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14 December 2004: Cardinal Rules for Administrators (3 of 6)
Rule #2: Don’t Pass the Buck
This is really actually an extension of Rule #1, but I’ve got another story to tell about my principal. I’m going to call her Anna, just for the purposes of this column. So, it’s the first week back from winter break. Anna has been our principal for exactly three days. We did not receive the weekly staff information newsletter this week, but we could all assume when and where we were to show up for our weekly staff development. So, Wednesday comes, we let the students go home forty minutes early, and we head to our meeting room, to be met with an agenda for a two-hour meeting. Some staff members protest. We didn’t have warning that this was an extended day. We had them all scheduled through June, and this wasn’t on the schedule. What about our carpools/childcare/personal lives? Anna shrugged. We were expected to stay. Because of budget restrictions this year, we will not be compensated. Of course, she can’t force us, but neither will she change the agenda so that everyone can be present for decision making. “This is the way it’s going to stay, because this is what I was told by the former principal,” she says. Hm. That’s convenient.
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