The old adage that "they won't care until they know we care" is pretty accurate in education. This is true of the staff as well as the students, their parents and the community. The highest-achieving classrooms are ones where the students trust, respect and care about their teacher because that teacher trusts, respects, cares about and expects great things from them. This is also true for the highest-achieving schools. The staff trusts, respects and cares about the principal and each other because the principal and other staff members trust, respect and care about them, and they are all working toward the same thing, a shared mission that ultimately targets student success. Putting employees first has more to do with how they are treated every day than it does with special events and what they are paid.