Things haven’t changed much over many years. Even when administrators weren’t unionized, circumstances conspired to often make them grasping.
In some states, school administrators are still seen as patronage jobs. In others, radicals populate local school boards and seen them as their puppets. States give money to schools based on how many students attend, so principals are discouraged from suspending or expelling students.
If a teacher or a student really fouls up, the principal gets in trouble. Holding back students with bad grades can result in adults in high school with kids, and a 17 year old high school freshman is a disaster in the making. So it is to their benefit to promote them even if illiterate.
Nationwide, there is a perpetual shortage of principals, because it is such an onerous and unrewarding job.
The principle called my foster parents and after I got home, I got another whipping that was far worse. Needless to say, I didn't dare do anything that would land me in that position again.
The main problem with parents today is that they don't support corporal punishment in schools - and their kids aren't disciplined at home. But worse than that school teachers and administrators rarely enforce discipline if at all. Hence, we've raised two generations of hooligans, thieves, robbers, liars and rapists. Sad.