Advice! I don’t have my own space!

tl;dr: There is no space in my school. Ways to optimize the space we have? Or ways to help my school leader understand the importance of designated spaces for professionals?

Hey there! I was just hired into a charter school as the Dean of Students and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Our school is going under some major changes in leadership and function this year as a result of the resignation of their previous principal. Their previous vice principal is assuming the position of school leader, so our entire leadership team is brand new, which—from what I’ve heard—is definitely a good thing. I was hired to fill the need they have in regards to the negative behaviors they are seeing in their students. I was told they wanted a person to connect with these kiddos and a space where they can calm down and reset. Hopefully this resource will result in a decrease in these behaviors. However, I am quickly finding out that we are severely lacking in space. My office is doubling as the storage and copy room. This concerns me greatly, as our goal is to have a calming space where these kids can come to refocus and reset. I am already seeing distractions and triggering things here. Just yesterday we hired a full-time social worker. We have absolutely no space for her currently. All of our closets are being used and there are no open rooms. Our principal says that she will be sharing my office, and that we will have scheduled days to use the room. On days when we are not scheduled to be able to use the office, we will be working out of the hallway. I am completely against this (obviously) as there is no way either one of us can effectively do our jobs and help these kids who are melting down while working in the busy hallway… Not to mention the fact that both jobs require some sort of personal space to call our own. I have several ideas for the restructuring of space that would allow another office, but my principal is unreceptive. Do you guys have any suggestions about how to restructure or ways to really optimize the space we have? Or maybe ways to help my principal understand my concerns? Thank you so much!

Submitted August 15, 2019 at 01:30PM by prepcypress https://ift.tt/2TBCj2E