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Principal as a Stakeholder

In The Community

the principal as a stakeholder in the community

The Florida Principal Leadership Standards state in regards to 'Community and Stakeholder Partnerships High Performing Leaders' that these leaders "…collaborate with families, business, and community members, respond to diverse community interests and needs, work effectively within the larger organization and mobilize community resources." (Florida Leadership Standards, 2005) the work of Gouthro and Gibson (1996) entitled: "Ties That Bind: Building School Community states "…the concept of school community has its roots in the Greek word paideia. Although this word is difficult to define, it is commonly accepted that the notion of paideia is an evolution towards an educative community." Goodlad (1984) is said to have suggested that peideia "evokes generative thoughts regarding the interplay between the development of mature, enlightened individuals and maximum cultural development. The community optimally educates. This is itself a good (p. 349)." (Gouthro and Gibson, 1996)

II. The Educative Community

According to Gouthro and Gibson the role of the school in this "educative community" can be perceived in two very different ways: (1) the school can be seen to be dispensing its services beyond the walls of the school, facilitating the learning of many different community groups within the facility itself" or in other words the school is 'centric' to the educative community which in turn is centric to the community's development; and (2) school may be perceived to join forces with other community agencies as one member of the educative community." (1996)

Gouthro and Gibson report a study that was conducted among 120 participants "from both urban and rural settings" and among whom were 42% administrators (superintendents, principals, assistant and vice principals), 32% were teachers, 15% were parents, 10% were trustees and the remaining 1% were university professors." (1996) Primary findings in this study include the following: (1) consensus among participants that involvement of all stakeholders was critical to building school community; (2) participants expressed the opinion "…that their involvement should be welcomed in the school and, in particular, by the principal. They wanted their involvement to be meaningful and supported; (3) teachers "…expressed a desire for increased levels of involvement in decision making. They wanted to be able to do this "safely" and they stated that the sources of input into decision making should be broadened to include their own voices and the voices of minority groups within the community…exclusion from critical choices leads to a pervasive feeling of inefficacy and isolation that erodes the profession. It is related that collegiality "refers to the existence of high levels of collaboration among teachers and between teachers and principal and is characterized by mutual respect, shared work values, cooperation and specific conversations about teaching and learning." (Gouthro and Gibson, 1996)

Identified to be "…an important aspect of building school community" by parents was the factor of "communication." (Gouthro and Gibson, 1996) Also emergent in the study was the factor of "resources" in that parents and community organizations are more willing and able to provide for the school community in the area of resources but are often unsure of what is needed and suggest that school administrators ensure that the needs are well-known in the school community.

III. Three Components Identified