On the first day your teaching staff arrive for the new school year, they should receive their first staff memo outlining routine plans for the first quarter. This could include individual responsibilities, eg writing assessment items, meeting dates, etc. You must indicate the date, time and place of the first department/staff meeting. This should be as close to the first day as possible.
Include a proposed agenda for the meeting. Issue an invitation to your staff to submit other items as well. Decide if these agenda items should be included in this meeting or should be included in the agenda for the next department meeting. Make sure there is flexibility in the schedule. Strive to keep the meeting short and to the point, diverting contentious issues to the next meeting.
Below is a suggested agenda with some explanation attached:
1. Welcome all staff, especially new ones who might need to be introduced to your entire staff. Talk to them beforehand warning them about the performance and ask them to tell the staff a bit about themselves. (This last part would be optional).
2. Introduce yourself. Give a brief history of your career so far. Talk about your career interests as well as interests outside of school. Explain that you are delighted to be at the school and hope to have a happy and fruitful time with them.
3. Open Door Policy: Tell your staff that “your office door is always open” for any necessary discussion. His only request is that if his office door is closed, it means that he is in a delicate meeting situation. If the problem they have is urgent, they should call you.
4. Your Plans and Goals – Give them an overview of your initial plans and goals that emerged after discussions with the management team and the last Curriculum/Department Head. However, he has no set plans to implement those goals until he has spoken, one-on-one, with all staff.
5. Individual meetings with staff: Briefly explain what you want to accomplish with these meetings. Give each staff member an agenda for these meetings with suggested times for each teacher to meet with you. Confirm times or make new arrangements.
6. Routine arrangement for the beginning of the term to be discussed.
7. Next meeting, its date and place plus a request for agenda items.
8. General matters: urgent matters only. Other topics can be noted for the agenda of the next meeting.
Remember to keep the meeting short. No teacher likes a long meeting anytime, much less one to start the year. Therefore, keep the meeting agenda up to date and do not allow contentious issues to be introduced.