For Jennifer Connolly, principal of the 370-student Preston High School in the Bronx, being an instructional leader means actually getting back into the classroom.
Connolly and her two assistant principals teach at least one block-scheduled class [meeting every other day] each semester, both to ease staff scheduling and stay connected to students and teachers. Connolly spoke with Education Week about how she returned to the classroom, and how her dual roles have strengthened each other.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you make the decision to return to teaching as a principal?
We don鈥檛 really have anybody else in our district [who is a teaching principal] that we have to follow. I became principal two years ago, and I made the decision that every administrator鈥攎yself and the two assistant principals鈥攚as going to teach a class, for a couple of reasons. One, we were all teachers and we love it. But the other reason is that teaching during COVID, when we were hybrid, when your administration really couldn鈥檛 comprehend how that felt, there was a big disconnect and people were very unhappy. So I wanted to make sure we understood what teachers and students were going through.
You taught for 18 years before you joined the principalship. How has teaching changed in the time you鈥檝e been doing that?
I taught history and for my last three or four years of being a classroom teacher, I was teaching Intro to Law, Economics, and Government, and a course I created on race, class, gender, and United States history. For the past two years [as a principal], it鈥檚 been our Intro to Law class, which is a senior elective, because I鈥檓 also an attorney. That鈥檚 not going to run next year, so I鈥檓 going to teach a section of economics and government that鈥檚 required for every senior in New York state to take.
There鈥檝e been huge changes. Some of it is in content, right?
Like, I teach a law class; up until 2022, we taught Roe v. Wade as kind of the end of the fight for reproductive rights; not the whole end, because you still taught [Planned Parenthood v.] Casey and Whole Women鈥檚 Health [v. Hellerstedt rulings]. But then there鈥檚 the Dobbs [v. Jackson Women鈥檚 Health Organization] decision in 2022, and all of a sudden you have to really change your curriculum. 鈥� There鈥檝e been these huge events that have changed the content of what I taught, but also how you teach is different.
[For] the course I created on race, class, and gender, I did not want to give that course up because I loved it. But if [as a student] you鈥檙e studying U.S. history and society today and you鈥檙e looking at these topics, you really have to question authority. And as a teacher, I felt comfortable having [students] do that, but I knew as the principal, they would not be comfortable in my presence questioning some of these institutions.
Is there something you wouldn鈥檛 have known about as a principal if you weren鈥檛 still teaching?
I think part of it is the need for civil dialogue. I had a student who didn鈥檛 do any of our homework for the last quarter鈥攁nd I think it takes a lot of guts to have the principal as a teacher and not do your homework! I reached out to her and her parents and she did it, but she did it after grades were submitted. Then she emailed me and was like, 鈥淚 can鈥檛 believe you made me do all this homework. I didn鈥檛 get any credit for it. You never gave me a due date.鈥� I was like, 鈥淣o, no, no. You missed all the due dates.鈥�
I think being in that situation, having to have that conversation myself as a teacher, lets me know what teachers are dealing with. If you鈥檙e just in your office, you鈥檙e not as aware of what the teacher-student dynamic is like.
With the upcoming election, we鈥檙e doing a lot of thinking about programming for our students, but also for our faculty, to help them help students have a civil dialogue. I think it鈥檚 lacking in society in general, for people to be able to hear from each other and discuss it without making things personal and actually listening to listen, not to respond. So we鈥檙e going to do some work on that. And that鈥檚 definitely something I鈥檝e noticed being in classrooms, that we need to do more work with students on how we engage with each other.
How do you balance the workloads of being a teacher and a principal?
Ha, not well. I get things done at work. It鈥檚 just my personal life that I don鈥檛 balance well. But it is harder to get things graded. I used to pride myself that if I collected homework on Monday, they had it back graded on Wednesday. And there are just times now with being the principal and a teacher, that鈥檚 not possible. You have to carve out time in your day to say, 鈥極K, yeah, no, I really need to focus and make sure I鈥檓 ready for this class.鈥� But going into the classroom, all three of us [administrators] have said that鈥檚 a break for us. You step out of the office, and for 82 minutes, you get to leave the worries of administration behind and really focus on your students.
Is there any advice you have for a principal who would like to start teaching also?
I think that you have to give yourself some grace that you鈥檙e not going to be the same teacher you were when you were a full-time teacher. Choose classes where you can control [the structure] and it鈥檚 something you love, because if you鈥檙e going back, you want to enjoy that time while you鈥檙e in the classroom.
How can school leaders better mentor teachers to join the principalship?
You have to lead by example, right? I think you have to show teachers that you can make this transition from teaching to administration, but you can still continue to teach. I feel like there鈥檚 the perception鈥攅ven, I had it as a teacher鈥攖hat administration was kind of the dark side, and you didn鈥檛 want to go over to the dark side because they didn鈥檛 really care about actual teaching.
But no! You can still teach, you can be involved with the students [as a principal]. So I think you have to show that you are doing this job because you love it. It鈥檚 helping teachers where they need it, but recognizing teachers as professionals in all that they do, and then showing them that there鈥檚 really not as much of a divide between teachers and administrators as they think.
This was never on my career plan. I was never going to be a principal. I loved teaching. I was [the] history department chair; I was the head of our scholars program. I never really thought I would do this.
And then COVID happened, changes to the school happened, changes to the society happened. And I felt like we needed someone who I knew understood our kids, understood our school, knew our history. And so I threw my hat in the ring and here we are. So even for young teachers who are like, 鈥業 would never,鈥� I think, 鈥榊ou never know.鈥�
