When teachers go on strike, principals are left in the building and in the lurch. You're caught in the middle—y'all want to support your teachers, but you work for the district. So, how can yous walk the line and support teachers without taking sides?

i. Brand your role clear.

Teachers may non know the function you lot have to play during a strike. Yeah, y'all're part of "management," but y'all can agree with the teachers' position and avoid existence "the man." Communicate that y'all back up your staff, encourage their civic duty, and permit them know you'll hold down the fort while they're gone, whether that's keeping the school advice tree up to date with information or managing a new staff of subs.

2. Be prepared.

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If your teachers go on strike, you may exist in charge of a classroom or a cafeteria full of students. When teachers are on strike, they worry their students, who still have to come up to school. The good news is that teacher strikes don't come out of nowhere. As a strike approaches, ready plans (worksheets, online assignments, thoughtfully curated movies) to assistance kids go along on learning while your teachers are out. And exist certain to let teachers know that their students volition miss them and that some learning (or at least practice) will still be happening.

iii. Encourage instructor leaders to join the picket line.

If y'all have teachers who are aspiring leaders, they may feel caught in the centre between wanting to strike and feeling like they demand to maintain good relationships with school leadership. Permit them take a side while yous take the role of "management" during the strike. You're letting them participate in an of import advocacy activity, modeling how to be an effective leader during stressful times.

four. Wake upward early.

Turn your alarm clock back an hr and arrive at school before picket lines form and then you don't take to cross them. When y'all avoid crossing the spotter line, you tin stay equally neutral as possible and avert the possibility of confrontations with teachers who may experience the need to call out your stepping through their line.

five. Maintain the communication channels.

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Keep information on the school website and social media channels upwards to appointment for teachers and families. This will help families know what to wait and alleviate some of the brunt on teachers.

6. Don't fall into using old tropes.

Your teachers are striking for a reason—college pay, smaller class sizes, etc.—that will likely make your work easier as well. When you talk to your teachers, avoid former stereotypes about instruction, like "nosotros're here for the kids" or "we wouldn't teach if we didn't beloved it." That can be condescending and doesn't communicate the importance of how your teachers feel. Instead, admit the complex piece of work that teachers practise every twenty-four hour period and concord that you recall they deserve more.

7. Put relationships first.

After the strike ends and the dust settles, your relationships with teachers will remain. In one case the dust settles, you accept the opportunity to constitute and expand your positive school civilization. So, welcome teachers back to the edifice with smiles and handshakes. Treat it similar the commencement day of schoolhouse, because in a mode it is.

How have you lot supported teachers during a strike? Have yous been a teacher on strike and (non) felt supported by your principal? Share your tips in the Principal Life Facebook group.