Posted on 06/30/2004 7:33:04 PM PDT by wagglebee
The city fired or demoted 45 principals for "poor performance" yesterday, but critics blasted the move that they said also targeted good veterans.
Over the past few weeks, the targeted principals were faxed a 10-point agreement that required them to keep quiet about terms of departures and demotions in turn for avoiding "unsatisfactory" ratings. If they signed the agreements, they could return as consultants, the sources said. In some cases, they were given only a few hours to make a decision.
"They took my life from me," said one Brooklyn principal, who got news of his academic performance bonus, then got the boot. "How can you make a life decision in two hours? Everybody signed because otherwise it's death. You can never have a job as a principal if you have a 'U' rating."
Department of Education officials denied the charges.
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced the firings in a news release sent out just before 5 p.m., saying the department was keeping its promise of holding substandard educators accountable. All the principals had received or were in danger of getting unsatisfactory ratings, the department said.
Eighteen will leave, 25 will be demoted, and two challenged their charges. Two tenured ones are being chared with incompetence; 29 are probationary principals, who have no right to hearings.
"Empowering our principals and then holding them accountable for their performance is one of the key components of our Children First agenda," Klein said, referring to his school overhaul. "We are looking to our principals to step up and promote student achievement, raise the bar on professional development for teachers and fill the leadership role in their school communities."
Some school administrators said the department laid the groundwork early on for bad ratings, with superintendents touring their schools to find infractions or writing them up for insignificant details, such as submitting a report late.
Even those who had told the department they would retire in a few months were pressed to sign.
"They're doing it on the least amount of evidence," said Walter Beach of Brooklyn, where several parents in District 17 are mad because six principals are on the list.
One administrator said his principal was crying too much yesterday to dole out last paychecks to teachers, a farewell tradition. He said there were no complaints in her file.
"Not only did our school scores go up, most of our kids got into special schools. Doesn't that mean anything?" the administrator said.
Several educators believe it's politics from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who staked his re-election on education. Klein had promised to get rid of 50 bad principals by last summer -- he said he was successful -- but the principals union said poor performance charges had been filed against only two.
"The mayor and the chancellor are quick to point out that, in this year of school change, it is too early to judge their performance," said principals union head Jill Levy. "Today's announcement demonstrates that they are not always willing to give principals that same opportunity."
(Excerpt) Read more at nynewsday.com ...
When are they going to start firing non-performing students?
I think principles should have the option of throwing every problem student (behavior or grades) out, as well as the right to fire any teacher for any reason. Schools are to educate students, not to prop up unions.
Maybe there are too many schools, not only principals? Consider:
“Concerning the advancement of learning, I do subscribe to the opinion… that, for grammar schools, there are already too many… the great number of schools which are in your Highness’s realm doth cause a want, and likewise an overthrow [surfeit] – both of them inconvenient and one of them dangerous; for by means thereof they find want in the country and towns, both of servants for husbandry and of apprentices for trade; and on the other side there being more Scholars bred than the State can prefer and employ… IT MUST NEEDS FALL OUT THAT MANY PERSONS WILL BE BRED UNFIT FOR OTHER VOCATIONS AND UNPROFITABLE FOR THAT IN WHICH THEY WERE BRED UP, WHICH WILL FILL THE REALM FULL OF INDIGENT, IDLE AND WANTON PEOPLE…”
- Francis Bacon to James I, 1611
A principal is only as good as his staff. The best teachers can only do so much with kids who have parents that don't discipline. And on, and on.....
Harsh, but true.
So, by the logic of the education unions and other liberals, the slug clock-puncher principles shouldn't face punishment because they've gotten away with it for 20 years and that we should all just sit back and accept the continuing decline of our educational system.
Ahhhh... the reality of a 'jobs program'. They should have done this about 30 years ago when it would have made a real difference.
Take a look at some of their salaries....you'd be shocked
imo
The problem with public schools is that the teachers are afraid of the principals; the principals are afraid of the superintendent, the superintendent is afraid of the board, the board is afraid of the parents; the parents are afraid of the kids; and the kids aren't afraid of anybody.
"...INDIGENT, IDLE AND WANTON PEOPLE..."
DemocRATS, all of them I bet.
If we did that, there wouldn't be any principals left after five years! Anyways, Jack Welch used to fire the bottom 10% per year to clean out GE, and it worked wonders for that company.
About time somebody started cleaning out the dead wood in the school systems.
Inasmuch as the pricipals and the educators belong to subsets of the same union, the main problem is that there is no adversarial relationship between the two and therefore no oversight or management; in other words, principals are overpaid educators who teach nothing except how to beat the system.
Excellent point but quite tabu.
Thank You!
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