The Necessary Bureaucracy of Educational Institutions and the Need for Supervisory Support
As you know education is facing an upcoming shortage of teachers that is going to create a crisis in the near future. Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) recently did a study on the teacher shortage and discovered 2 very interesting facts. 1. There are not enough people going into the field of education to fill the need and 2. Fifty to sixty percent of teachers entering education will leave the profession within their first 5 years.
Their first finding showed that many people who are deciding what career to go into do not select education because of low salaries. So beginning salaries are a factor for people who are undecided on a profession. We must raise teacher salaries to attract more people into the profession. However, their 2nd finding showed current teachers, those already in the field, do not list money as the deciding factor when they make the decision to leave the profession. These teachers list lack of administrative and Board support as their top reason for leaving the profession.
One of the best ways to retain top quality staff is to provide exceptional administrative support to your people. Your teachers must know their principal will support them, your principals know the Superintendent will support them and your Superintendent knows the Board of Education will support them. For your organization to function effectively this support must be there.
It is important to understand what “support” means. It doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with every decision. It means you trust your people to have done the research and investigation to make a proper decision. It means that you understand that every decision will probably leave someone unhappy. I tell my staff (principals and directors) that I trust them to make good decisions and will support their decisions. But I will not blindly support decisions that I feel are not in the best interest of the students, patrons and school. When someone makes a decision I do not agree with I will go to them and talk through the decision. I will give suggestions on how to correct/resolve the situation. Many times they convince me that their decision was best even though I would have handled it differently. I then support them fully. If we make a mistake we go back and correct it.
Every teacher must know that their principal will support them exactly like I support the principals. And as the superintendent I must know that the Board of Education will support my decisions. The teachers, principals and central office staff cannot make quality decisions when they fear that every decision they make is going to be second- guessed or worse, overturned. They have to have the confidence that their superiors will support their decision.
I repeat that support does not mean blind support. I know of a principal who supported every decision every teacher made even when mistakes were made and nothing was done to correct the mistakes. The public lost confidence in the entire building and this principal is no longer employed. I know teachers and principals who must be guided in the direction their supervisor wants them to go. And all superintendents are guided by the board’s strategic plan, goals and philosophy. As long as the philosophy of the superiors is being followed then the superiors need to trust their subordinates to make good decisions and back them up. In a nutshell that is my definition of administrative support.
I know that our teachers and principals deeply appreciate the administrative support they receive. Sometimes that leaves a patron unhappy and that is difficult for board members. But part of effective leadership is knowing that you can’t please everyone all the time I sent out a note from the board president once in which he said to a parent that the principal is the ultimate authority in the building, and his/her directions must be followed. Every principal replied to that with a “thank you”, or “we appreciate that.” One who was having a particularly rough day with a parent said, “Wow. Just in time. Thanks, I needed this.”
So I hope each of you knows your staff, classified, certified, and administrative is doing their very best doing an excellent job. They can only do that with your continued support.
Mike Mathes