Kimberly Moritz BlogPosts

Okay, here’s the deal. Several readers have emailed to encourage me to keep writing. You’ve said we need your voice out here, especially now, as an assistant superintendent.  On the contrary, my friend David, who does a job similar to my new job in another district, called today and said, “see, that’s why I was struggling to blog when as a principal, you were writing away.” And readers know my own superintendent has tried and struggled to find a place for a superintendent’s voice on the blog. So if I’m going to write at this point, it’s going to be about the transition because that’s what’s on my mind, as I drive home and when I wake up.

About transitions, I’ve been through them before. From teacher to dean of students in Pine Valley. To Assistant Principal at Frontier Middle. To High School Principal at Randolph. To High School Principal at Gowanda. I like change. The transitions went well.

Maybe I was able to write as a principal because I was confident in that position.  It served as a great reflective practice for me. Often, comments received were about how transparent and authentic I was. Risky. Some colleagues questioned the wisdom of my honesty, my putting it all out there. I was so passionate about my topic, my job, and my kids that I wrote fearlessly, secure in the knowledge that I always had everyone’s best interest in mind.

What do I write now? Do you really want to read about our upcoming staff development? Or my need and search for training in grant writing?  Do I write about my research on annual professional performance reviews? How about gradebook training or the decision about who’s getting the 18 interactive whiteboards and why? I’m not sure anyone really wants to read all that. And if I’m as transparent and honest as I was when writing for the past 14 months, I’m not sure I’m ever going to be as passionate about those responsibilities as I was about my principal responsibilities.

A little perspective. My friend with the same job says it will get better. We’re only seven days of school into it and next week I’m planning to spend time in the classrooms at the middle school and elementary school. That should be very good for me. Problem is, they’ll be someone else’s kids in someone else’s classrooms in someone else’s school. Does that problem make sense to anyone? Maybe I just need to get my butt in gear and make this job what I want it to be, what it should be to drive our district forward. Or maybe I just gave up the best job of my life.

See why I’m not writing?