Administration

Posts on attrition here and here.  And here are the posts on low pay, classroom management, and intensity.

After "burnout," dealing with difficult/disorganized/unsupportive administration is the factor most often cited by our teachers as to why they are leave the profession.  It makes sense that administration at "critical-needs" schools is not particularly good.  Just as there is a teacher shortage there is also an administrator shortage.  Being a school principal is an even more difficult job than being a teacher.  A school principal is responsible for everything from the school buses to the cafeteria to the administrative/support staff.  And they handle the serious discipline issues.  And curriculum.  And making sure everyone is safe.  And any sporting event or meeting after school.  And dealing with teachers of varying ability and commitment, parents, school board members, and the superintendent.  It is a thankless job for which the pay is only slightly more than a veteran teacher.  So, there is not a lot of incentive to become an administrator.  Furthermore, in dysfunctional school districts, those tapped to become administrators are generally people who have navigated school board politics in such a manner as to accumulate the fewest enemies and not necessarily the best person for the job.

So, what does this mean for our teachers?  Principals who say, "Discipline is your responsibility.  Don't send any students to the office."  Bell schedules that change haphazardly (or that don't exist at all).  Random assemblies.  General disorganization and lack of institutional control (to be fair, some of our teachers are not doing the best they can.  Some of our teachers struggle with classroom management.  Some of our teachers can be arrogant and look down on their administrators).  I've toyed with the idea of making summer school less organized (random assemblies/bell-ringing, etc.) just to prepare our teachers for the fun to come.  And the advice I give the first-year teachers for how to deal with difficult administrators is the same advice I was given: Don't mud-wrestle with a pig.  You both get dirty and the pig likes it (I believe this was originally stated by Plato).

How do we solve this?  The same way you solve the teacher shortage.  Pay people significantly more money.  Raise the incentives to become an administrator and you will get a higher quality of administrator.  It's not rocket science.
To do this taxes would have to be raised.  Unfortunately, while every public opinion poll given since the dawn of man shows that people strongly support raising teacher and principal pay, no politician would dream of running on the platform of raising taxes...

Further Reading: