The extent to which mechanistic thinking is corrupting our culture might be illustrated in relation to any number of fields of activity. For instance, our educational system suffers disastrously from the dominion of the administrative mind, which is, by the very nature of modern administration, generally mechanistic in its thinking (and therefore unfitted to overlook strictly human affairs). It is a well-worn, but none the less just, joke among teachers that education is now a minor by-product of local authority administration. Classroom work is overlooked by superfluous local organizers. A county’s schools will be run from the authority’s central office rather as a ring of chain-stores is run from headquarters. As the grip of the administrator tightens, the authority and influence of the teacher and headmaster are correspondingly reduced. The headmaster is increasingly prevented from regarding himself as the leader of a vital community of persons. The telephone stands on his desk to remind him that, like the manager of a branch-store, he is in charge of one among a network of mechanisms operated from headquarters. The headmaster, who ought to be the link between school and parents, is now the link between the school and the local authority’s offices. The wheel has come full circle. Men of personal conviction, with vision and purpose, are often considered too “dangerous” to be appointed to headships. Some appointing authorities seek “safe”, mediocre men who will sit meekly at the far end of the telephone wire and do what they are told.
So wrote Harry Blamires (a student of C. S. Lewis) in his 1963 book, “The Christian Mind.” He was talking about the schools in England at the time, but his words could just as easily be applied to the schools in Peoria in 2010. It wasn’t that long ago that the District 150 Board of Education changed a student’s grade over the objections of the teacher and principal due to political pressure brought by the student’s parents. And the top-heavy nature of administration at District 150 has been demonstrated numerous times.
The usual solution proposed is to cut a number of administrators so that it’s more proportionate to the number of teachers and students, but otherwise to keep the basic organization the same. The question is, is that the best solution? Or might a better solution be something more radical — like decentralizing District 150 completely?
Imagine if each principal were made responsible for his or her own school. The money would follow the students, and the principal would be in charge of decision making and resource allocation. The principal would also be held accountable for meeting or exceeding state/federal academic performance standards.
To a great extent, this is how charter schools are organized. But what if, instead of turning a school over to a private organization, the school district simply empowered its own principals, and gave them the same freedom and responsibility it has given the charter school? To be sure, some principals — the mediocre ones Blamires described as nothing more than branch managers who do what they’re told — would have to be replaced. But once competent leaders were appointed to each school, couldn’t the results be at least as good as what is hoped for from the charter school experiment?
School autonomy is not untried. School districts in large cities such as Houston, Seattle, and Cincinnati have tried it, and England has moved toward decentralization since the 1990s. They call it “Local Management of Schools.”
With the arrival of a new superintendent, perhaps the time is right for a new paradigm in District 150.
For further reading: “Schools take a lesson from big business” (USA Today, 3/9/2006); “Decentralized Decisionmaking for Schools” (RAND Corporation white paper)
keith – the decision was propably driven by bad administrative directive – the bd has been prone to that for years. I haven’t seen or heard of any conclusive evidence of the later. Guess I’m waiting for the SA like everyone. It’s been what – ??, days, weeks……the wheels of justice grind on and on evidently. Support Early Childhood Education!
Boy, you folks can really hijack a thread. Back to CJ’s post: Yes, I would agree that principals should be more autonomous. I wouldn’t stop there, though. Teachers should be more autonomous, too. But I do think it starts with the principal being able to manage his/her resources effectively and setting the agenda. I’m not in the KCDad/Charlie school of anarchy, but do think that schools run best when the principal is creative, shows initiative and is given the power to make changes.
With all the cuts announced why isn’t Edison on the table? And why not cut sports? Academics are more important.
Edison and Johns Hopkins. $150,000+ is on the agenda to buy more equipment and textbooks for Manual–that’s a new cost, in addition to the already $200,000+ that goes to Johns Hopkins.
Sud O Nym:
Neither am I, but you are getting close!
Sharon, Sharon Sharon… it’s only money.
No one knows the ins and outs of any particular building better than the Principle. The most successful buildings I’ve worked in (and my own children have attended) have been buildings where the Principal has autonomy. However, the least successful buildings I’ve been in have been buildings where the Principle has autonomy.
I think the determining factor is the quality of the administrator (duh). I’ve known a lot of teachers who go on to get their Administrator’s certificates and they make HORRIBLE administrators. Most of the good teachers I know are too smart to go on and become administrators. They know it’s an even more thankless job than being a classroom teacher. Being a building principle has got to be one of the worst jobs in a public school. The shit flows both ways….Principles get it from staff, students, parents at one end and from their higher ups on the other end. And most good, responsive principles move up the ranks very, very quickly.
My experience is that (generally speaking) good Principles are hard to come by. Most are merely adequate. There is not enough mentoring and job shadowing for new Principles. The paperwork alone swallows them alive; and given the bashing administrators receive these days, one would have to be seriously nuts to take on a Principle position in a district like 150.
Amen Jill. Sad thing is, Julie McArdle was doing a fantastic job at Lindbergh given the hand that she was dealt, yet, other principals in d150 who are absolutely worthless and everyone around them knows it, STAY……and STAY……and STAY. They are like stink on feces, you just can’t get rid of them……why is that? Keep the bad, run the good off. Guess D150 just likes being in the news.
Jil…
I just hope you teach math, history, PE or something other than spelling! The head of the school is the princiPAL not the princiPLE! You used both words interchangeably. The easy way to remember is he/she is your PAL!
she walked on water. Julie could do no wrong.
if you are reffering to McArdles ability to be an educational leader than yes….she does “walk on water” because she is honest and ethical…..
“Julie was the best principel ever”
What kind of teachers do they have at Lindbergh?
Anybody know why the Board voted 4-3 to defeat the motion to reclassify Eric Thomas as a teacher?????? Is he being retained as a principal?
timeforethics: because they are idiots….they thought they would just let the new superintendent deal with him, but instead gave him another year contract…..what were they thinking??? They definitely need better legal representation.
To date, Eric Thomas has not been proven guilty of anything has he?
Not sure if this is true or not but someone told me that Jim Stowell got the motion confused and accidentally voted the wrong way on the Eric Thomas contract.
Emerge-
Do we really want to travel down this road again (which principals are retained and which ones are let go)?
I didn’t see the meeting on T.V. Can anyone say which BOE members voted for and against the motion? It seems that Laura is fairly objective in these matters, IMO.
Emerge: Eric is a lovely person. He is NOT administratively wired. Sorry.
I think Jim just wanted to explain his vote; I think he said something to the effect that he wasn’t clear about the reason or didn’t understand the “cause” for demoting Thomas. Jim, Laura, and most of the time Durflinger were the only people I could hear all evening–others just now and then; Wolvord not at all. The others don’t seem to acknowledge there is an audience. If the district had more money, I would suggest buying lapel mikes. I think Durflinger may have had some personal interactions that caused him to believe the teachers’ complaints that discipline is too lax at Trewyn. However, the vote shows that there will probably always be a split on the discipline issue.
Great question TR64. How did the vote go?
From all I hear, yes, Eric, is a good person–that doesn’t make him a good principal. I know for sure that I wasn’t cut out to be a principal; not everyone is. The truth is that Durflinger had more than enough cause for putting Eric back to the classroom. If all the “causes” were communicated to the board and the four still voted not to make a change, then there is truly no hope for 150 ever getting a handle on discipline.
Enlighten us, Sharon. What are all of the “causes”?
I worked with Eric and can tell you first hand that he is a nice guy. However, he is not a leader. He struggles with simple issues and has NO IDEA what discipline means. I heard there were no working fire alarms in Trewyn for months and until confronted, did not check to find out why. Many, many problems at Glen Oak also. Not leadership material.
Eric is very nice. However, when they have to bring back retired folks to run the building then that is a real problem. A minister gets up at the meeting to say he walked thru Trewyn and thought Eric was doing a good job. Wow.
No working fire alarms! Seriously??????
maybe he needs a coach. Just a thought 🙂
There have been numerous bathroom fires and also from 10 to 15 false alarms (pulled by students) that automatically bring the fire truck(s) to the school. This used to happen at Manual all the time (I believe it is still happening), And our principal did the same thing that Thomas did–turned off the connection to the city fire department. Of course, that is a very dangerous “cover-up.” The false alarms might be embarrassing (and expensive for the city), but the alternative could be dangerous even fatal. Certainly, parents should be upset by knowing how unsafe their children are. Durflinger found out–that is just one of the strikes against Thomas. Jon, I believe I am fairly well informed; however, I don’t feel free to enlighten you. However, I do believe that Durflinger, unlike Hinton, actually looked into the complaints from teachers and drew the conclusion that Thomas was not effectively dealing with discipline issues.
Just speculating–but I think there might be a reason for the new superintendent to have a mentor. I heard something to the effect that she needs someone well-versed in Illinois law–that’s probably because she will need to pass a test to qualify for an Illinois superintendent’s certification.
“Just speculating–but I think there might be a reason for the new superintendent to have a mentor. I heard something to the effect that she needs someone well-versed in Illinois law–that’s probably because she will need to pass a test to qualify for an Illinois superintendent’s certification.”
… so, you are speculating that she is not intelligent enough to pass a test to receive her Illinois superintendent certification? Really Sharon?
How about she needs someone well versed in Illinois law to deal with the legal issues that the teachers are throwing at the District because they are all running scared for their jobs and working over time to ensnare the District in any legal tie up they can – Just speculating.
Actually, it may be state law that all new out of state supers get a job coach. As long as it’s Norm, I will be hopeful for the future.
Not at all, Emerge. I was just stating that this is a more legitimate reason to have a mentor. My assumption is that she needs to pass the test quickly as she will have to deal with the many pressing issues in 150. Every state has different and probably more convoluted laws, etc., so finding someone who is an expert in Illinois school law is a smart thing to do. Obviously, she has already passed a test in some other state, so she is smart enough to pass an Illinois test, but having a mentor to sort out the differences in Illinois law could be helpful. Also, I am speculating–because she may already have Illinois certification–she did go to school in Illinois, so my speculation could be completely off. Your speculation about legal issues with teachers would certainly be a part of Illinois law. What teachers are running scared for their jobs? Non-tenured teachers are the only ones receiving pinkslips. I would say that principals are in a more precarious situation right now. Are there other lawsuits besides Trewyn’s that we don’t know about?
Where is the logic behind these “solutions”?: Disconnect the fire alarms and endanger all students in order to control prank pullers; force all students to wear uniforms in order to deal with pants on the ground and cleavage; schedule 8th grade promotion during the day and inconvenience all families because some people “over celebrate” the occasion. Would the adults making these decisions settle for being punished or held accountable based on another person’s actions?
If Mr. Thomas is ineffective in his job then why not just terminate him? Why offer him another position with the District.
Emerge is correct — when the heat is on, employees begin to trump up charges of discrimination, harassment, retaliation. See PHA v. Lewis. Benassi is very effective in making a mountain out of a mole hill. The Trewyn suit should be another big pay day for her. But is it all about the children, right?
Frustrated, there was no heat when the employees filed this lawsuit. I could understand your point of view if you had ever worked under the conditions under which teachers are working at Trewyn. I really wonder how you would cope at that particular school. Durflinger had begun to deal with the problem the way Hinton should have dealt with it to begin with, but apparently the board won’t allow him to handle the problems. I don’t think that being an ineffective principal necessarily means a person is an ineffective teacher–the skill requirements aren’t the same.
Over-empowerment (IMO) led to the questions facing Lower Merion, PA school district (accused of issuing high school students laptops complete with hidden webcam for the purpose of “tracking” but, oops, neglected to tell parents/students) and Palm Beach Co. (allegedly installed “fake” surveillance cameras in restrooms to keep kids in line). If these stories are true, it would be tough to believe the empowered decision makers understood and/or respected the rights of others. BTW, how does a person cause someone else to violate their rights?
Frustrated says: “The Trewyn suit should be another big pay day for her. But is it all about the children, right?”
Frustrated there is not a shred of doubt in anyone’s mind that if this were black teachers suing a white Administration you would not be making such statements.