1979 Reflections

     It was August 9, 1979, and I was conducting our first faculty meeting as the new principal of Adamsville Jr./Sr. High School. It was a rather intimidating experience to say the least. Can you imagine standing before a faculty as a young thirty-year-old man and there are those in the audience who have taught longer than you have been alive?

I was following T.E. Chisholm who had been principal for the previous eleven years. He had retired as a legend. My thoughts and emotions were mixed to say the least.  I still have a copy of that faculty meeting agenda. (I have kept important documents and information in eighteen individual notebooks for each year that I was principal.)

As I looked at the 1979-80 notebook, I came across a letter of reprimand which I had issued to a teacher who was continually getting to work late in the mornings. As I reviewed that letter, I observed that it was documented with all the factual information and signatures. I had followed the process to perfection as I told the truth about this man who neglected his professional duty of getting to work on time. I had corrected him verbally several times and with no success before I "wrote him up" and sent a copy of the letter to the Superintendent of Schools. The teacher resigned before the year ended. I never saw him again.

As I read that letter of reprimand, I began to reflect on my decision. Did I handle that situation correctly? How would I do it today? Why was the teacher continually late for work? This I do know. The teacher drove from Jackson, Tennessee, to work in Adamsville  every day. The distance was about forty-five miles. But to this day I don't know why he was continually late. Did he have children to get to school? Was he taking care of someone who was sick? The list could go on and on. I simply did not know the why.

In a few days I am speaking at a church on the goodness of God. My main text will be Psalm 100:5, "For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And his truth endures to all generations." And I am asking myself if I handled the situation with this teacher with goodness, mercy, and truth. Looking back I believe that I got the truth or facts right. But did I strive to correct the problem with goodness and mercy? Could I have handled it better? 

Leadership calls on us to reflect. Over forty years of experience can cause us to examine our decisions from previous years. Great leaders strive to handle problems with goodness, mercy, and truth. I believe today I would handle it differently.