Your First Year as Principal: Don't Change the School, Understand It

Resist the urge to fix everything on day one. In this eSchool News article, a principal who has led in multiple schools shares four things new principals can do to strengthen school culture before launching a single initiative.

The writer has seen the same pattern over and over: new principals want to prove themselves right away, and quick changes often leave staff feeling that the new leader has decided what's broken without learning why things are the way they are. The alternative offered is that, apart from urgent child-safety issues and district mandates, the first year is for understanding the school. 

The four practices:

1. Invest in relationships before initiatives. Get to know everyone on campus, from custodians and front-office staff to students and teachers, through short one-on-one conversations, focus groups, or surveys, depending on the size of your school. Ask what people enjoy, what makes their work harder, and what support they'd like. Be visible in hallways and at arrival and dismissal.
2. Observe and appreciate what is already working. Get out of your office, notice strengths, and say so through a note, text, hallway comment, or staff-meeting shout-out. The writer suggests a goal of authentically appreciating three people a day, while tracking who you're noticing so it isn't always the most visible staff. Think of each moment as a deposit in a trust account.
3. Understand before you change. Hold off on new programs. Ask what has been tried before, why it started, and what problem it was meant to solve. The writer's own example: a year of listening, surveys, and student focus groups at a new middle school shaped a homegrown advisory and social-emotional learning program that is thriving five years later.
4. Find your own leadership true north. Identify the guiding principle that will keep you grounded when decisions get hard. For this writer it's the question "What is best for kids?" Rather than rushing a vision statement, let your guiding principle emerge over time.

The closing point: the principal sets the tone for school culture, and the strongest leaders listen, appreciate what's working, learn the history, and earn trust before introducing new ideas.

Discussion Questions for Mentor/Mentee Teams

1. Building Relationships: What specific strategies are you currently using to build relationships across all campus roles (custodians, front-office staff, teachers, students), and how can you ensure you're reaching beyond the most visible staff members?
2. Noticing & Appreciating Strengths: How do you intentionally observe and celebrate what is already working well in your school, and what simple system could you use to track your daily appreciations?
3. Understanding History Before Change: Reflecting on current school routines or programs, how can you gather deeper context about past efforts and why they were started before proposing adjustments?
4. Defining Your True North: What core principle grounds your decision-making when choices get tough, and how is that principle showing up in your day-to-day actions?
5. Mentor/Mentee Collaboration: Which of the four practices feels most natural to you right now, and which one would benefit most from processing together in the mentor/mentee partnership?

Read the full article: "4 things new principals can do to strengthen school culture", eSchool News, August 10, 2026.