Joe, Ralph,and Edna: The Job of Principal: Second Time Around
Cover of Lean on Me (Snap Case)
High turnover among U.S. principals, especially urban ones, continues. Charter schools experience just as much turnover. How come? I return to a post I wrote September 25, 2009 about the dilemmas that principals face that stem from the demands of the job itself. As the 2011-2012 school year begins in many districts with larger classes, reduced school hours, and less resources principals will come under even more pressure to be instructional leaders yet they will manage and politick as they have in the past. Why? Look at the DNA of the job.
The film Lean on Me portrays high school principal Joe Clark in Paterson, New Jersey in the early 1980s rescuing a school mired in violence and poor academic performance. In one dramatic scene, over two hundred troublemakers are on the auditorium stage. The rest of the student body sitting in the auditorium watch as Clark,