Full Circle: Jamie Vetter on Teaching, Coaching, and Leading in Queens, NY.

Send us Fan MailThis week we're joined by special guest Jamie Vedder, former PS 239 teacher and current assistant principal, for a conversation 26 years in the making. Jamie takes us through her full career arc in the DOE — from teaching a first-grade class of 37 students (yes, thirty-seven) alongside an ESL co-teacher, to earning tenure, moving to third grade, becoming a literacy coach, and ultimately making the leap into administration. She's candid about how scary that transition felt, why she's turned down principal offers to stay in the AP role she loves, and what 12 years in the same building has taught her about leadership and team.There's a fun twist, too: Jamie and Robert attended the same elementary school as kids, decades before reconnecting as colleagues at PS 239. Jamie now works in that very building — the old St. Pancras, since renovated and reborn — and shares what it's like walking the halls where she was once a student.If you've ever wondered what the path from classroom to administration really looks like, or you just miss the glory days of the DOE, this one's for you.Support the show