Kimberly Vaiana is a principal in San Francisco, Education is her second career and she has spent most of the 20 plus years in middle school. She’s been an administrator in both high school and middle school. Currently she has been serving her middle school community, as principal, for the last three years. She was born and raised in San Francisco and have raised my children in the East Bay where she taught and worked in partnership with families and teachers for the future of our world.
* The core of who I am is about meeting and getting to know people.
* Getting kids to learn their story and share it.
* Starting brand new with people she never met before.
* The first thing you do as a principal is don’t change anything.
* Getting to know their why.
* I met with every single staff member.
* It is every staff member, not just the teachers.
* All staff members have an impact on our kids.
* Status quo was easy. It was easy to just do your job.
* Playing games. Sharing pictures.
* once we got to know each other, we could then start to share the other things we were doing.
* Why is it important to get to know people informally instead of formally?
* It’s really about how we relate to one another.
* When I was a teacher, I wanted people to come and see.
* When I became an admin, visiting classrooms was crucial to me.
* I can see the activities, and I can speak to those things.
* Communication - newsletters. Making sure that every parent and guardian is in my newsletter.
* Morning Virtual Visit with Vaiana!
* Purple hair being out there.
* I share the story of the things we are doing on this campus.
* Recognition
* Making a phone call and sending a text message.
* Changes - Recognizing the students and their needs. Using advisory periods appropriately.
* Grading - sticky area.
* Why is it important, and is it something we should always hang on to?
* Reworking the lunch system.
* By building relationships first, we can make the changes needed.
* How to be a transformative principal? Have a conversation with your staff, each person. See the people in front of you. We say hello and goodbye!
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