"Recently, I was directing a school play when a student backstage was so nervous about performing they threw up. While I was trying to clean up the mess and get that student to the nurse's office, I was also trying to refresh the stand-in on the role while rehearsing their lines. All this while holding my nose and trying to keep the stand-in from throwing up from the smell. It was a bit of a fiasco, but we pulled it off."

"A student with special needs ended up in my office after disrupting the class with erratic behavior. As I sat down and tried to rationalize with them, I got a call from one of our grounds proctors that another student had been in the bathroom bragging about bringing a knife to the school. That was a prior concern, and I asked the first student to stay in my office until I returned. I then asked the secretary to ensure the student didn't leave without their parents as an escort.

Just as this was going on, an aggravated parent arrived, wishing to have words. I told them as soon as I addressed an urgent matter, I would be happy to talk with them and asked them to wait while thanking them for their patience. I then headed to the bathroom with security. We were able to confiscate the knife and escorted the child off campus. The security officer delivered the child home while I documented the incident with the paperwork on my clipboard.

I then returned to my office, and the troubled student had drawn obscene images all over my walls with a sharpie. I then took the sharpie, closed the door, and met the angry parent in our conference room. I heard about the issue they had with their child's grade, and they felt that their child wasn't receiving fair treatment. I scheduled a meeting for us to meet with their child and the teacher, where we would all get to the bottom of it.

Just as I wrapped that up, the parents of the troubled child arrived. They collected their child, apologized for the graffiti, and we set up an action plan for their child, school counseling, and the corrective measures they could expect if the behavior isn't curbed. I gave them the sharpie as a souvenir, called our janitor, and asked them to correct the graffiti."

On any given day, an assistant principal can be having a sensitive conversation with a parent or student when an emergency arises. It is not uncommon that while dealing with one issue, another arises, whether it be student violence on school grounds, reported drug use or weapon possession, a teacher sending a disruptive student to your office, or all of the above. Being able to prioritize tasks when they are all equal is a difficult aspect of the job. This is your opportunity to assure them you can adeptly handle such situations, work well under pressure, and recruit help or delegate when possible.