45 principals get the axe

NY Newsday ^ | 6/29/04 | ELLEN YAN

[wagglebee]

I think every school system in the country should fire the 20 % of all principles each year (from the worst performing schools). Do this for about five years and most of the problems should be worked out.

[meyer]

When are they going to start firing non-performing students?

[wagglebee]

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.

[GSlob]

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

[GummyIII]

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.....

[wagglebee]

Harsh, but true.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

...but critics blasted the move that they said also targeted good veterans.

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.

[Luke]

Ahhhh... the reality of a 'jobs program'. They should have done this about 30 years ago when it would have made a real difference.

[joesnuffy]

Take a look at some of their salaries....you'd be shocked
imo

[night reader]

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.....

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.

[Fred Nerks]

"...INDIGENT, IDLE AND WANTON PEOPLE..."

DemocRATS, all of them I bet.

[GSlob]

Hmm, were there any DemocRats in 1611 when he was writing it? As for the present time - no one would take you up on your bet. You win.

[natewill]

I think every school system in the country should fire the 20% of all principles each year

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.

[jocko12]

About time somebody started cleaning out the dead wood in the school systems.

[jonsie]

This is great news, a school is only good if it has great administrators who back up teachers who are constantly dealing with students who want to disrupt.

[Old Professer]

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.

[Old Professer]

Excellent point but quite tabu.

[ntnychik]

When are they going to start firing non-performing students?

Thank You!

[Porterville]

Standardized text, curriculum, and test.... now they want standardized principals.... so there will be no liability for parents that raise criminals.