Here’s another question I don’t have the answer to: Why is
administrator turnover at San Benito High School so high?
Here’s another question I don’t have the answer to: Why is administrator turnover at San Benito High School so high? According to an article in Wednesday’s Free Lance, the school has had four different principals in the last seven years, and many more assistant principals.
That much change makes people nervous.
I don’t know very much about life at the high school or the role of a principal or assistant principals. It’s been a long time since I was in high school, and even when I was, the principal and assistant principals were hazy figures to whom I paid little attention.
(I did get called before the girls’ dean once for not wearing a belt with my jumper, but that’s a story for the “changing fashions” or “overwrought women” column.)
But even if the students aren’t paying much attention to who sits in the principal’s office, the staff are. And every time there’s a change, they have to wonder what the new person will be like.
What will the pet projects be? To what educational theories will the new person subscribe? What are their ideas on maintaining order and security? What about parking? There are so many areas where the person at the top can affect people’s daily lives, and most people, from the second rung on the organizational ladder on down, feel hesitant until they know what the new leader is going to be like.
Imagine, for example, if Hogwarts Academy had a new headmaster every time a new book in the Harry Potter series came out.
Just when we had become accustomed to the stern but whimsical, and fundamentally just, Dumbledore of the first volume, imagine the chaos if he had been replaced by a less-secure person in the second volume. The story would have gone in a much different direction.
Then suppose the leadership of Hogwarts changed again two volumes later. Perhaps the third headmaster was strong against the threat of Voldemort but less understanding of Harry’s unique predicament.
Or take the example of working in a large corporation. When I did, the head of our division changed three times in five years. And that person’s boss changed four times in the same period. Whenever one of these changes would happen, we would more or less carry on with daily business, but basically we were consumed with gossip and speculation about the situation. And we’d wait to make medium to large decisions until we knew what the new person’s priorities were.
In the case of the high school, I hope human resources and other officials can not only find great people in this round of searching, but can isolate the issues that are luring people away, and solve those so great administrators will stay.
It will make life much easier, I’m sure, for the teachers. And that will allow them to put their full attention on teaching their students, who are, after all, our children and grandchildren and who deserve engaged teachers who are led in turn by administrators whose hearts are fully invested in our school.
