Why Do 42% of School Principals ​Plan to Leave? Understanding the Complex Web of Roles Principals Must Play

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 3 to 4 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?


It appears that this is a topic to be continued.

Resources:
42 Percent of Principals Want to Leave


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