Q: Introduce yourself
A: Madison, Syrus. I teach advanced chemistry at Lebanon Trail. This is my fifth year teaching, and I’m also an admin intern.
Q: Why do you want to be an AP next year?
A: I’ve always really enjoyed having leadership. I really think that my personality and the things that I can offer would be best suited in an administrative role. I love teaching, and I love the relationships I have with my students, but I feel like it’s limited because I only have the relationship with my students that I get each year, so that’s 150 kids. But then whenever I become an AP, I can have relationships with every single student at the school. I know some people look at it as, ‘Well, you’re only going to have a relationship with the bad kids.’ But you get to see really amazing things too. I think that even if we have kids [who] maybe don’t make the smartest decisions, then I can have an impact on their lives in a positive way.
Q: What motivated you to change your career pathway?
A: My mom, she’s in education. She teaches the tiny humans, though, or she did. But she taught for 20 years and then she became an elementary principal for nine years. She is now a director of all early childhood and Prosper ISD. I think just seeing her do that, I really wanted to do that for myself also.
Q: Are you going to miss teaching chemistry? Why or why not?
A: Absolutely. Definitely, if you would have asked me three years ago or two years ago, I wanted to be an AP. But if you had asked me when I wanted to do that, it would have been 10, or 15 years from now. But I think with how education is going today, there are a lot of things that teachers deal with that I’m okay dealing with, but I feel like I deserve to be paid more.
Q: Who is going to be taking over your job after you become an AP?
A: I have no idea. That won’t be for another year, so I don’t really know because I’ll still be teaching chemistry next year. Next year, I will have an admin intern period. Right now, I go down there in my conference period, but I’ll actually have an admin intern period. I know they are having to hire somebody because I lost a section [that I used to teach]. But I don’t know who will take over, but they’ve got big shoes to fill.
Q: When are you going to be an AP?
A: I graduated with my Masters in August. After graduation, I have to take a certification test. It’s the principal test. Then I also have to do a passel, which is fairly new, probably in the last five years. They made it another requirement. It’s this long project that has a lot of data and all that stuff that goes into it. My plan this school year is to work on passing my test and then work on my passel. My hope is that this year will be my last year teaching. Then by the 2024-2025 school year, I’d love to be in an assistant principal role, hopefully within two years.
Q: Do you think being an AP is going to be harder than your current job? Why or why not?
A: I think every job comes with its different responsibilities and expectations. I think with how organized I am and how efficient, I will fit in that role very well and I like the fast-paced stuff. I also think that in some sense, when you become an AP, yes, you’re dealing with students, but you deal with parents more. Sometimes, like I’ve always said with my job, dealing with parents is harder than dealing with the kids.
Q: What are some of the responsibilities that you will be taking on?
A: Everything. There are a lot of components that go into it. When we have our APs, they’re in charge of [kids according to the alphabet], so A through F. Those are all your kids and you’re looking at everything from their truancy to their grades to their discipline to whether they need to do mastery connect because they failed a quarter. You are having a lot more communication with parents. You have to go through lots of training. Then each AP is [in charge of] a subject. Ms. Cologne is over science, but she’s also over our special education program. Then she’s over certain clubs and organizations. There are lots of things and lots of responsibilities that are completely different.
Q: How are you preparing for the transition?
A: I’m preparing by being an admin intern right now. I’m able to have that transition. I mean, admin work is very different from what teachers do. I think it’s awesome that I’m able to experience it because I think a lot of teachers sometimes don’t realize how busy admins are. One time, I spent a whole day down there. I remember I got home and I was talking to my husband and I literally don’t think I sat down one time. But I love that. I love that quick, fast, and furious stuff. I need a quick pace. I loved having a student teacher last year, but sitting and not teaching makes me want to go crazy because it’s how my body and my brain work. I like to go, go, go. But I also did AOD(admin-on-duty). I was admin on duty at the football games, basketball games. That’s preparing me also because that is a big transition. I will have to do those whenever I become an admin. I won’t be free some nights. Whenever I start a family, that is something that I’ll have to plan for.
