Podcast Episode Details

Episode 153: When A Parent Says, "If you don't _______________, then I'm going to pull my kid out of the school."

Several years ago, I was meeting with the mom of a 6th Grade boy. She looked me in the eye and said, "If you don't put my son into Pre-Algebra 6, then I'm going to pull both of my kids out of the school."

Immediately, I felt my blood pressure rise, my pulse quicken and I started to get a weird feeling in my stomach.

If I told her “no,” I ran the risk of her pulling her two children out of the school.

If I told her “yes,” I had to go and face my Math teachers who did all of the 5th Grade year-end assessments to determine which students should be in Math 6 and which students should be in Pre-Algebra 6.

I am proud of how I handled this particular situation. That said, I am embarrassed and ashamed about how I handled some similar situations earlier in my career. 

Most of you have had many meetings like this in your time as a private school leader. If you have been lucky enough to not have this meeting yet, you probably will.

I want to help. On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, we are going to discuss what to do when a parent says, "If you don't _______________, then I'm going to pull my kid out of the school."

Thank you for listening to the podcast every week. You are making a difference in the lives of the students, teachers and parents at your school. I know that what you do is difficult, exhausting and lonely. Your hard work inspires me to keep making weekly content to try to encourage and inspire you as you serve your school.

Thanks for all you do,

Mark Minkus

I want to say thank you for listening to the podcast by giving you a FREE GIFT. It is called The 7 Steps To Having Successful Meetings With Upset Parents. This guide is an 11 page pdf that gives you a step by step plan to have better meetings with the parents at your school. Every good coach has a game plan. Every good teacher has a lesson plan. Too many private school leaders don’t have a plan when they sit down to meet with an upset parent. Well, now you have a PLAN! You can grab this FREE GUIDE at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/meeting

Being a private school leader is a VERY difficult job. You have to make hundreds of decisions every day, and you have to keep everyone safe, increase enrollment, keep the parents happy, keep the board happy, motivate the teachers, deal with student discipline, beat last year’s test scores and come in under budget.

That can lead to you feeling tired, discouraged and stressed out. I’ve been there. That’s why I created THRIVE Academy just for you. THRIVE Academy is a digital course that will help you get out of survival mode and get back to feeling energized at school. To learn more, go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/thrive 

Are any of these statements true about you?

• The "tyranny of the urgent" controls my day, and I start working on my important tasks when the school gets quiet.
• I feel discouraged, lonely, exhausted and

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  Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago