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"Ass principle" - LOL - I just love this particular typo. What could this principle be? The principle that power corrupts? The principle that one rises in proportion to the level of one's incompetence?
Contrary to popular belief and what the "official" story is, principals and vice-principals are not spending their time being "educational leaders" but handling discipline. In fact many of the administrators I've worked with over the years don't even know the names of the good kids, with the exception of the class officers and maybe the SGA and a few Honor Society kids, but have the parent phone numbers of the discipline problems memorized.
Last edited by North Beach Person; 05-12-2009 at 07:18 PM..
Reason: spelling
Of course schools need principals. Who else will hire the teachers? Handle HR duties such as disciplinary action for teachers? How about overseeing building maintenance? Make sure that the school is operating within its budget? Receive parent concerns? Ensure that the school is in compliance with state and federal regulations?
A principal is largely a senior manager. Somebody has to do these things, and be aware of the educational requirements as well.
Over many years I have seen a pattern of Band Teachers who are burn out with having to deal with two or three times the kids that other teachers deal with and with all the extra hours of administration that it takes to run a good band program. After four or five years they want to be paid for it so they become Principals. Principals seem to make the leap to the district level in the same amount of time. You would be surprised at how many principals used to be music teachers. Music teachers and principals have much in common. They seem to have a lot divergent duties that have nothing to do with the core of the Job itself. I think a good administrative secretary and a facility or building manager could do the mundane jobs that principals burn out from. As far as discipline, let the class room teacher have the final say. No more of this "Wait till your father gets home” style of discipline. It undermines the class room teacher’s authority and just passes on the waste of time to the principal. At the district level hire an upper elementary principal and a lower elementary principal to oversee curriculum, state reg.'s and national standards. Those are the duties that are duplicated at every school.
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As far as discipline, let the class room teacher have the final say. No more of this "Wait till your father gets home” style of discipline. It undermines the class room teacher’s authority and just passes on the waste of time to the principal.
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WHOA!!! Deans were created to handle discipline issues. That was the intention, but in Los Angeles they are undermined by district level admins who believe that children can do no wrong. Let the teacher have the final say? Huh?A teacher's enforcement of classroom rules will ultimately only be as effective as the teeth that teacher is given to back them up. The dean and assistant principal should function as the teeth. When the teeth are sharp, a simple warning will most often be sufficient to maintain control. In Los Angeles it seems that someone has been listening to pop music about "letting the children show the way." We've seen the teeth filed down to the gum. Forgive my overuse of the metaphor.
I think it's more common to watch P.E. and gym instructors take night school classes and become administrators.
WHOA!!! Deans were created to handle discipline issues. That was the intention, but in Los Angeles they are undermined by district level admins who believe that children can do no wrong. Let the teacher have the final say? Huh?A teacher's enforcement of classroom rules will ultimately only be as effective as the teeth that teacher is given to back them up. The dean and assistant principal should function as the teeth. When the teeth are sharp, a simple warning will most often be sufficient to maintain control. In Los Angeles it seems that someone has been listening to pop music about "letting the children show the way." We've seen the teeth filed down to the gum. Forgive my overuse of the metaphor.
I think it's more common to watch P.E. and gym instructors take night school classes and become administrators.
You mean we educate someone, certify them and pay them $65,000-$85,000 to yell at your kids for ya,
I'm an AP at an elementary school, and I can't imagine how the school could function without my position or the principal. In fact, we are getting a 2nd AP next year - we are over 1,000 students. Both of us are overworked - we will be working Sunday all day, not an uncommon occurrence.
As far as discipline goes, we are the teeth, but I know pretty close to 1/2 of our students. We attend afterschool activities, monitor the lunch room, work in the classrooms, greet students every morning - in short do everything we can to be a visible presence in the lives of the students. That is in addition to the paperwork and supervisory tasks that we must complete.
We have a teacher committee, but it is almost impossible for them to agree on anything. We spent 45 minutes debating whether Teacher Appreciation Week should be Staff Appreciation Week instead.
No way could I see a school running well like that.
In my line work sometimes I get to chat with 200 different principals in the US every year. The talk is the same everywhere. You would think that the concerns principals in Harlem, Appalachia, New England or on the boarder of California and Mexico are different. They don't talk about , National Standards, NCLB, or test scores. They all talk about the baggage that families saddle the school system with to fix. They talk about their Kids and how their job is to supplement things that are not happening in the home. In the worst case scenarios children in America are coming to school to get food ( for some three times a day), loved and disciplined and have structure in their life. Even some private upscale Boarding schools are not totally immune. As long as we have families in crisis the Principals will have to step in. It seems like a waste.
The Principal is a figurehead job that exists to give the parents and community the impression that somebody of authority is in charge, but as every teacher knows, the administration and business involved in running the school is actually done by the school secretary.
Economic Cutbacks Inspire a Controversial Idea: Do Schools Really Need Principals?
Principals: Do schools need them full time? | www.azstarnet.com ® (http://www.azstarnet.com/altds/pastframe/metro/288307 - broken link)
ASCD Inservice: Economic Cutbacks Inspire a Controversial Idea: Do Schools Really Need Principals? (http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2009/04/economic-cutbacks-inspire-a-controversial-ideado-schools-really-need-principals.html - broken link)
What do you all think? What would it mean for leadership? required reporting? school budgets? teacher and staff evaluations? site morale?
Wow, I never thought about that question. I would say it would depend on the staff. I know at my school, every time my principal and vice principal are out, they make me the principal designee. The school always functions as normal. I don't see teachers staying outside an extra 10 mins for recess or going to lunch early etc.
But I think since principals are bonded, they sometimes have to take kids homes--teachers can't. That could present a problem if we didn't have a full time principal, and how would the teacher who's the principal designee deal with the overall discipline in classroom if he or she is in the classroom too?
I know my district about 5 years ago was being very proactive, and eliminated all project manager positions and combined their job duties with the assisant principal's putting a whole lot more on their plates and my district didn't even raise the assisant principal's salaries.
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