Chapter 11: Mentoring For New Principals in Urban School Districts: One Size Does Not Fit All

The call comes late in the afternoon on Tuesday, August 17th, just 21 days before school is scheduled to begin. The district administrator shares the news, hours before the school board will make it official. Karen is the new principal of South Middle School, one of the most challenging schools in the district with low achievement of students and high poverty in the community. She is elated and shocked at the same time. Having spent the last three years as a middle school assistant principal in a similar urban school, she feels she has a vision for improving South, but the job seems overwhelming. Elated and scared, she calls her former boss to share the news. Her mind is reeling with all of the jobs to do: clean out her old office, move into her new office, look at the student schedules, look at the school data, complete the staffing process, and start building a rapport with her new staff. Karen has to getthe keys to her new school, find out what is in place and what she feels are the first things to change, and get ready to meet teachers on September 7th and the students on September 8th.