A Strong Principal Makes a Strong School
Thomas Jefferson High School Principal Mike Christoff makes an effort to support his school every day.
By Sonja Calhoun, Thomas Jefferson High School
Picking a good school is necessary if you want that rich 'high school experience' that seemingly can't be found anywhere else. One of the most important criteria for a good school is a good administration, and with that, a good principal. For the past nine years, Thomas Jefferson High School (TJ) has been fortunate in the “principal lottery” with Michael Christoff.
Christoff started as a math teacher at Lake Middle School. Friendly with everyone, he was encouraged by his fellow teachers to be a union representative for the school. After becoming a union representative, he became deeply involved in the school. He participated in hiring committees and the Collaborative School Committee.
“I loved teaching and working with kids, but I was interested in the other side of it, too,” Christoff said.
Christoff continued his education in graduate school. After studying at the University of Denver for two years, he finally arrived at TJ. Working as an assistant principal, he did a lot of disciplinary work, which led to his personal trademark.
“I always say ‘I’m your favorite principal,’” he said. “I started saying that because when I was assistant principal, all the kids hated me because I always suspended everybody. I started saying that as a joke like, ‘Hey! I’m your favorite principal!’ because every time they’d see me they’d be mad. And after I became principal I decided to just keep on doing it.”
In high school, Christoff was involved in his school band. He attended Boardman High School, just outside of Youngstown, Ohio. He tried football in his freshman year, but soon came to a crossroads.
“Where I grew up we had a huge music system, a huge band, so every kid had to be involved. It was mandatory.” It was required to be in band, orchestra or choir. When a lot of his friends joined the 400 person band, Christoff decided to join in.
“Our band director was a jerk and didn’t like sharing. You either had to be in the band or play football. You weren’t allowed to play football,” he said. “I liked the band, all my friends were in the band. I liked football too, but I was only friends with a few of the guys who played football so I stuck with the band.”
Christoff participated in jazz, symphonic band and more. He played the tuba, and the baritone saxophone.
“I did everything with music,” he said.“That was most of high school. It was fun, I mean I still talk to some of my friends from high school. It was pretty chill. It was the nineties. A lot of grunge music—Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Dr. Dre, a bunch of good hip hop. It was good, the nineties were great. A lot of teen angst.”
Being a principal is a prime example of a job that requires great leadership skills. Christoff is an example of a great leader. One of his leadership qualities is prioritizing the good of the group.
“Never ask somebody to do something you wouldn’t do yourself. Leaders eat last. Let everyone else go and you stay back. You go down with the ship,” he said.
A core value of Christoff’s is relationship building. He prefers picking up the phone and calling somebody rather than emailing them, which is becoming less and less common in the professional world.
“Things go back and forth one hundred times in an email. Just pick up the phone and talk to them. It takes the temperature way down and, in the long run, it saves you time.”
A big learning curve in becoming a leader is not taking things personally, such as feedback. “That took time to learn, trying to be less reactionary,” said Christoff, who prefers a more level-headed approach.
On top of his many qualities, Christoff has also become a strong principal from experience.
“I’ve done this job for a long time, so I know the cycles of a year and what’s going to happen and what the issues are going to be,” he said. “It’s somewhat predictable. For example, October is a stressful month for students and teachers and when it gets to the winter season things start to calm down a little bit. Then as we get to spring, it really ramps up to finish the year out strong.”
Christoff’s favorite part of his job is the student involvement.
“I love watching the kids compete. I cry when people do well. I get really excited. Same with the teachers, too. I get really excited for them and get really bummed for them when something unfortunate happens. It comes down to the relationships. I love the relationships we have at this school.” Christoff values strong relationships within the TJ community and is intentional about his interactions with students and staff, supporting them to do their very best in order to set them up for success.