Michael is a High School Principal with Osseo Area Schools. He runs us through all of the standard tasks expected of a school principal, such as human resources, budgeting, facilities maintenance, and educational course; but with a passion for education and growth, Michael’s day doesn’t stop there. He takes time to ensure both his students and faculty have access to the knowledge and personal fulfillment they deserve to find their truths.
Transcript
Michael Lehan, Principal of Osseo Senior High School in the Osseo Area School District. My job entails everything from HR, from hiring, from a economic standpoint, from how am I doing going about budgeting, from a social emotional standpoint, just checking in with students, from a facility standpoint, you know, what is the... How did the classrooms look? Do we need additions here. So the job of a principal really covers many, many, gadgets many, many career fields. And it's all tied up in a nice little bow on a daily basis for us to do. I am up, I'm usually at school about 5:30, between 5:00 and 5:30 in the morning, and I often don't leave until five o'clock in the evening, and that's if we don't have after school activities After school activities, whether it be arts, music, arts, or plays, or sporting events. Those often don't start until seven o'clock so getting home closer to nine or 10 o'clock at night. So days can be incredibly long. It needs to be collaborative. Sometimes when you have a building, In my building I've got about 2200 students, I have over 120 staff members. So to be coherent in message between each of the stakeholder groups, it can, it can certainly be a challenge. So there's opportunities that I like to have and what I call it is learning lunches, and learning lunch is just where I go to a forum room in our building, and I say, hey, staff members if you want to come down, come down, let's have lunch. Let's break bread together. If there's questions that you have, please ask them. If there's more information that you need about something, ask those questions or I can provide that. But we need to be well informed, collectively in order to get the job done for and on behalf of our communities and our scholars that we serve. I want students to feel comfortable, and have a sense of agency to have that meaningful dialogue that meaningful discourse, in a means that's going to prepare them for college and career. And so they can articulate their thoughts in a really streamlined manner and be heard. And so I think, at the high school level that is a training ground for that sort of experience, so called into the principal's office that is, that can be a good thing at times, it can be a not so good thing at time. But as long as they're learning, and as long as there's care, and the outcome is clearly defined by both parties, hopefully it was a productive conversation.
Download transcript