List: Lessons Learned in the Vice Principal's Office

With almost three years under my belt, here's what I've found:

1. Parents fighting or breaking up is tough on kids. You think you know this empirically, but it was one of my first observations after a short time of working with students primarily from the socio-emotional side.
2. Just be yourself.
3. You're going to piss people off. Actually, probably more people will piss YOU off. But the difference is that you won't tell them.
4. Boys and girls are equally likely to cry in the vice principal's office.
5. There's a lot of marijuana out there.
6. Experience helps you become quite a lie detector.
7. Sometimes there's no way to get around being the cold bureaucrat.
8. However, a vice principal doesn't have to be a stern disciplinarian.
9. For everything kids won't tell you, the stuff they do is often laugh-out-loud funny.
10. Everyone needs opportunities for redemption and a sense of hope.