Thank a Principal!: Understanding the Complex Web of Roles Principals Must Play

As education researchers sort out the various impacts of the Covid pandemic, one of the worrying results is that 42% of principals plan to leave. Readers may remember their elementary spelling lessons that used the saying “The principal is your pal.” The adage provided a good way to remember the correct "-pal" spelling for the “head person; chief” compared to the word principle (guiding belief). In reality, being a pal to students isn’t always possible, although some principals do a good job of mingling with youngsters—being out on campus, in the halls, at the buses, out of the office, greeting kids by name, and “catching them being good” instead of playing the stern corrections officer or being a distant image behind a desk in the school office.


However, relating to students in a helpful and meaningful way is just one of over a hundred duties that fall on the shoulders of school principals. Please scroll down to see the PDF attachment to this email to read the “Top 110 Tasks,” that in times of Covid has become painfully longer yet. Even when students don’t show up in class, the principal is charged with getting them on board. It is exhilarating work . . . and exhausting. According to results of a study published earlier this year (link below), close to 42% of principals surveyed said they planned to leave their positions in a year. They are overwhelmed by workloads, discontent with their pay, frustrated by demands for high test scores, disappointed by relative lack of decision-making power, and disheartened by the weak support systems for coaching and professional development. The news is alarming, for, next to teachers, school principals are key to determining the levels of tone and achievement at their sites. They are very important people.


To be successful, leaders must find ways to relate to individuals and groups of individuals. It is a most critical responsibility within a vast array of responsibilities. Principals must “know their stuff” in terms of being instructional leaders, or CEOs. But they must also manage school budgets wisely as CFOs, make sure the school facilities are safe and operational as COOs, and see that instructional tools are up-to-date and functioning for teachers and students as CTOs. They must attend district meetings at 7 am and show up at the performance or the basketball game that evening.


Schools’ main missions are to educate students, and children’s attendance at school (average daily attendance, or ADA) is key to public school funding. However, those young people are just the core of a magnificent web. Students have parents who must be informed and consulted. Parents come in singles, pairs, and groups such as the Parent-Teacher Association and the School Site Council or its equivalent. Parents come to campus as volunteers who need to be appreciated, and some parents don’t show up at all and/or are abusive and the principal must deal with that as well.


Principals must know their teachers and relate to them as colleagues. But teachers come in groups too. The teacher’s union can be a helpful force or be a principal’s prickly problem. Teachers have teachers’ lunchrooms (lounges) that provide excellent social environments for good-will chatter . . . or idle gossip. The vast majority of teachers are competent and well-liked, but every once in a while a teacher is unable to provide appropriate instruction or cannot establish an environment where kindness and cooperation prevail. Principals are the ones charged with the legal responsibility to observe and document what goes on in a questionable teacher’s classes, while providing assistance to correct the problems before any dismissal procedures go forward.

All schools have teachers, but other staff members have relationships to nurture within each school too. The school secretary is quite often the person who presents a welcoming face to the public and provides critical help, filing critical school reports, helping staff members, and supporting the principal's efforts. Other employees must have skills and knowhow to perform in their jobs and interact with their colleagues as well. Principals oversee the work of office clerks, teacher’s aides, custodians, nurses, psychologists, and mealtime staff members.


Schools do come in a wide variety of sizes and conditions. Student populations typically reflect community standards and so principals in small (ca. 500 students), suburban schools deal with circumstances that differ greatly from those in large (ca. 1000 on up) inner-city schools. Elementary schools and middle schools tend to be 50% to 70% smaller than high schools. The actual departure rates for principals are different (18% vs. 21%), but statistics cluster around 20%. No setting guarantees an “easy” job. It may be aggravating to face over-zealous, sometimes-critical, middle-class parents, but it is frustrating for different reasons in urban school environments. Some parents appear not to care, but are simply too busy making ends meet, working multiple jobs and caring for their children. Therefore, they may miss teacher-parent conferences and/or special gatherings such as Open House.


A striking fact about the school principalship is that the work is not just about being the chief, but it is actually a middle-management position. Being sandwiched in the middle of any hierarchy can be very difficult; many mandates, meetings, and relationships are generated from district offices and beyond. Certainly superintendents, curriculum supervisors, human resource directors, and boards of education affect the ways in which decisions are made. Principal autonomy is always adjusting to regulations and requirements from above.


Who can help? The people who should be driving change and providing relief are undoubtedly those who sit in the powerful seats as superintendents and school boards. However, superintendents serve at the pleasure of the school board and their retention rates are worth noting. Most superintendents have a rather short tenure, leaving (or being asked to leave) after an average of only three to four years, with variations that extend in either direction. Perhaps this article finds itself ending with several questions instead of a conclusion. Knowing that school boards—whose members are elected in cities and towns across the nation—have important roles to play: Are they people with the insights and abilities to meet principals’ needs and make change? What do studies of school boards tell us? Do the “bucks” actually stop there?


This popular article has been reposted in order to invite answers to the above questions, and to support principlals as they soldier on through the third year of the pandemic.
 
Resources:
42 Percent of Principals Want to Leave Their Position.  Will You Let Them?


Understanding and Addressing Principal Turnover: A Review of the Research


Brown Center on Educational Policy at Brookings - Click the below link to download and read  School Superintendents: Vital or Irrelevant?


Don't forget to scroll down to open up the PDF attachment to this email to read the "TOP 110 Tasks" mentioned in the second paragraph.


Submitted by Greta Nagel
MOTAL President and CEO