Principal Rotation Reflections

Skylar A Tomblin
West Virginia State University
Educ 650- Internship

1. Ms. Sue McComas, Assistant Principal, smccomas@k12.wv.us, 304-824-6000

2. Virtual County Wide Principal’s Meeting. The meeting started off with updates. Tomorrow is
the deadline for Teacher of the Year packets and Mr. Midkiff has only received 3. Current
faculty needs to recruit and encourage candidates to bid on open positions. Watch the
MetaMetrics webinar and share with staff. Webinars will be on Lexiles 101 and Quantiles 101.
These are introductions to the framework that will be used. Mr. Midkiff spoke about reopening
concerns and that since he and the assistant superintendent, Mr. King, will be retiring at the end
of the month, we are unsure if the hired superintendent will make further changes to the possible
plan.

3. 6/15/2020

4. Observing: 2 hrs
Participating: 50 hrs
Leading: 48 hrs

1. Ms. Sue McComas, Assistant Principal, smccomas@k12.wv.us, 304-824-6000

2. Virtual LCHS Principal Meeting. If students have not picked up their summer packet, we will
send out an all call and they will be able to pick it up on Friday. Summer coaching will take
place for 3 weeks, which will be the last 3 weeks of July, the 6th-24th. Mr. Midkiff has not
canceled that yet. The school is having issues with faculty not following Policy 4350 on social
media. The 4 admins are going to have a FERPA meeting next week to address the violations
and possible write ups. The Model Schools Conference is coming up and the administrators need
to finalize travel plans. Ms. McComas introduced me as her intern and noted that we would be
working on sending out EBT cards to students tomorrow, (June 17). 504, SAT, and IEP did not
have annual meetings. Ms. McComas will have me go through the files of students that did not
have annual meetings and go ahead and schedule 1 every Tuesday and Thursday starting August
25. If schools do not reopen, the meetings will obviously be postponed.

3. 6/16/2020

4. Observing: 2 hrs
Participating: 50 hrs
Leading: 46 hrs

1. Ms. Sue McComas, Assistant Principal, smccomas@k12.wv.us, 304-824-6000

2. I met with Ms. McComas at LCHS at 9am. She taught me how to look students up on WVEIS
and then we began confirming that we had all EBT cards ready to send out to students. This took
until about 12:00. We ate lunch while discussing how COVID impacted her as a principal. She
said it was very overwhelming and stressful as a principal and parent. She has twins that are
graduating this year and have been upset over losing their senior year. I started rescheduling 504,
SAT, and IEP meetings that were canceling due to school closing. For each one that I scheduled,
I had to fill out a form to send to their parents notifying them of the meeting, and sealed it in an
envelope to be ready to mail. I did not get this project complete before we left at 3 and will finish
it on Friday.

3. 6/17/2020

4. Observing: 6 hrs + 1 hr for reflection = 7hrs

Participating: 50 hrs
Leading: 39 hrs

1. Ms. Sue McComas, Assistant Principal, smccomas@k12.wv.us, 304-824-6000

2. I came back today at 8am (Friday, June 19) to help Ms. McComas finish working on
rescheduling meetings and sending out parent notification. I am going to North Dakota
tomorrow, so we will be working together virtually until I come back on July 2nd. I finished
rescheduling meetings at 10 and then she showed me how to prepare for a graduation. I had to
pull student transcripts and highlight all required credits to double check their eligibility. We
then ensured that we pulled their actual diploma and organized them alphabetically. If names had
odd pronunciations, I had to note that for Mr. Mathis when he announced names at graduation. I
was with Ms. McComas when the administrators decided to cancel prom due to the venue
refusing to confirm. As soon as the cancellation post was made, we had an overwhelming
amount of angry parent calls. She allowed me to have my first experience dealing with this issue,
which she says happens way too often. I was literally on the phone with parents for a solid two
hours. We tried to strategize a plan but we thought of everything, and we could not find a venue
for such a short notice and with the funds that were available. The prom coordinator last year
stole the prom money, so she explained how she dealt with that situation. We left the school at
3pm.

3. 6/19/2020
4. Observing: 7 hrs + 1 reflection= 8 hrs
Participating: 50 hrs
Leading: 31 hrs

1. Ms. Sue McComas, Assistant Principal, smccomas@k12.wv.us, 304-824-6000

2. I made it to North Dakota and got settled (a little bit). The four administrators at LCHS met
via Zoom to discuss PD for days before school starts and for the PD days up until December. Ms.
McComas said she knows plans may be different in the fall but wanted to get them scheduled so
she can contact possible speakers. She let me join in and tell the other administrators about my
research and how I was comparing views of the effectiveness of distance learning. They gave me
their personal experiences and advice for when they did their research for their graduate program
years ago. They all agreed that there wasn’t anything new going on besides angry parents over
prom and them demanding to know plans for the fall.

3. 6/23/2020

4. Observing: 2 hrs
Participating: 50 hrs
Leading: 29 hrs

1. Ms. Sue McComas, Assistant Principal, smccomas@k12.wv.us, 304-824-6000

2. Virtual Leadership meeting with Mr. Midkiff and all principals in the county. Mr. Midkiff
stated that updates are getting pretty boring as he's retiring in just a few days. The new
superintendent that was hired also joined to get the feel of how Mr. Midkiff conducts these
meetings. Maintenance did some safety checks and if their school had an issue, Mr. Midkiff will
pass that info on to Mr. Kelley, new superintendent. Mr. Kelley will take over all duties on July
1st. If principals can work from home, Mr. Midkiff and Mr. Kelley agreed to allow it as long as
he can get in contact with principals if needed. Mr. Kelley wants to implement more leadership
opportunities for teachers. Principals need to come up with a list of different committees that
could be implemented. For example, he mentioned the Culture Committee, Parent Mentor
Committee, on top of Leadership Teams, have Department Leads for ELA, Math, Science, Social
Studies, CTE. The committee do not have to have members, do not bother teachers about this
right now... just have committee ideas. Lastly, graduation is tonight. Please communicate with
staff that is attending. They will receive stipends for working because this is technically outside
of their contract. They must wear a mask to avoid negativity and they must ensure that everyone
is following the CDC guidelines. Ask them to arrive at 5:45 so Mr. Midkiff can review the
guidelines before graduates arrive. There were no other updates.

3. 6/26/2020

4. Observing: 2 hrs
Participating: 50 hrs
Leading: 27 hrs

1. Ms. Sue McComas, Assistant Principal, smccomas@k12.wv.us, 304-824-6000

2. Ms. McComas found a few PD opportunities that she ensured me to take part in, and she
watched them as well. We Zoomed after the Webinar to reflect on it and how it was relevant to
her school. This webinar was called “How Can We Safely Reopen Schools in the Fall? The
presenters were Wendy Armstrong, which is on the IDSA Board of Directors and a professor at
Emory University School of Medicine, and Tina Tan, which is also on the IDSA Board of
Directors, works at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and a professor at Northwestern
University Feinburg School of Medicine. They started off with stating that it’s clear the economy
is relying on our public education system for true recovery from the virus. The women discussed
what is known about COVID-19, it’s impact on children and youth, and how we can help
mitigate risks for transmission in schools for students and staff.

3. Watched, and Zoomed with Ms. McComas 6/26/2020

4. Observing: 2 hr webinar, 1 hr reflection, 1 hr Zoom meeting with Ms. McComas reflecting= 4

hrs
Participating: 50 hrs
Leading: 23 hrs

1. Ms. Sue McComas, Assistant Principal, smccomas@k12.wv.us, 304-824-6000

2. Ms. McComas found a few PD opportunities that she ensured me to take part in, and she
watched them as well. We Zoomed after the Webinar to reflect on it and how it was relevant to
her school. This webinar was called “Unpacking the Federal Response to COVID-19 in
Education.” The presenters were Scott Palmer, Sean Worley, and Kenneth W. Austin. The men
talked about how the coronavirus has presented challenges in education and that Congress passed
the CARES Act that will provide $2 trillion in spending and more than $30 billion to support K-
12 and higher education programs. They explained how the CARES Act will relate to education
programs, funding waivers provided by law, issues relating to the CARES Act, actions for
district and administrators to maximize federal funding, and looking ahead for further federal
action to support recovery in schools.

3. Watched Webinar 6/27/2020, Zoom Meeting with Ms. McComas 6/29/2020

4. Observing: 2 hr webinar, 1 hr reflection, 1 hr Zoom meeting with Ms. McComas reflecting on

webinar= 4 hrs
Participating: 50 hrs
Leading: 19 hrs

1. Ms. Sue McComas, Assistant Principal, smccomas@k12.wv.us, 304-824-6000

2. Ms. McComas found a few PD opportunities that she ensured me to take part in, and she
watched them as well. We Zoomed after the Webinar to reflect on it and how it was relevant to
her school. This webinar was called “Building a Culture Before and After COVID-19.” The
presenters were Timothy Rankin, Jeremiah Bull, Kimberly Damcott, and Sandra Means. The
presenters were all from Pennsylvania and discussed how they will enhance their learning
environments to ensure success, safety, and social emotional well-being of students and staff.
They discussed ways they were building school culture prior to school closings, and what they
project for the future after the school closing.

3. Watched 6/29/2020, Zoomed meeting with Ms. McComas to discuss on 6/30/2020

4. Observing: 2 hr webinar, 1 hr reflection, 1 hr Zoom meeting with Ms. McComas= 4 hrs

Participating: 50 hrs
Leading: 15 hrs

1. Ms. Sue McComas, Assistant Principal, smccomas@k12.wv.us, 304-824-6000

2. Ms. McComas found a few PD opportunities that she ensured me to take part in, and she
watched them as well. We Zoomed after the Webinar to reflect on it and how it was relevant to
her school. This webinar was called “During COVID-19 and Beyond: Sustainable Strategies for
Virtual Recruitment, Selection, and Hiring of Teachers and School Leaders.” The presenters
were a team from the D.C. Public Schools Office of School Improvement and Supports. They
discussed how school districts have adapted, innovated, and collaborated to recruit, select, and
hiring professionals. The presenters discussed best practices for recruitment, selection, and hiring
that can help when adapting to a virtual education system.

3. Watched 6/30/2020, Zoomed with Ms. McComas 6/30/2020

4. Observing: 2 hr webinar, 1 hr reflection, 1 hr Zoom with Ms. McComas discussing webinar=

4 hrs
Participating: 50 hrs
Leading: 11 hrs

1. Ms. Sue McComas, Assistant Principal, smccomas@k12.wv.us, 304-824-6000

2. I traveled home from North Dakota for Independence Day so I decided to get some last
observation hours with Ms. McComas so we did not have to meet through Zoom. My flight
landed at 10am, so I went straight to the school. I watched a virtual meeting with the
superintendent and administrators discussing options for school reopening. Ms. McComas was
able to use her notes from the webinar to discuss strategies with other administrators. I thought
that was awesome because she had knowledge that other administrators in the county had, which
was impressive to the newly hired superintendent. That meeting really encouraged me to take
advantage of professional development opportunities on a topic when you know a meeting with
the superintendent is coming up. After the meeting, we reviewed student schedules for the
upcoming year with the plan of reopening. If schools do not reopen, I organized student
schedules by class so they will be easy to enter into a virtual system. She had a new family come
in that was enrolling their children, so I learned how to enroll students and give a tour, and all the
information needed to a family when starting at a new school. We both left the school at 5pm.

3. 7/1/2020

4. Observing: 7 hrs + 1 hr reflection= 8 hrs

Participating: 50 hrs
Leading: 3 hrs

1. Ms. Sue McComas, Assistant Principal, smccomas@k12.wv.us, 304-824-6000

2. This is my last day with Ms. McComas. I only needed 3 hours and she had a doctors
appointment in the afternoon, so it worked out perfectly. We reviewed an assignment pertaining
to an improvement plan and she related it to the school’s actual improvement plan. The
superintendent had another meeting with administrators reviewing a draft 1:1 Device Student
Contract, as Lincoln County hopes to convert for the 2020-2021 school year. She reviewed my
evaluation with me and then it was time for both of us to leave.

3. 7/3/2020

4. Observing: 4 hrs
Participating: 50 hrs
Leading: 0