The most important lesson too many principals fail to learn: The secretary and custodial staff are your best allies. Spoil them and they will do anything for you.

“I’m going to make my rounds,” I say. “I’ve got the walkie if you need me.”

“Have fun. Show those kids who’s boss.”

I shoot her a wink before striding into the hallway.

Second grade is in the cafeteria eating lunch. As a kid, lunchtime is your favorite time of day. As a teacher, it’s the only time you get to go to the bathroom, check your texts, make copies, and scarf down your food. It’s the only time you get to sit and catch your breath, and it’s over in a flash.

And if you have lunch duty? Cut that precious time in half because the other half will be spent supervising over one-hundred students in the lunchroom. That job could scare even the badass Dwayne Johnson. I’d like to see him handle a kid with a bloody nose, with another student who’s crying because he doesn’t like the turkey sandwich his mother gave him, while two other students start a food fight.

I stick my head through the doorway and make eye-contact with the teacher on duty. “Everything okay?”

She nods and gives me a thumbs up. Then a little boy runs up to her, pinching his fly, doing what we refer to as The Pee-Pee Dance.

Why kids always wait until the last second to ask for the bathroom, I’ll never understand.

I continue down the hall, waving to the physical education teacher and the librarian as I pass their rooms. Then I pop in to each first-grade classroom, wishing the students a great first day.

When I turn the corner, I’m in the kindergarten hallway. My stride slows as I approach the first room.

Raegan’s room.

I haven’t seen Raegan since she left my office two days ago. She won’t admit to stealing my ring, and I won’t believe that she didn’t steal it. We’re at a stalemate. At this point, there’s nothing more I can do. Not until I can figure out a way to get her to confess.

And I will get her to confess.

I need that ring back. There’s no other option.

Her door’s open, so I lean against the frame. The class is sitting in a circle on the rug. In a rocking chair with a crying child sitting in her lap, Raegan’s reading a story and trying to make her voice heard above the wailing student while consoling him at the same time.