Thank you all for your advice. I'll let you know how it goes!
To answer the one posters questions, yes they did a search and yes they need work. There is a new pastor of the church and things are changing. The old pastor was quite elderly and old school and they know they need to be more transparent and will be doing so in the email they send to families and the phone calls they make to teachers on the evening they let the current director go.
This center has no processes in place...no evaluation system, no handbook, no accountability. I have experience building a program from dust, so I will bring those structures to them, eventually. They know this will be a process and that some teachers may leave in the midst of it, but we all are prepared for that and plan to build a high-quality program for the children and families!
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Janelle Schmidt
Director
Bel Air MD
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-21-2019 05:54 AM
From: Janelle Schmidt
Subject: Incoming Director question
Hi everyone!
I have been selected to be the incoming Director of a center who will let their old director go. No one knows. The board is unsure of how this will go, and we have a plan in place, but my question is: has anyone else been in this situation before? How do I attempt to start a positive relationship with the teachers who seem to like the outgoing Director? I have been a Director for 17 years at the same center, and when I came aboard back then everyone knew. Still, when I introduced some new expectations, one after school teacher walked out and didn't come back. I am not afraid of that, but I would like to avoid it since there will be 77 children that still need care that day. I am hopeful the teachers stay because they need a job and care about the kids, but who knows. The program has been so dysfunctional, anything can happen. I am thinking I spend my first days observing in classrooms, meeting parents and children, and maybe talking with teachers one on one? Thoughts?
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Janelle Schmidt
Director
Bel Air MD
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