts, it's very important to be able to schedule those committees on a weekly basis or a bi-weekly basis and be able to work with those teachers on those specific students, how, what interventions are we using and things like that. And it really, and it's tough sometimes with being able to put those, put that kind of things in the classrooms, because sometimes behavior sometimes are a little bit more minimal than they are. Office managed behaviors. You know, those office manager behaviors are like. You know, we have kids that are, you know about to, you know, have a confrontation in the classroom. Yeah, those are the moments where definitely need to have an administrator there.
Josh Rowan:So that first year as an administrator is trying to be able to decide what can be handled in the moment at that time, or what needs to be put off until maybe at a later point throughout the day or maybe on another day, because it's very easy to get caught up in those simple things like behaviors or emails or things like that, and then you're getting caught in your office and then you're not, and then you're in your office for two hours, three hours, and you don't even know, and then you've missed two or three passing periods in a kid and you haven't seen anything happen. So learning that first year was definitely, in my opinion, all administrators are going to do it. They're all going to go through that first year learning curve. You know there were a lot of kids about their stories and getting to meet staff members and getting to talk to them about you know the, about you know differences between you know Skylar and Lexington, which really isn't a lot, but, um, you get to tell them about you know where you're from and how you got there and being able to hear stories about and sometimes you feel think you hear things from teachers that you know, you may not, you may not know, and it connects maybe somewhere in those six degrees of separation to your hometown or something. So it gives you an opportunity to learn more about your, your team and and things like that. So that was a really good high point for me was being able to share some really big highs in my life too, like you know the birth of my son and being able to share that with my. You know my teaching and uh and my with my teacher.
Josh Rowan:Sorry, we definitely had some. You know we had some lows, we definitely had some. You know some instances that happened at our buildings where we've had to, where we had to have, uh, police presence involved, and you know things like that, and those are scary things, especially as a first year. That and those are scary things, especially as a first-year administrator, and those are. Those are also big, important things that people need will look at you as an administrator. How are you going to handle it? How calm are you in the moment? And so they watch for those types of things and so, and again, being able to communicate those things clearly to your other staff and to your other administrative team that are out there, and and things like that. So, um, yeah, the any, every school year, too, is going to have those ebbs and flows. They're going to have those high points and low points every year. Um, as a first year administrator, though, that's probably where you're going to see the most is because you're going to see those in the building, but you're also going to feel those highs and lows, mentally too, you know.
Josh Rowan:So, to answer your question before, did I feel ready? Absolutely not. You know I, mentally you're never 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 with time and learning the process of how each district handles those things.
Josh Rowan:So how do you handle getting the cash boxes to your people during home events? How do you? Where do you get where you're going to station yourself during events to watch for supervision? Um, do you, when do you go make rounds around the building or make rounds around the courts or things like that to make sure kids aren't misbehaving in the building during events? You know those are, those are tough things to do because we're only a two administrator team at our middle school. So it's, um, you know my principal is there as well and she's doing the same thing. So it's just, it takes a lot of working together and making sure we have that well oiled machine going at all times during those events. Yeah, it's not, you're never ready for it, but it just, it just takes time to adjust.
Principal JL:Yeah, you're never ready for it, but it just takes time to adjust. So you kind of hit on a lot of things there I think are really important to kind of bring out. I think how do you communicate with everybody, not just your staff, but your students, your community members? I think that's a big thing, is understanding how to do that, what to communicate, and the clarity of that communication is also really important. Is there anything that you did like oh wait, that got? You had an aha moment Like this is something that if I do it this way, it'll make my, my job easier. Is you have any of those moments throughout the year? Oh yeah, if you did, what are they?
Josh Rowan:Just a lot of. You have a lot of aha moments, you know you, you really learn. Probably the biggest aha moment is you really learn to lean on your administrative assistants in the building, because they are a very crucial piece to how the office runs in that building. So they see everything, you, you know they see everything. They've talked with so many administrators Our two, we have our. They're amazing ladies. They work super hard every day.
Josh Rowan:Um one that we have there who is we kind of consider her the principal secretary.
Josh Rowan:She's been there for 17 years, so she's been there through a number of different administrators and how each one has been different.
Josh Rowan:But she also has a wealth of knowledge of how they've been doing things in the building to kind of help us understand how we want to, how we want to mold our culture here.
Josh Rowan:So I think for any new administrator it's very important really to talk to your administrative assistance, getting to know them and getting to understand, getting them to know like, or getting them to talk to you about like, what they've seen, what they've experienced and kind of what they've seen that has worked, cause I'm sure there were things that she had seen in the last 17 years. I probably didn't work so well, but it's all about what's best for kids and so being able to again reach out to those people and reach out to those resources Cause again people are going to come to you for answers and sometimes you're not going to have those answers, so you have to have, you have to have those resources you can go to and those people that you can talk to um about the district, about the community, about your sports teams, about your activities and what they've done in the past, so that way you can start to learn more about that.
Principal JL:Yeah, I think that's really a smart thing to do, especially as a first year principal, is to lean in on your administrative assistance because, 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 few other administrators. They can help you understand. This is where you're at and, to be honest, they are the backbone of your school because they are the ones that keep things running so you can do your job, and if you don't have a good administrative assistance, it makes your job a lot harder, a lot more difficult when you don't have someone that's in that role that does a nice job. So, josh, let's talk about work-life balance in your first year. You know, I know, you know you're married, you have Ivy, as well as your newborn Graham, balancing your work and your you know, just having the baby and family and all that in that first year. What was that like? How did you do that and do you have any tips for people to help them out with that?
Josh Rowan:you know, I commend my wife so much because there is so much dedication on her part, as you know, as an administrative wife, because there is a lot of sacrifice that I have to make, being away from here because I can't be here. For a lot of times I'm not going to be here for bedtimes or I'm not going to be here for dinner times because of events or if I have meetings or things like that. So I am so grateful because she holds down the fort and does things um all the time. And so, with you know, with our six year old, we finally got ourselves into a good rhythm, probably very early on um with our six year old old, before we found out we were pregnant with our son. But being that our house is only like two and a half blocks away from the middle school, it makes it so much easier. So we're able to, you know, have a system in place of getting things ready to go and having things ready to go when we get out the door. And but with a baby, this coming, you know, know, obviously, with our son, and you know, this next coming year, things are going to be a little bit different, but I little did I know that our babysitter is actually the same, literally the same direction towards the middle school, but it's only like a block and a half so it's all her in the middle school. The our babysitter and our middle school are on the same street so he couldn't have, I mean, I couldn't have written that any better. So that makes it super easy because it's convenient.
Josh Rowan:That kind of makes the hustle and bustle of being a parent of two now, makes it a lot easier. Still doesn't take away from the fact that, hey, we've got two kids now, so now we still man-to-man defense, if you want to say that, but, um, which still makes it easier, but um, so I have that adjustment period with ivy and she's she's doing such a good job at that, and but it's, you know that first week, that first month right now, of survival mode, you're just, you're with the baby night and day, and so my wife and I are doing shifts right now while I'm still finishing up my last week on duty. Um, you know, I'm up by 6, 37 o'clock and I'm out the door by 7, 30 and, and then I, you know I, during the afternoons I come home, I give her a chance to take, you know, to rest for a little while so as I'm getting home from work so I can spend some time with him. But then I take the night shifts so I'm I'm usually up from, you know, four or five o'clock in the afternoon and then I'm uh, I go to bed like 12, 31 o'clock so I give her a chance to get some rest because she does a lot during the day because she's watching two kids by herself. So, but that'll change a lot next week when I'm home for a good amount of time, just us two and we can. We can kind of figure out how that's going to look and we'll get ourselves into a better system.
Josh Rowan:But yeah, it's, it's crazy and you know, as a, as an administrator, you have to learn again. As a teacher, you know there are those things that you do like if you're a coach or if you're, if you're in committees or if you're in things like that. Yeah, there are going to be those sacrifices. But as an administrator it's a different ballgame, because now you, you have the weight of the entire school, they're on your shoulders of how it runs and the culture and how everything is. How everything runs is based on how you do it and how everything runs is based on how you do it.
Josh Rowan:So, yeah, there are going to be nights where I'm there until 7.30, 8 o'clock at a volleyball match or at a basketball game, or I may travel to Papillion on a Saturday for state cross country for our middle schoolers, and so those are things that, as an administrative wife, sometimes it's a very sharp adjustment, because some you enjoy teaching in the same building as your wife, but then all of a sudden now, boom, my husband's an administrator and now he's there from 7 30 until at least minimum of 4 30 in the afternoon. So it's a lot different for so, but we're making it work and it's it just. It's all about, you know, having a good team at home too.
Principal JL:You bet yeah, I mean a lot of people. I mean, if you have a spouse at home and you're they, they are your, your backbone, they're the people that keep the the home going while you're doing your job and being able to do that job. And it's tough. I mean, I love being an administrator but at the same time there's times where you know there is that grind, and when you get into the school year. That's why you know having our time off when we have it is nice, because then we can recharge and get ready for the next year. Because right now we're sitting in that timeframe where you know I got a lot of things already done the next year. Because right now we're sitting in that time frame where you know I got a lot of things already 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 ground running, get some things done, and having a great spouse on buyer side is key.
Principal JL: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 end of your first year of being assistant principal activities director. What advice would you give somebody that's looking into stepping into their first year as a principal that you wish you would have known previously, that something that you learned, that you would say, hey, this is something I learned. I want to give this advice to you so maybe they won't struggle as much, or something they can learn from you from your first year? What advice would you give to new leaders that are going to step into this role brand new started in in this fall well, I think the two most important things that I would tell anybody that's new.
Josh Rowan:Uh, the first thing is don't be afraid to ask questions, is don't be afraid to go to somebody. Um, again, nine times out of ten you're not to get that position. In your hometown, you're not going to be it. Or in the school building that you work in, you know. So you're not going to be familiar with a lot of people that you, that you come across, um, you're going to be the new man or you're going to be the new woman there, and so it's a, it's a new environment, it's a new, it's a whole new, it's a, just, it's a. It's a new environment, it's a new, 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 know nobody, and so don't be afraid to ask questions.
Josh Rowan:You know, get out there and talk to everybody, tried to, you know, introduce myself to as many people as I could. You know, when I first got here and I tried to send out like a welcome email to everybody when they hired me, you know, then, when I got everything set up, I sent an email out to our staff and said hey, I'm super excited to come to Skylar middle school, I can't wait to sit down and talk with you and things. And I did get some you know some emails back from a couple of teachers, but then I really got to know my teachers once I got here. But it's very important when you get there to know your staff and to know your people, don't be that I mean I it's, it does. And it's going to feel different because if you're a teacher for five years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, once you step into that role, it's going to feel a lot different from the administrative side, because people are going to talk to you and address you so much differently and you're not going to be prepared for it because you feel like, hey, we're all in this together, we're all here for the same mission. Yes and no. Because now you're an administrator, now you're the, now that you are the assistant principal, now you're the principal. People are now coming to you for the answers. People are coming to you to see this ship run in its best, and so it's going to be a different.
Josh Rowan:It's going to be a different beast, but being able to sit down as a person, you know, and that's what I tried to do when I first got here was sitting down just 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 member of the military. Thank you for your service. Those simple things.
Josh Rowan:When they figure those things out and when they because teachers will they will pick up on that quicker than anything is when they, they notice that you notice, 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 started and I walked into the cafeteria for the first time, a lot of those, a lot of those kitchen staff ladies came up to me and they're like can I help you with something? Can I help you find something? Did you knock them in the right door and I'm like, oh, I'm the assistant principal, and their eyes just like they didn't know what to think. And so, yeah, it's so it's very important to be able to talk to those staff members, even the custodial staff, because their jobs are just as important at keeping the school running than as a teacher or as an assistant principal. And then the second thing I will tell people is presence, presence. Presence is everything you know. When you think of presence, you think of presence is like, oh, being out in the hallways and watching kids and talking to kids in the hallways as they go to class. It's much more than that, you know. Being on the hallways, yes, because you want to be out there and helping, you know, patrol the hallways and monitor and keeping the flow and making sure kids aren't being late. But it's walking into classrooms and seeing and being genuinely interested in what those teachers are doing. Um, not just with observations, but just being able to walk in and just say, hey, I'm just stopping out, we'll see what you guys are doing today.
Josh Rowan:And the kids notice that, um, at events again, being at events and sometimes going to those statewide events. You know, our kids qualified for state cross country for a middle school. I was there, I wanted to be there, I went up to him, I congratulated him, I wish them luck and everything, and the kids recognize that. And then, uh, you know cause. Then they approach you on Monday hey, I saw you at state cross country. Did you see how I finished? And I said, yeah, I got the results. I saw that you did great. You know the kids really pick up on that stuff.
Josh Rowan:So, being present, you know when you think, when you, if you were sitting in your office and there's something that's coming up, where whether it's like a recital, or maybe this teacher emailed you and say, hey, we have 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 teacher emailed me. I can you know if you think about it. You should probably do it Because again the teacher emailed you wanting you to be there. So that teacher is saying please be here. The kids really want to show you what they're doing and so walk into those classrooms, just walk the hallways, you know.
Josh Rowan:Talk to the custodial staff when you see them.
Josh Rowan:Talk to the nurse. You know I got to know the nurse very well. Her office was right next to mine this year, so being able to talk to her and being able to use her as a resource for things is huge, because then you also get to know things about the May 1st rule as an AD. You know, as a teacher I never really understood it, but once you got there and understood what that May 1st rule does with physicals and things like that, it opened your eyes to a whole bunch of things.
Josh Rowan:So they can teach you more about the medical side and the health side about being an AD than any doctor can. They're an invaluable tool there. So, um, it really is amazing to know, once you become an administrator, like, how many invaluable people you have in your building, from your nurses to your administrative assistants, to your kitchen staff, because they they'll, they'll know things that you would have never thought in a million years. So it's never. It's never a bad thing to ask those questions to them. But again, being present there so all that, they see you wherever it's at, whether it's at lunch duty, whether it's at a 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 is extremely important.
Principal JL:Wow, josh, that's a lot, a lot of great advice there that you, that people that are stepping in this role, I would really encourage you guys to do those things. You know, get to know your staff, talk with them, not just your teachers, but your custodial staff, your, your parents, your nurses, your, you know, your support staff, your kitchen staff. Those people matter is they're going to pick up on things before you will. They're going to be able to give you information about students or people before you do, because they will see it before you will. And it's really important to have a relationship because I've had situations where, hey, I saw this kid, does it look? So you know there might be something going on. Could we check in on them? Boom, you know. And so that's really important to do is you know, yes, you're there to help your teachers and your students, but everybody in that building is an important piece to that building running smoothly.
Principal JL:You talked about your administrative assistants. They're huge. Those are people you want to connect with, that you want to build relationships with, but they will also give you great information to help you transition into that role as a principal. And, like you say, ask questions, don't be afraid to ask. Everybody knows, when you're in that first year, you're not going to know everything. Don't pretend to. Don't pretend you know something, because figure it out so you can give someone a good answer, so you can give somebody a good information, so you're not just giving them something to get rid of them, but you're giving them something that's actually usable and valuable for them to use. So those are really great pieces of advice that I would encourage people to really do if they're getting ready to head into that first year of being a principal. And so, josh, this was a great time today. It's hard to believe, man, we're, we're at the end of it and I really appreciate you coming on the show today. Um, is there anything you'd like to say? Um, before we end the show, I don't know.
Josh Rowan:I mean, I don't really think so. I think we've really touched a lot on a girl, a lot of important things here, but I've always enjoyed the podcast. I think you really touch on a lot of things that as an as an educator, but also as a as a administrator, it's easy for both For both sides of the fence to be able to watch this podcast and learn a lot about this stuff, and for people to maybe are on the fence about wanting to be an educational leader, this is also a good podcast to listen to, to be able to say, to give you that boost to get into leadership, because you know, just like we need more teachers, we need more educational leaders Because, just like teaching is a extremely hard job, so is being an administrator and it takes those. We need, those people there that are wanting to be here for our kids.
Principal JL:All right, Josh. Hey, it was great having you on the show. I really appreciate the endorsement of the show. See you down the road, Josh. Talk to you later.
Josh Rowan:All right, sounds great, jeff, thank you,
Principal JL:what a great episode with Mr Josh Rowan.
Principal JL:His story is a reminder that you don't have to take the traditional path to make transformational impact. If you're a new or aspiring leader, take Josh's words to heart Lead with intention, stay grounded in your purpose and don't be afraid to grow. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a colleague, leave a review and join us the next time for more conversations that empower and inspire the leaders of today and tomorrow. Until next time, be 1% better.
