A View from the Now-Retired Principal's Seat

A remarkable man and friend died this week.   Before becoming a school principal, I was, of course, a teacher.  In that time I worked directly for three principals.  There were several assistant principals who were also very important, but for better or worse, a school principal sets the stage for hundreds and thousands of students and their teachers.  Dr. Tim Falls was the second principal I worked with and for the longest time.  For 10 years he guided, shepherded, mentored, and supported me (and literally a generation of other educators) as an educator and man.  As I compose this it still feels surreal that he is no longer alive.  Tim has been retired for 17 years, and there are few colleagues or families currently in our school district who remember him at all.  Still, I couldn't let Tim's passing go without sharing a few thoughts. Tim retired in 2007 after a long and full career in the Novi Community School District.  He had been a chemistry teacher, an assistant principal