Wherefore Holiday Cheer?

When a school needs to be reminded what is important in the everyday workings of its administration, it signals a crisis of conscience which may not be readily apparent to itself. The malaise which wafts from and among hushed conversations in the hallways and in teachers' classrooms should be detectable by even the most dulled of olfactory resources. By virtue of some interesting epidemic of selective sensation, however, leaders are oblivious to serious doubts about the course of the institution. What is the compass reading? What are the institutional musts? When leaders hole up, not to be seen for the eight-hour workday, when teachers grumble from period to period wondering, "When is break again?", when students start asking where the principal is, you have to know that things are amiss...or do you? If one is never really present, then there is no reason whatsoever to know that things are amiss or even going swimmingly. The reactive nature of my school's leadership is appalling--it sniffs crises, jumps on them, exhausts the issue and those working to resolve it, and puts them all into a refractory period which allows for increased distance, and then the whole system re-initiates. Lurching from moment to moment without meaningful, constructive interaction with those whom you purport to lead, with those whom you purport to teach--albeit on a part-time basis and, admittedly, not your own focus or area of concern, so your preparation for class lags behind that of colleagues--can lead to nowhere but a black hole. Come out from behind the curtain, let us all see you, take stock in the strength of those around you. Leaning on someone close by isn't a sign of weakness--it's a sign of trust. Mutual trust breeds stronger relationships, which then self-perpetuate and breed a stronger school. Take note: our workplace is not Machiavelli's Prince...for a "nobler" metaphor, look to Le petit prince instead.