You left out one rare type: the principal who knows his job, does his job, and doesn't allow all the crap you described to interfere with his duty to properly lead his school. My wife had the great good fortune to work for one such individual for four years.
This man took one of the lowest performing schools in the state and led it to be one of the top ten most improved in the state for five consecutive years, all with essentially the same staff. There weren't wholesale firings or transfers. He asked the staff to step up, be accountable, and teach the subject matter according to state-mandated guidelines. All of this was in a low income area with a low tax base. The guy had balls, too. He told the superintendent at a district-wide meeting that he would not implement the latest directive just issued because it would be detrimental to his school and its students. The directive died.
The challenge we face is to figure out how to identify such leaders.
Omg this is HYSTERICAL and dead-on.
You left out one rare type: the principal who knows his job, does his job, and doesn't allow all the crap you described to interfere with his duty to properly lead his school. My wife had the great good fortune to work for one such individual for four years.
This man took one of the lowest performing schools in the state and led it to be one of the top ten most improved in the state for five consecutive years, all with essentially the same staff. There weren't wholesale firings or transfers. He asked the staff to step up, be accountable, and teach the subject matter according to state-mandated guidelines. All of this was in a low income area with a low tax base. The guy had balls, too. He told the superintendent at a district-wide meeting that he would not implement the latest directive just issued because it would be detrimental to his school and its students. The directive died.
The challenge we face is to figure out how to identify such leaders.