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New Principals, Skilled Leaders
Bill Abraham, Principal of Christopher Elementary School,
on the three L's: Listen, Learn, Lead
What inspired you to become a principal?
It all started when I decided to become a teacher. I was majoring
in engineering in college and started a part-time job as a Teaching
Assistant in a classroom. I loved it! It connected to me. Having
grown up in a lower socio-economic area, I wanted to make a difference.
So I changed my focus in life to make an impact as a teacher.
I taught in LA Unified School District, then relocated to Oak
Grove and worked at Stipe [Elementary]. Eventually I decided to
get into administration. The connect was the impact on society
that I wanted to make. As an administrator, I could make a greater
impact with more students than the 20 I had in my classroom.
What have you learned in your two years
as a principal?
I really believe that teachers are here for students. I think
systematically we lose touch, sometimes because we don't have
success or because we do what feels safe, or we don't have the
support, so I pay attention to that, let my teachers go with their
passion and hold them to my passion, which is student success.
As a principal, I make multiple decisions throughout the day and
I have to hang on to the big picture. I choose my battles, not
that they're battles, but I choose what to focus on. I choose
what gives me the greatest impact on student success.
How has working with PartnersSI helped
your school and your professional development?
We, as all people, have a tendency to work, take a breather, and
work some more. PartnersSI pushes us to work smarter, to really
look at what we're doing and whether we're getting the greatest
impact. Working with Frances [School Partnership Director] and
Kristin [School Improvement Fellow] has been amazing. Frances
and I are on the same page. She's a good thought partner and her
insights have led to some adjustments in how I lead to results.
What are your
future goals?
I can see myself doing many things in the future all in the area
of education, but right now my focus is to work with this population
[of students] and make an impact at Christopher School. I want
to make some systemic changes to combat some of our traditional
problems at Title I schools. For example, we have a lot of teacher
mobility which creates a loss of staff capacity and development
at schools. In other words, when teachers leave, they leave with
the training that has been provided. I want to set up ways to
support team teaching and facilitate teacher leadership. Sometimes
we try to tie people down because it's easier to control them.
But sometimes you have to let people run with things while holding
them to expectations and results while providing support. So I
want to set things in place to do that.
Articles in this issue (Dec 2006):
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