Throughout the Effective Leadership course, one issue that I found challenging is the collaboration among stakeholders. So many of the articles read during the course, referenced the need for shared decision making, shared values, and common goals within a school. The reason I found this topic so challenging is because I was constantly reflecting on my experiences at my own school, Perry Hall High School. I thought about the many opportunities that our administrative team gives to students, parents, and teachers to become a part of the decision-making process. We have an active faculty council that meets monthly with the administrative team. We have a school climate survey that is given each year to all stakeholders and the data is compiled and analyzed at S.I.T. team meetings. We have an active PTSA and School Improvement team, both with student, parent, and faculty advisory members. We have a principal with an open-door policy—no appointment needed, just come in, and discuss concerns or ask questions. But even with all of these efforts, I’m still not sure how many teachers, students, and parents feel a part of the decision-making process. Throughout the course, I have been considering what the answer to this problem might be, and how with all of these efforts, a sense of community is still not present at Perry Hall. I questioned my thoughts, how would I go about growing a collaborative culture at Perry Hall if I was the principal?
Our school, like many others, has a leadership team comprised of administrators and department chairs, and while this team may consider input from other stakeholders in the school, they have the final say in making decisions that will impact the entire school. Often, the full rationale for these decisions cannot be shared with the school, and so teachers, students, and parents are left feeling helpless in the decision-making process. While I understand that there is some information that cannot be shared for legal reasons, more rationale and explanations must be shared with the teachers, students, and parents, in order for them to feel like they are a part of the decision-making process. Roland Barth (2004) writes, “The health of a school is inversely proportional to the number of its nondiscussables: the fewer the nondiscussables, the healthier the school” (p. 161). I believe that many of the decisions made at Perry Hall become “nondiscussables” making it difficult to grow a collaborative and open culture. I would also work to seek out the opinions and ideas of stakeholders beyond those who are on the leadership team. I appreciated reading about principals who have coffee with their teachers on Thursdays and who attend concerts, shows, and plays, but sit among the parents, rather than standing at the doors with the staff chaperones. These methods of leadership inspire me and are what I found most interesting during the course.
I was most interested in reading about servant leadership. Sergiovanni (1992) discusses the many forms of leadership in his article, “Leadership as Stewardship: Who’s Serving Who?”. While I realize it may be more idealistic than practical once in the trenches of paperwork and meetings, it inspired me and made me want to aspire to be this type of leader. The text suggests that we are taught to believe that leaders should delegate and punish, be tough and aloof; however, Greenleaf (1977) states, “the great leader is a servant first” (p. 79). I would like to be the type of leader that leads by example and motivates others to work as hard as I am working. The text discusses leading with a “moral authority.” In my short eight year career (including my student teaching experience), I have worked for three different principals and about 15 different assistant principals. Of those, I would say that I have had experiences with all different types of leaders—but the ones whom I have had the most difficulty respecting or admiring are those who delegate responsibilities from a desk chair. I hope that throughout my career, I continue to have an active presence in the building which I work. I hope that I lead with moral authority and remind myself each day that I am working for the students, not the other way around. I enjoyed reading about Mrs. Rodriguez, a principal from San Antonio, who worked to bag lunches and secure busses for a field trip to the zoo that was about to be cancelled due to district bureaucracy. It reminded me of the hours that I spent over the phone securing a motivational speaker for Perry Hall last year, whose visit almost had to be cancelled due to the new county insurance requirement. The phone calls, emails, money, and paperwork all became worth it when Jonathan Sprinkles was in our school and his message of empowerment was being discussed in the hallways and at the lunch tables for weeks after he left. This experience, along with many others that I get to experience as a Student Council advisor will remind me of who I am serving and the benefits of working on behalf of the students before anyone else.
References
Barth, Roland (2004). Culture in Question. Learning by Heart. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.
Sergiovanni, Thomas J. (1992). Leadership as Stewardship: Who’s Serving Who? Moral Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey –Bass.
