Episode 7: Dr. Sam Sircey and Perspectives

Today I’m joined by Dr. Sam Sircey, the Principal of North Buncombe High School in Weaverville NC.Sam is here with us today to explore perspective taking!

Dr. Sam Sircey:

“If we can’t get a new perspective, we can become complacent and compliant. That’s okay if we are only here to behave well, but we are here to learn.”

“Faculty meetings – we are there to learn something.”

“If we forget that they [students] want to be part of the discussion, then its’s not going to go well.” 

“The relationships my teachers have with their students is more valuable than the content. I’ve always known that, but I don’t think I’ve ever embraced that.

“We need to start with what we can do before we can get to what we want to do.”

“They didn’t need me [to be down in the weeds with them], they needed me to be the person who had the answers.”

“The role of the AP is the most rewarding of anything. The principal role… isn’t that same ‘in the moment’ reward that you would get as an assistant principal.”

“My feelings of accomplishment have more to do with what they [APs] do than what I do.”

“Public school is a good place to be… what we do here has purpose, meaning, and value.”

“Being a principal and assistant principal is hard – and worth every minute of it!”

Frederick

“I forget I have a mountain view until the leaves fall off the trees. As leaders, we can become accustomed to a particular view, so much so that we forget what other views look like.”

“It’s the spirit of working together, which has to begin by acknowledging what the context is.”

“Boundaries provide structure and structure provides safety. If I don’t know where the boundaries are then things are unsafe.”

“You have established a leadership culture where we come together.”

Links:

My email: [email protected]

The Assistant Principal Podcast website: https://www.frederickbuskey.com/appodcast.html

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