The ABCs of Educational Leadership

While reading Terry St. Marie's (@starbucker) post How Four Little Words can Make or Break your Leadership, I noticed something interesting. Even though St. Marie was not speaking specifically of school leaders - principals, superintendents, etc. - I found value in what he wrote. Teachers emphasize often that education is not a business, yet I was intrigued to find that much of what St. Marie wrote holds true for education as well. He spoke of the dangers of words like I, you, and they and the disastrous effects they can have on the most important pronoun of leadership – we. Being cautious of singular or segmenting pronouns seems obvious, but it's something that many leaders fall into gradually without much acknowledgement (until it's too late).

St. Marie's post made me think about other important words associated with leadership. Below is my list of adjectives needed for strong leadership. How does your principal/superintendent measure up?

The ABCs of Strong leadership

Advocate
BOE-supported
Community member
Delegation
Ethics
Fiscal
Goal-oriented
Humility
Integrity
Jovial
Knowledgeable
Liaison
Mission-based
Negotiable
Organized
Progressive
Quick response
Role model
Strategic
Transformative
Us
Visionary
We
Xenial
Yielding
Zealous

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Is a Salary Cap for Superintendents a Good Idea?

Image courtesy buffaloreformed.com

Last week, Governor Cuomo proposed a statewide $175,000 salary cap for superintendents. The cap would use student enrollment to determine the maximum salary for superintendents, and would range between $125,00 - $175,000. The cap would save an estimated $15 million which is meager when compared to the overall debt of the state. In this sense, the cap is symbolic and echos the popular disconnect between the education system and the public’s opinion of it.

Rational arguments over the salary cap exist on either side. Grand Island Superintendent Robert Christmann suggested that the proposal revealed a lack of understanding of leadership in education. It downplays the role and responsibility of the superintendent. Others, however, disagree. Supporters of the cap argue that low test scores and graduation rates suggest that highly paid superintendents have not earned their keep. In theory, there should be a correlation.

Buffalo Superintendent, Dr. James Williams came under fire when he flatly warned of his resignation should the cap pass into legislation. Williams currently earns $223,372 annually. Despite Williams’ explanation that he has not seen a raise since 2005 and that his salary accounts for like than .5% of the school budget, many Buffalo residents are calling him greedy and unsympathetic to the difficult economic times.

Whether Williams deserves his salary is not up for debate. He has a contract that was negotiated by the Buffalo Board of Education. If his leadership is not worth the nearly $224,000 price tag, then the board members who agreed to that salary should be the ones under fire, not him. Furthermore, you can’t blame him for leaving should his salary be slashed. If I was told that I would be taking a mandatory %22 pay cut, I would question the future of my employment too.

So let's say the cap goes into effect and Williams leaves. Now what? The district is already in shambles - dismal test scores and countless layoffs and school closings. Will someone step forward to bear this burden for a lesser salary? If so, will this person be capable of turning the struggling district around?

Take a look at this segment from WGRZ. I find it a bit unrealistic that the school board member - one of the folks who signed Williams' contract in the first place - thinks someone would sacrifice a salary for the "good of the community." Superintendency is a position that requires at least three degrees - it's not charity work.

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The Cycle of Failure for Administrative Decision Making

Having a good relationship between administration and faculty is paramount for a positive work environment. When that bond crumbles, everything else is soon to follow. No one likes being told what to do and it's even worse when the person handing down the commands is out of favor. Here's the series of events that leads to total collapse:

1. The administrator sends down a directive. Either because of poor rapport with the faculty or nearsighted decision-making, he/she does not ask for input before doing so.

2. Naturally, the faculty is furious. They vow to either ignore the directive completely and rely on safety in numbers to avoid consequence or they pursue the directive in such a lax manner that there is no way its goal will ever be achieved.

3. The directive is a spectacular failure.

4. Frustrated and looking to make things right, the administrator sends out another directive. Again, the faculty throws up its arms in resentment. This time, however, they cite the failure of the previous directive as the reason to not do as they're told. "His/her previous plan didn't work, so why should we believe this one will?"

The administrator's efforts will always fail because of the faculty's ill contempt. It's a vicious circle that is nearly impossible to recover from without some major personnel changes.

When this cycle of administrative failure happens, what's to blame - the poor attitude of the faculty or the myopic approach taken by the administrator? Probably a bit of both. I understand that me offering advice to administrators is like the flight attendant telling the pilot what to do in the cockpit, but sometimes a different perspective helps. Before handing down orders, do yourself and every else involved the courtesy of gathering as much input as you can before making a decision that affects everyone in your building.

While most posts on my blog are reactive/reflective of something happening in my professional life, this one is not. At least not recently. Several teachers on my team at school currently have student teachers, and I thought about this today while discussing with them what they should hope for as they begin the interview process for a permanent teaching position. In my opinion, working in a positive environment far outweighs all other aspects of a district. It's the job of both the administration and the faculty to make this happen.

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