At this point, I’ve tackled bad teachers not once but twice, and even wondered if I was a bad teacher. Yet, people fully expected me to talk about bad administration, especially bad principals. Sadly, the current narrative amongst teachers is to lay all the blame at the feed of administrators, at students, at parents, and everything and one else for a number of reasons, some good, some not-so-much. Even my nicest colleagues still look to their administrator when things are going great or awful. National surveys have shown, principals feel like their jobs are more difficult than ever before, so we need our principals to be more, not less, competent at their job. Then maybe we’d reform the vision for principal as just a boss and more as a teacher of teachers. “That’s why you get paid the big bucks” seems appropriate because, on paper, the principal is the highest paid person in the building, so they have the most to shoulder in the building.

Except when they don’t. Thus, a few questions:

What is a bad administrator? How many principals have you actually met? If you’ve met them, how do they work? Do they actually do anything, and, if they do, can you make a quick list of five things you’re sure that the principal does? If you can, does that list outweigh whatever personal grievances you have about the principal’s management style? Do they walk briskly down the hallway trying to put out fires or walk slowly, glossing over every tile and every Post-In note on the bulletin boards? Are they experts in a subject area or expert binder-gatherers? Are their suits grey, black, or purple? Are they cordial with people who walk into the building and staff members or do they project a consistent disinterest to any set of folks?

Can you trust your administrator?

When you walk into their office, does your blood boil or do your toes get cold? Do you welcome their feedback as administrators or do you roll your eyes and hope they don’t just spit out whatever framework jabber they just learned at a principal’s meeting? Do you want them in your classroom or not? Do you feel informed when you listen to them during the inevitable hour-long school session you have or are you left stunted by the lack of anything that he or she just said? Does favoritism feel real at your school, and if so, what does favoritism look like?

Most importantly, do they know the students’ names? Do the students know him? Do they care to know him? How would they characterize him? Do they begrudgingly acknowledge the admin or do they genuinely reach out to them and look to them for leadership? Do parents feel like they’re a part of the school community, too?

What is your vision for a good principal? Or a bad principal?

photo c/o