“I believe your comments are disrespectful to our teachers” said the principal. …
Though it may be a hard truth to swallow, most principals work for their teachers and staff, not for the parents and community they serve. This often presents an issue many parents struggle with, especially when dealing with special needs issues, concerns, or conflicts which appear to point in the direction of staff mishandling a situation. Most principals will back their teachers and staff no matter what. This is a cultural issue; for the typical American public school tends to be an employee-centered work environment, with the teaching staff in control of the “who, what, where, and why” within the building, though most parents feel school governance and decision making should be handled by the Principal and it usually is. However, when the rubber-hits-road, and there is a conflict between parents and staff, the principal will usually side with staff in most situations. So it goes …
Having been a principal myself, I know this first-hand. Think of it this way: Over 50% of all superintendents tend to leave their positions every three years. Furthermore, based upon recent studies, principals also leave by year three, so the only constant within a school culture within the context of leadership are the teachers. It’s their school. Add to the mix that many parents move from school to school due to career moves, finances, or other circumstances, this tends to reinforce the notion that the teachers run the show.
I bring this to your attention for I receive calls each week from parents making the following statement: “I just cannot get my school’s principal to see things differently other than supporting his / her teachers”. It’s true. A successful principal, one who is guided and driven to maintain a long-term administrative career, will have to establish support from her staff to be able to move up the career ladder. This doesn’t mean that the site principal works from the position of “being liked” alone, but it truly creates a significant decision-making filter especially when conflict and change are part of the process.
For example, this week I attended an IEP meeting and the principal made the “disrespect” comment each time the parent or I stated that we believed that the program was not appropriate for the child. Not once did we question the teachers’ abilities, their work ethic, or how passionate they feel toward their students: We expressed our concern about the appropriateness of the curriculum, the instructional methods, as well as the overall-setting for her daughter. And each time we shared our concern, the principal knee-jerk responded in defense of his teachers. After the meeting, I approached him and shared, “I get where you are coming from; you are protecting your teachers for you basically work for your teachers and you want them to feel supported. You are doing your job”. He looked at me knowing I did understand. He also appeared to appreciate the acknowledgment.
Later on during the same week, I met with a couple retired principals who are looking at starting an advocacy practice. I work with prospective advocates as part of my services, and I believe the best advocates are often those who have administrative experience as principals or special ed staff for they understand the teacher-centered culture within the decision-making process. Some of the most revealing comments shared in our conversation were the following by the recently retired principals:
“Parents just don’t understand the damage we are doing to our kids through the Common Core curriculum; we are asking our students to work through developmentally inappropriate activities every day and it takes its toll.”
“The public school system creates a system which casts parents in supplemental role, especially when it comes to education related decisions. Their input is often not taken seriously as a result, the support of an advocate is often needed.”
“Too many times, the decisions within these meetings [IEP, 504 Plan] are already made BEFORE parents have an opportunity to be a part of the discussion”.
It’s not my intent to create an adversarial relationship between parents and school personnel here nor do I do so within my education advocacy practice. However, the purpose of my work is to create a bridge between all sides working on behalf of our kids. By calling-out this cultural-norm*, I am hoping that two things happen:
- Parents navigate through their child’s education program with a better understanding of the conditions they may face on this path. Teachers and principals often are doing their best but may be hindered by limiting beliefs and practices they may have inherited.
- Teachers and adminstrators consider creating more transparency within this process for the so-called “best practices” are not always working for all stakeholders. It’s time to explore new policies and practices which create a wider-base of collaboration.
For more information, contact Larry Davis c/o Special Education Advocacy.org. Also, expect to see “Love, Understanding, and Other Best Practices (the second edition) available through Amazon and CreateSpace within the next month; for it presents a new paradigm leading toward mutual understanding and transparency across the IEP and 504 process.
* Extensive number of research studies address “teacher-centered instructional methods” and “teacher-centered administrative decision models”.