Our old principal was very political (for lack of a better term) and really schmoozy with parents, but most of the kids didn't like her. She finally retired, and our new principal is fabulous with the kids, but has set alot of parents on edge by not being very adult-friendly.If they could spend a day watching her interact with their children they would probably have an entirely new opinion of her. She is a great person once you get to know her.

I agree with LUV, our second grade teacher for our son drives me crazy (she likes to baby talk sometimes) but he just loves her. And our first grader has a teacher that I love but not many parents are crazy about her.

My sister's sister-in-law is a Principal for an small K-6 school. My sister is amazed how different she is with the kids and the parents and how she can just switch gears so quickly! Hopefully your teacher/principal will surprise all of you!

From personal expereince I can tell you that you can't always judge someone's teaching ability based on how they interact with adults. My daughter had a kindergarten teacher who when we went to our first conference gave us a very bad impression. Our daughter, however, absolutely adored her. After I began volunteering in the classroom and got the opportunity to watch her at work and get to know her, I figured out that she was not really comfortable with adults until she got to know you really well, but with kids she was terrific. We actually requested her two years later when our son entered school!

As for the school board letting her go back to teaching for a year, it sounds like they are trying to be a good employer and help an employee who is having a difficult family situation. Again I can speak from personal experience. I had the same thing happen and luckily I work for a company who has high regard for family and gave me the opportunity to modify my schedule to meet my family's needs.

If she is having problems dealing with parents currently, it could be related to the stress in her own life too. I guess I'm all for giving people the benefit of the doubt and hoping I'll find in the end that they are not so bad.

She has asked for a year off so that she can spend more time with her son. He is going into first grade at another school district. She I guess has had a hard time with him lately and would like to be able to work on it then go back to the principal position. She seems to think that she will have more time with her son as a teacher then will be able to go back to a principal position.

It sounds to me like she needs a minimum amount of time in the classroom to qualify for some job or specicialization, and is going back to get one more year. Is that a possibility?

I could understand a principal thinking "Administration is not for me I want back in the classroom." I do not understand why 1 year then back again? Who will take her place? Even if there is a shortage of teachers for second grade it looks to me like the school board would look into other solutions. Can you give us some more info. This sounds very puzzling to me.