-: If you want to be a principal,
first of all you have to have teaching experience.
And as I stated,
I really believe that the classroom teaching experience
is the best preparation for the principal's chair.
No doubt about it.
Some of the other classes that I found to be
particularly helpful had to do with public speaking
and business along the way.
Particularly organizational business,
organizational leadership.
These are things that definitely helped me.
And certainly public speaking and being able
to practice public speaking was very, very powerful.
I didn't realize how much accounting I would end
up doing as a high school principal
or even a middle school principal.
So, that in balancing the budget,
a several million dollar budget,
certainly having that accounting
experience definitely would help.
I did receive my Masters in educational leadership
from Nova Southeastern University.
That is ultimately how I got credentialed
in educational leadership in the state of Florida.
Once I became an assistant principal,
my school district, Orange County Public Schools,
took me through a preparing principals program,
which then allowed me to credential as a principal.
I decided that I wanted to expand my skill set
in the event that maybe I didn't want
to stay on the school side of education.
And I did receive a Masters in business administration
before I went back and got my Doctorate
in educational leadership.
I'm looking for somebody who can multi-task.
I'm looking for somebody who can be graceful
under pressure.
I'm looking for somebody who genuinely enjoys
working with people
and particularly young people.
I'm looking for folks that want
to make a difference.
I'm looking for folks that definitely
believe that education is that great equalizer
and that every student has a potential
that we can help them reach.
And if you believe in the development of human capital,
then education is your industry.