PI Principals as BARRIERS to Positive Change for Staff and Students!

Okay, now I am angry.

As the Incredible Hulk used to say, " You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

This summer I went through a list of 6,065 California high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools to find schools which had been in Program Improvement for five consecutive years.

By the time I had finished this vast perusal, I had narrowed the list down to approximately 128 elementary schools in districts across the state.

I assumed...ASSUMED... that administrators would be eager to find out why teachers STAY at Program Improvements schools, since this would save their districts money, save them from having to hire, retrain, and reprogram new teachers, year after year, and since a smaller teacher turnover would provide their student populations with more stable experienced teaching staffs.

But, you know what they say about assuming ( but there will be no explicit language on this blog).

It was more difficult to acquire the school emails of the principals at the PI schools than I had thought it would be, so for sanity's sake, I sent an initial mass email to about 30 schools on my list. Out of those, only about eight principals bothered emailing me at all, and only three said they would ask their staff to take my survey ( which I made even easier to access by creating an online survey through Survey Monkey).

I then sent out an additional mass email to approximately ten schools. There was not ONE principal who said they would even ask their staff to take the survey. This was disturbing.

But even more disturbing than this dismal response to my survey, has been the qualitative data I have received while conducting interviews with teachers who have taught, or are teaching, at PI schools. A majority of the interviewees cited militant restrictive type administrators as a reason for the additional stresses at PI schools. (NOTE: These teachers also cited supportive realistically-minded principals as a reason teachers would stay at a PI school.)

This has led me to believe principals play a KEY role in either keeping or driving teachers away from PI schools. This has changed my focus for my project quite a bit.

What this action research project has shown me is that principals can either positively buffer their staff from the major pressures of bureaucratic and district pressures, or they can further add to those pressures through power-play tactics and also act as negative barriers for positive change, if THEY are the ones to solely decide what is best for their staff.

Since I am angry, and I have technology as an emotional outlet, I have decided to post an email I received JUST today. To protect the innocent, and the not so innocent, I have removed all names and school sites from the email.

Please take note that out of over 60 teachers and, now 4 principals, this principal is the only person who has made any comments about the content of the survey. That he, alone, decided what the "folks" at his school site would find beneficial speaks to the type of control principals have when it comes to what type of information enters the conscious domains of their teaching staff.

PRINCIPAL'S RESPONSE TO MY EMAIL ( WHICH I HAD ATTACHED A COPY OF THE SURVEY TO):

Hello again,

I have taken a look at the survey and while it doesn't look to be too time consuming, I am a bit uncomfortable with some of the questions. The teachers here at our site, are very committed to their profession and our students, but some of the questions might seem to suggest otherwise.

So, at this time, I think the folks at [ School Name] need to pass.

Sorry for the inconvenience,
Control-Freak Barrier-Building Principal ( Okay, that's me...I said that)

HERE WAS MY RESPONSE TO HIM:

Good afternoon,
Since this is a research project, I am very interested in your conclusion regarding some of the questions on the survey. You are the first PI administrator to make such an observation. If you have a moment, I would be interested in which questions you felt called into question the level of commitment your teachers have to students, since the research is being conducted in order to retain teachers at Program Improvement schools through supportive professional development. I worked at a Program Improvement school for several years and found my colleagues to be the most dedicated professionals.
Thank you for your time.
Most Sincerely,
ME

So...I am beginning to wonder what other sorts of information principals filter and monitor on behalf of their staff. What was this man afraid of?

When I was at a PI school ( the last year), a state appointed School Assistance Intervention Team ( SAIT) was assigned to our school site. I called the California Department of Education to see who these people were, who would be coming on site to judge how well I was doing my job and telling me what more I could do in my already busy days (without knowing me or my students). The bureaucrat in Sacramento assured me that the staff at our school was supposed to meet the team. I believed her.

Oh, they did come on site. And it was even believed by staff members that we were going to be able to meet and speak to them. This, however, never occurred. Though, I did see our principal escorting them to a far off classroom surrounded by her "cohort of sympathizers", a group of support personnel who she had apparently deemed to speak on our behalf.

This is just the type of principal-power-play that infuriates teachers at PI schools!

To the staff at the PI school with the principal who stands as a sentinel to censor and block you from information and ideas which could make you think in broader more enlightened ways, may your lunch hour seem long and your staff meetings short.

To the principal of that staff, undo your top button and have some chamomile tea!