Thomas E. Ferrell, Jr.

Time Management Project

Thomas E. Ferrell, Jr.

Virginia Commonwealth University

Ed.D. Cohort

July 16, 2009

Dr. Whitney Sherman and Dr. Mary Hermann

 Thomas E. Ferrell, Jr.

Time Management Project

A. Personal and Professional Goals

Personal:

• Spend more time with my wife and three boys

• Work out more often in order to stay fit

• Balance work, school, and family more effectively

• Learn to swim

• Get more rest

• Improve my relationship with my oldest son

• Complete doctorate

Professional:

• Turn Meadowbrook High School completely around

 Maintain Accreditation

 Make AYP

 Improve the culture

 Change the perception

 Increase parental and community involvement

 Successfully implement Career Clusters over the next couple of years.

 Complete doctorate

• Network more effectively

• Be more assertive

• Take more chances

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• Spend more time with department heads

B. Analysis of District and School Mission Statements

Chesterfield County Mission Statement: The mission of Chesterfield County Public

Schools is to work in partnership with students, families and the community to ensure that each
student acquires the knowledge, skills and core values necessary to achieve personal success
and to enrich the community.

The Chesterfield County mission statement is one that resonates deeply with me. In fact,
this statement will provide the baseline for one of Meadowbrook’s focuses for this year and
beyond; customer service. During my time in Chesterfield, I’ve worked for four principals and
each one stressed the importance of parental and community involvement in schools. In
addition to providing supreme customer service, each school makes an effort to develop the
individual student. With almost 60,000 students in the system, this is a difficult task. However,
the mission statement really touches the core of what we believe in Chesterfield.

Meadowbrook High School’s Mission Statement: The mission of Meadowbrook High

School is to inspire our students to celebrate our diverse community and to become
contributing, self-sufficient, ethical members of a global society who embrace life-long learning
and pursue excellence in all aspects of their of their work and lives.

This mission statement reads “cookie cutter” to me. However, it’s one that the school
system developed and one that I have to live with. Meadowbrook is probably the most diverse
school in Chesterfield County and we are certainly proud that we accurately reflect the world
that we live in. However, I believe a mission statement should be something that you can
measure. I can’t say that I know how to clearly measure what is in the mission statement for my
school. As your school changes, so should your mission statement. As we look to incorporate
career clusters into Meadowbrook and make them the foundation of our school, I should have
the ability to put a group together to reexamine and possibly create a statement that will reflect
what the focus of Meadowbrook High School will be.

C. Mini Literature Review

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Time management is something that I have always had an issue with; especially if my wife
speaks on this topic. I see managing one’s time wisely and effectively as a skill; one that I am
still trying to acquire. The more education I receive, the more I realize that there has been
research done on just about every imaginable topic. However, I never thought to seek out what
the research says regarding time management.

Zach Kelehear hits the nail on the head when he says that principals and teachers feel
compelled to respond to messages from central-office personnel, colleagues and parents.
Whether I decide to pop into my office to check emails or if I’m in the hall, I feel obligated to
respond to emails instantly; especially from my boss or those above him. This attachment to my
computer or blackberry certainly takes away from time that I can spend in classrooms
monitoring instruction or simply talking to teachers or students.

In talking with many principals, Williamson and Blackburn (2009) have organized strategies
that principals use to manage their time into three steps that include:

1. Assess Where You Are and Where You Want to Be

2. Make Mental Adjustments
3. Create Structures to Support Your Vision

These strategies are a good way to begin the process of managing one’s time more effectively. In
anything that you do, it is critical to assess where you are and determine the direction you would
like to go. The second suggestion by Williamson and Blackburn is one that I have incorporated
into my daily thinking. Making mental adjustments gives you the ability to actually see change
and the end result to what you want to accomplish. Finally, creating structures to support your
vision is how the job gets done. In recognizing the impact that email can have on a principal’s
life, Williamson and Blackburn encourage principals to take control of it. They also recommend
planning weekly or monthly, maintaining a single calendar, and keeping one’s focus.

Gary Hopkins (Education World, 2008) references a closed-door policy that one principal
uses as an effective tool for managing time. During this model, the principal shuts the door to
respond to emails, complete reports, make phone calls, and to complete other tasks. This
approach to time management is one that I have not had any experience with or one that I have
been taught by any of the leaders that I have worked with. However, I can see the value in this
approach. It is critical to make sure that time is set aside for staff members, parents, and
students. Not only will people value the principal’s time, they will also see the time that he/she
sets aside for them as special. Utilizing the closed-door policy also has the potential to give
principals something that they lack; free time in the afternoons or evenings.

Five principals that Hopkins (2008) interviewed point to delegation as being key to
managing time effectively. Principals have assistants and teacher leaders who are more than
willing to take on leadership roles to assist with reaching goals of the school. However, it is
often difficult for principals to let go of the reigns. The message that resonates loud and clear
from each of the five principals is that you can’t do it all by yourself.

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D. Analyze Schools and Staffing, E. Interviews of Practicing Administrators and F.

Conduct survey of teachers

This was probably the scariest portion of this assignment for me. I have only worked
with the teachers in my school for one year and I don’t think they had a real clue about what I
dealt with on a daily basis. One thing that I had to continue to tell myself was that this was
simply the teachers’ “perception” of how I spent my time. I made this survey as simple as
possible by giving the teachers categories to work with. The categories were: instruction,
discipline/parent meeting, building issues (relating to teachers and students), and time outside
the building. I went with these categories and asked teachers to simply add a percentage to them
because this is how I feel most of my time is spent.

Every principal would love to hear that teachers feel that they focus much of their time on
instruction; however that was not the case for me. I surveyed twelve teachers, with 4 being
department heads. Because of the way I run my meetings, the department heads feel as though I
spend more time on instruction than those who are not department heads feel that I do. I don’t
get to the heart of instruction during faculty meetings because I know teachers don’t really pay
attention. However, in my department head meetings, I equip department heads with critical
instructional matters to take back to their departments in smaller groups. If I were to ask
teachers if they saw the principal or their department heads as main instructional leader, they
would more than likely say their department heads. This is despite the fact that they are
delivering my message(s).

Overall, the teachers are under the impression that over 60% of my time is spent out of
the building in meetings or meeting with parents on suspension appeals. I was not surprised that
some of my staff members feel that I am hardly around. If I had to take a wild guess, I would
say that I missed close to 40 days for mandatory meeting, workshops, or conferences. Being out
of the building is one of those things that I could not control as a new principal. However, it is
certainly something that I would like to change.

According to teachers, building matters and instruction make up the rest of my time, with
instruction being at just above 23%. My goal for next year is to send out the same 4 survey
topics and have the teachers perceive that I spend at or over 50% of my time on instruction. I
cannot say that the teachers are way off or even off for that matter. In taking the position at
Meadowbrook last summer, I wanted my main focus to be on instruction. However, I let other
issues get in the way and was not able to maintain my focus.

It would have been interesting to simply ask the teachers to categorize themselves and
add percentages next to how they felt I spent my time. I’m certain that the percentage of time
spent walking the halls and typing on my blackberry would have been pretty high.

Principals

I interviewed 7 principals and assistant principals all with different ranges of experience.
Some of the main themes that came out of my discussions with them were:

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1. Be organized
2. Delegate
3. Take care of yourself
4. Ask for help

Each of the administrators that I interviewed pointed to organization as the key to

success. The means to maintain organization varies; some use a notebook to make to-do-lists,
some use a blackberry or Outlook to manage their time, and some use an old fashioned calendar
that resembles a lesson plan book. Each administrator sites that staying organized allows them to
have a better shot at accomplishing all that they wish to accomplish in a given day or week.
Situations occur that may throw a list completely off, but those lists give administrators a basis to
work from.

Knowing that I am a new principal, each administrator made it a point to tell me to

delegate. The veteran principals understand the pressure that I feel a little more than the newer
administrators. I wonder if that is because they were all asked to keep an eye out for me or if it
is because they have been in my shoes. It appeared as though all of the administrators that I
interviewed were under the impression that I am attempting to be “Superman” under the roof of
Meadowbrook High School by doing everything by myself. However, that is not the case; I
delegate often. I will admit that delegation is still something that I have to continue to work on.
I have competent and hardworking administrators and department heads in place and I need to
trust that they can carry out the goals of the school.

All 7 administrators stressed that I take care of myself. They all acknowledged that I am
in a tough building and that the job can consume me. Since all 7 administrators know me
personally, most of them made it a point to say, “Spend time with your family, Thomas.”

The veteran principals stressed that I asked for help as often as I needed it. They
communicated clearly to me that people want me to succeed and they want Meadowbrook to
become a better school. Too many principals allow their pride to get in the way and they refuse
to seek help from central office. The veteran principals stressed that the “folks” in central office
get paid to assist “us” and that I should call on them as often as I need to.

G. Time Management Journal – One week

Monday
3:30 – 4:30 – Wake up for work, iron shirt, check weather online iron boys’ clothes, and clean off
emails.
5:00 -5:30 – Shave, brush teeth, and shower.
5:35 – 6:00 – Dress Jaden (youngest son) brush his teeth and wash his face, dress myself.
6:35 – Leave to drop Jaden off at the babysitter’s. I usually eat in the car

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6:50 – Greet the ladies at work, turn on my computer.

7:00 – 7:20 – Go to the cafeteria to monitor and clear at 7:15.
7:20 – 7:25 – Push kids into classes.
7:30 – 8:00 – Continue to walk the halls and pop into a few classrooms.
9:00 – Meet with a parent of a young lady over some concerns that she (parent) has.
10:00 – Meet with parent of a student who was suspended for 10 days (marijuana).
11:00 – Meet with parent of a student who wants to appeal a 10 day out of school suspension for
fighting.
11:30 - Meet with parent of a student who cursed at a teacher.
12:00 – Meet with bookkeeper.
1:15 – 1:45 – Walked the 400 hallway, popped into some classrooms.
2:00 – Head to bus loop for dismissal.
2:15 – 4:00 – Complete paperwork, clean off emails, eat lunch (yes after the students leave).
5:00 – Leave work to pick up all 3 boys and head to the house.
6:45 – 8:00 – Eat dinner, check home work.
8:30 – 9:00 – Get the boys in the shower and ready for bed.
9:30 – 9:45 – Drink a beer, spend time talking to Maia (wife).
10:15 – 10:30 – Get ready for bed (brush teeth, wash face, apply moisturizer).
10:31 – Get in the bed and fall asleep to Family Guy or Sportscenter.
Tuesday
3:30 — 6:00 – Same morning routine, but I also knocked off some paperwork this time.
6:25 – Drop Jaden off, then head to Cosby for H.S. principal’s meeting.
7:30 - Meeting began.
1:30 – Meeting ended, but I stuck around to chat for a bit.
3:00 – Bought a garment bag from Target and grabbed a bite to eat.
4:00 – Met up with Derek, Lisa, and Cathy to leave for Fairfax for SCOPE program.
4:30 – Left for Fairfax
6:00 – Stopped to get a bite to eat on the road.

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7:00 – 8:00 – Checked into hotel, left room to meet Derek, Lisa, and Cathy for drinks.
10:00 – 11:00 - Head back to room, watch Sportscenter and clean off emails.
11:15 – Get ready for bed (night time routine) and go to sleep.
Wednesday
6:30 – Wake up for today’s session, shower, brush teeth, and get dressed. It was nice to sleep in.
7:45 - Head down for today’s session.
8:00 – Session begins. Listen to different presenters, break, and have lunch in between.
3:00 – Session ends.
3:05 – Spend time chatting with old friend.
5:00 – 5:30 – Meet Derek, Lisa, and Cathy for dinner.
8:00 – 8:30 – Back to hotel, clean off emails, watch baseball, communicate with family.
11:00 – Night time routine and in bed.
Thursday
6:30 – Wake up for today’s session, shower, brush teeth, pack up, and get dressed. It was nice to
sleep in again.
7:45 - Head down for today’s session.
8:00 – Session begins. Listen to different presenters, break, and have lunch in between.
12:00 – 1:00 – Session ends, head back to Richmond.
4:00 – Pick up Jelani (oldest son), drop him off at a teammate’s house for practice. Head back
to Meadowbrook for class.
5:00 – 8:30 – Meet for class.
9:00 – Leave Meadowbrook to pick up Jelani from teammate’s house.
9:45 – Head back to the house to evening routine.
Friday
3:30 – 6:00– Same morning routine, completed paperwork.
6:25 – Leave to drop Jaden off.
7:00 – 7:20 – Go to the cafeteria to monitor and clear at 7:15.
7:20 – 7:25 – Push kids into classes.

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7:30 – 8:15 – Walk halls, pop into classes, send tardy students to ISD.
8:30 – 8:55 – Walk the halls to monitor SDS (Self-Directed Study time).
10:00 – Meet with parent who has concerns w/her daughter.
10:30 – 11:00 - Complete paperwork, clean off emails.
11:30 - 12:00 – Monitor the cafeteria.
12:05 – 1:00 – Meet with someone who may join our admin team next year.
1:30 – Meet with math teacher.
2:00 – Walk with prospective admin member out to bus loop.
2:30 – Try to clean off emails, complete paperwork. Several teachers pop into my office at
different times. I talk to each one.
3:30 – Eat lunch
5:00 – Leave to pick up boys.
6:30 – Arrive at the house. Pull back out of the driveway to purchase something to eat (I did not
feel like cooking today).
7:15 – Arrive back at the house, eat and play cards with the boys, and converse with Maia.
9:30 – 10:00 – Get boys ready for bed.
10:15 – 2-3 beers.
11:00 – Night time routine (teeth and face)
11:10 – In bed watching TV with Maia.
Saturday
6:30 – 8:00 - Wake up, brush teeth, shower, clean off emails.
8:30 – Leave for class.
9:00 – 1:00 – Class at VCU
1:30 – Shop for Jelani’s baseball games at Virginia Sports Complex. I purchased snacks and
drinks.
3:00 – My family leaves the house for 5:00 and 7:00 baseball games.
5:00 – 9:00 – Watch Jelani’s team, chase Jaden around, eat snacks, and mingle with parents.
10:00 – Go out with baseball families for a bite to eat.

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11:15 – Head to the house.

11:45 – Night time routine and in the bed.
Sunday
8:00 – Wake up, brush my teeth and head to the store to get some breakfast items.
9:35 – 10:30 - Cook breakfast for family and eat.
10:35 – 11:15 – Clean dishes and straighten up kitchen.
11:30 – Fall asleep on the couch.
12:30 – 5:45 – Woke up, cleaned house, did family stuff indoors (watched television, played
cards, goofed around, spent time with Maia). Today was a lazy day.
6:00 – Prepared dinner.
7:00 – We ate dinner.
8:00 – 9:00 – Watched TV and got the boys ready for bed.
10:00 – Performed my night time routine and got into bed.
The second week was pretty similar to the first week that I documented above. However,
I did not attend a conference and SOL testing began during the second week. Most of my time in
school was focused on SOL testing. I did everything from assist with manning the main testing
location to monitoring classrooms and assisting students who wanted to know past SOL results.
The second week also included two days of interviews for a head football coach. The first round
of interviews (3 candidates) went extremely long. We began at 5:30 pm and did not wrap up till
11:00 pm. I did not leave work that day until 11:30 pm. Day two of football interviews went
much faster as we went from 5:30 – 9:15. I ended up leaving work at 9:40 pm. I was not upset
about the amount of time spent on these interviews for two reasons: 1. Football is very important
at Meadowbrook and I had to get it right (I did) and 2. These coaches are very passionate about
football and the Meadowbrook position is highly sought after, because of the amount of talent
that we have in our building.
H. Analysis of Discrepancies
My two week log showed me what I have heard for years and exactly what I suspected, I
set aside very little time for my family. I noticed that most of my time spent with family is what
I call mandatory time. By that, I mean I do things with them that I absolutely have to do. For
example, I have to cook for them, pick them up from baby sitters and after care, I have to attend
baseball games, I have to assist with getting them ready for bed, and I have to converse with my
wife over daily occurrences. This is by far the area where I need the most growth. I have made
attempts at various times in my life to spend more time with my family, however, I always fear
that I will not be as effective in my job if I don’t spend as much time on my work. I have
reached a goal of mine (to become a high school principal) 9 years before I thought I ever would
and I attribute that to hard work. I fear being less effective if I slow down even the slightest bit.

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When I examine my personal goals, I am not even close to achieving any of them. For
example, I have had the goal of learning to swim for about 7 or 8 years. I have had periods
where I have done things to stay in shape. When I was an assistant principal, I would drop
everything at least twice a week and head to the gym located in the school. I would also wake up
before my family on the weekends to work out. However, I feel guilty if most of my time is not
spent on work and if I drop everything to walk down to the school gym to work out. I have a
much better chance at reaching every professional goal that I set. This tends to be where I put
most of my focus.
I can’t say that I have any arguments about what the teacher’s perceptions are about how
I spend my time. If I was in their shoes, I would have probably responded the exact same way.
The principals gave excellent advice and tips on how to maintain my sanity. However, until I get
the hang of this job, it will be difficult for me to get to a point where I have that necessary
balance. Better organization may need to be what I focus on during this upcoming school year.
If I can do some things differently to stay at least one step ahead, I can reach some of my
personal goals.
I. Plan of Improvement
One thing that was communicated to me and that I hear constantly in my high school
principals meetings is that the work is never done. I need to be realistic and understand that
there will always be something. I hear about how my colleagues go golfing, take trips, and
spend time with family. Maybe I need to do the same and understand that it’s okay to have fun
and not work all the time. Some of the things that I would like to incorporate into this upcoming
school year are:

 Leave my office early at least one day a week.

 Do fun things with my family that are not mandatory.

 Put a structure in place to help me be more organized.

 Delegate more.

 Turn my blackberry off for hours at a time.

 Be more visible in my building and visit more classrooms.

I believe the way to at least begin is to start small. If I can accomplish what I would like
to accomplish in small doses, that would be a significant jump from past experiences. This,
however, is going to be difficult as this is a critical year for me. I have had the one year to learn
and grow, now it’s time to make some positive changes at Meadowbrook.

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Bibliography

Cohen, A. (1989). Reducing stress in schools: A school administrator’s guide to

managing personal and building-level stress. ERIC Document Number ED353640.

Hopkins, G. (2008). Principals Offer Practical, Timeluy “Time Management” Tips.

Education World. Retrieved June 30, 2009, from http://www.education-
world.com/a_admin/admin/admin436_a.shtml.

Kelehear, Z. (2002). Time Management: Is E-mail Overrunning School Life? The

School Administrator. Retrieved June 30, 2009, from
http://www.aasa.org/publications/saarticledetail.cfm?mnitemnumber=&tnitemnumber=&it...

Williams and Blackburn. (2009). Juggling Multiple Priorities: Time Management

Strategies for Principals. A chapter in The Principalship from A to Z. Retrieved June 30, 2009,
from http://www.principalspartnership.com/feature1208.html.

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