You’re sitting in your high school social studies class when one of your parents walks in. They start to talk with your friends about what they are doing in class and then they check in with your teacher. At this point, most people would wake up startled from a bad dream, but when you’re the high school principal’s daughter, it’s an everyday occurrence!
When you’re the principal’s daughter, you leave your house for school before any of your friends are even awake because your dad has an early meeting. Actually you arrive at school before your friends are awake. Every day. You stay late because there are meetings in the afternoon and sometimes you stay even later because “something came up” after school that has to be dealt with before you can leave.
When you’re the principal’s daughter, you get used to seeing your dad in all of your classes. And in the hallways. And at lunch. Every day. It takes some time to figure out how to interact with each other during the school day, but you find a balance somewhere between ignoring and overwhelming each other.
When you’re the principal’s daughter, you spend a lot of time in the main office because you get to school early and leave late. You get to know the office staff and the other principals. This is a pretty good thing, because they’re all nice people, they understand your situation and they sometimes have snacks.
When you’re the principal’s daughter, you hear all sorts of things about your dad from other students. Some of it good, some of it bad, some of it true.
When you’re the principal’s daughter, your friends text you to “tell your dad to make tomorrow a snow day.” You know it’s not really up to him, but you tell him anyway. You’re one of the first to know when there is a snow day because you hear your dad talking to the superintendent and the other principals at five in the morning. And then, just when you start to fall back asleep, you get the robo-call from him anyway!
When you’re the principal’s daughter the days are long and it seems like high school might last forever. But before you know it, you’re ready to graduate and leave your dad to run the school on his own. It’s scary and exciting for both of you.
Before I applied for the principal position at BFA Fairfax, we had a family discussion to talk about the potential impact of the job on the family. We knew that my daughter Abi would be most directly impacted as she would be a student at BFA if I got the position. We determined that we could make it work if I got the job.
The principalship was certainly a big change for both of us, but we have made the best of it. I appreciate that Abi was flexible and understanding throughout our time at BFA Fairfax. She kept me honest and provided some valuable feedback like “people are really confused about…” or “people are upset about…” and occasionally “people think _____ is a good idea”.
Truth be told, I spent as many nights waiting for her to finish play practice or basketball practice as she spent waiting for me to get out of a meeting. Our drives to school were pretty quiet in the morning, but we had great conversations on the way home. In one conversation, we agreed that I should write a blog about her near the end of her senior year. Thankfully for both of us (mostly her), she got her license in her junior year, so we were able to travel independently when it made sense.
Abi will be attending Endicott College in the fall to pursue a career in Nursing. She has worked diligently throughout her time at BFA Fairfax to prepare herself academically. Abi has also emerged as a leader in the National Honor Society and in Ultimate Frisbee. She is funny, kind and a little sassy (sometimes a lot sassy!). Abi will have no problem adjusting to college life. She probably won’t be upset that I don’t randomly show up in her labs, library, or dormitory next year!
To say that I will miss seeing her at BFA everyday is an understatement. However, I know she is ready to move forward. Which is, of course, my hope for all of the students at BFA Fairfax. Abi just happens to be the principal’s daughter. And when you’re the principal’s daughter, your dad gets to use the FWSU blog to say how proud he is of you.
John Tague is the High School Principal at BFA Fairfax. You can follow him @jtague252
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