How Not to Solve Public School Conflict

Education Scenario The initial conflict at Lakeside was due to the high suspension rate, and after six years in the principal's chair, Mr. Downey apparently was not competent to rectify the situation. Downey had been in the district 40 years and that is too long for an administrator to be up-to-date with schools, kids, and social dynamics that surround public schools. Hence, one could pin blame on the district for not replacing Mr. Downey earlier with a younger, more energetic, more contemporarily adroit individual.

Bottom line: the district was responsible for the conflict. "Deprivation" is, according to Merriam-Webster, the "state of being deprived," and a "removal from an office, dignity, or benefice." In the case of the existing faculty at Lakeside Elementary, they were certainly deprived of their dignity when Principal Early marched in with high-heeled shoes and began to criticize them. This was an outrageous violation of decorum and a belligerent blast of arrogance put on display by the woman who was assigned to lead a troubled elementary school. Her behavior was deplorable.

Although she probably thought the best way to come into a new position is to put everyone on notice that she was a pit bull and that she intended to clean house if faculty didn't do things her way; but what she did in fact was intimidate, browbeat and scold them like a little child that has failed to follow mother's instructions to clean up his room.

The fact that "…The new faculty members were given special treatment and privileges that were not given to continuing faculty members" certainly gave existing faculty members a sense of deprivation as well. THREE: The first bullet under "Critical Aspects" states that a school leader "…identifies potential problems and seeks opportunities to solve them" is the only possible justification for her attack attitude. She did see the problem and from her military style strategy she sought to solve those problems.

Notwithstanding her wrongheaded approach, she did see the problems and made an attempt (from her quasi-Nazi perspective) to solve them. FOUR: One ISLLC Standard that might apply to the principal's decision to fill vacant positions with faculty from her previous school is Standard 3: the principal has authority to make management decisions "to enhance learning and teaching," so it is possible those faculty members brought over to fill vacant positions were proven, competent teachers.

Also, Standard 1 calls for a leader promoting "continuous school improvement," which could be the case in this instance if the faculty she is bringing with her are indeed positioned to improve learning.

FIVE: First, when she filled positions that were not posted as open positions, she violated district policy -- and in Standard 3 the administrator should follow "operational procedures at the school and district level." Secondly, Standard 3 expresses the notion that the leader trusts people "and their judgments"; "effective conflict resolution skills are used"; and "consensus-building skills are used" -- and by announcing she had read personnel files and knew who the "troublemakers" were she was going against the above-mentioned values in Standard 3.

Thirdly, when she blamed continuing faculty for new faculty not feeling welcomed she violated Standard 5 (treating people "fairly, equitably, and with dignity and respect"; and considers the impact of her practices "on others"). SIX: If there were faculty members that had engaged the principal at the outset of her appointment.