As the principal supervisor, what would you in order to lead to success for your departmental chair.

As the principal supervisor, what would you in order to lead to success for your departmental chair and your school

Please respond to: As the principal supervisor, what would you in order to lead to success for your departmental chair and your school? Develop a bulleted plan of action that aligns with ISLLC Standard 5: An education leader promotes the success of eve

5-1. ASSIGNMENT OF CLASSROOMS TO BENEFIT A NEW TEACHER (ISLLC STANDARD 5) You are the new English department chair, and you have a staff of 17 teachers to evalu ate. You also are responsible for scheduling the teachers and the various courses and sections in your department. Your high school has been growing in enrollment, and you no longer have enough classrooms in your department. In the past, the department chair had his own classroom, even though he taught only three classes per day. Now, with the increase in enrollment, that will have to change. You are willing to travel from classroom to classroom, but with the increase in enrollment, you will have two new teachers in your department. One of them is a teacher from another high school in your district, and she will get the former department chair’s classroom. The other teacher is a new teacher—new to the school and a first-year teacher. She also is the only African American teacher in your department. You hired her, and you are happy not only to provide students with some ethnic diversity, but also because she seems to be a very good teacher. Shareeta did some long-term substitute work for you last year, when one of your teachers had undergone surgery and was out for nine weeks.Unfortunately, the rest of your staff was not very accepting of Shareeta last year. You suspect that their lack of acceptance is racially motivated, because Shareeta has ex cellent interpersonal skills, and she relates well with other faculty members outside your department. Last year, during department meetings, Shareeta always was cordial to the other members of the department. She brought an upbeat perspective to the meetings and was willing to offer suggestions, but not in an overbearing manner. She always began with, “I know I’m just a sub, but here’s an idea.” The rest of the depart ment would politely listen, but wouldn’t really move with Shareeta’s suggestions. You were troubled by this and realized that the department needed someone like Shareeta—not only because of her race, but also because she provided a fresh, new perspective to a group of teachers who have been together for many years. When the opportunity arose to hire her, you jumped at it. The principal expressed gratitude for your recommendation to hire Shareeta, because he had heard good reports about her when she was subbing in your department. You involved two teachers from the department in the interviewing and selection process. They also agreed that Shareeta had been the strongest candidate. Now you have the challenge of trying to schedule 17 teachers into 16 class rooms! The most obvious way to do this would be to schedule Shareeta into five dif ferent classrooms. Each teacher’s classroom is unused for one period per day, when that teacher has a prep and planning period. The teachers typically come to the department office during their prep and planning periods, and the classrooms sit empty during that period. By scheduling Shareeta into whatever classroom is empty during those respective periods, you wouldn’t disrupt anyone in your department. But is that the best situation for a new teacher? Granted, Shareeta has some experi ence, but that’s only nine weeks or one quarter of the last school year. She still is a be ginning teacher. You struggle with this, because in your heart, you know that first-year teachers need their own classroom more than veteran teachers do. Because first-year teachers have so much to learn both about teaching and about classroom management, having to move from room to room would only complicate her life. As you work on the room us age schedule, you realize that you could schedule each teacher in one room for the morning and a different room for the afternoon. No one would have to move more than once; each teacher would have two classrooms. You are delighted with this solution. Certainly no one would mind having to shift classrooms once during the day, especially if this is done to help a new colleague.You mention this to some of the department members, and you are shocked to hear their reactions. One of them said, “I’ve paid my dues, and I deserve my own room. Let her pay her dues, too.” Another said, “That’s part of being a first-year teacher. You take what’s left.” A third teacher replied, “The only reason you’re doing this is because she’s Black. If she were White, you wouldn’t be so concerned about accommodating her schedule.” You are very disappointed with these responses, and you try to explain that this is not only about helping a first-year teacher to be successful, but also about helping students to have the best teachers that we can give them. Why would we want to place undue hardships on a new teacher just so she can “pay her dues”? You further ask, “What about the students? Don’t they deserve a teacher who can concentrate on teach ing and not have to worry about moving to five different classrooms?” Of course, your comments have fallen on deaf ears. The next day, you share your dilemma with the assistant principal, who is a friend as well as a supervisor. He agrees with you, but cautions that some of your staff mem bers are quite vocal in the union ranks. Ultimately, the power of assignment and sched uling rests with you as department chair. He assures you that he will support your decision. As you continue to ponder the best solution, you realize that you have to fol low your heart. We’ve all been first-year teachers, and we all know how important it is not only to have the support of one’s colleagues, but also to be able to concentrate on teaching and classroom management without the added strain of having to move to five different rooms. You also see this as an opportunity for your veteran teachers to be come more open-minded, especially when the student population is 20% Black, but there are no Black teachers in the English Department. The more you think about the situation, the more you affirm your decision to create a schedule in which each teacher has two classrooms: one in the morning and one in the afternoon.After creating the schedule, you begin to strategize how you will introduce this to all the department members. Of course, you strongly suspect that those who have opposed this idea already have “poisoned the well” with the other department mem bers. Nevertheless, you decide to meet individually with each department member, share the schedule, and explain your rationale. You believe the personal approach will allow you not only to appeal to each person’s sense of compassion for newcom ers, but also will give you an opportunity to address first hand any concerns that person might have. After meeting with each department member individually, you are disappointed by some of the reactions, especially from those who had your trust and confidence. You begin to feel that you are alone with little support from your department. Even those who didn’t really mind sharing classrooms clearly have been influenced by one veteran teacher who now has made this her mission in life. She has filed a grievance against you. Although you and she both are members of the teachers’ union, in your role as evaluator and scheduler, she feels, you have violated her rights of seniority. You read and re—read the contract and can’t find any seniority provisions for assignment, much less scheduling rooms. The next morning, you receive a surprise visit from the union president who makes it very clear that he wants you to rescind the schedule. He agrees that there are no grounds for a grievance because you have not violated the contract. But, in the inter est of respecting the seniority of union members, he is asking you to give the new teacher five classrooms and to leave the other teachers in their respective classrooms. You ask him if he intends to recruit the new teacher into the union. His response is, “Yes, of course.” You then ask about her rights as a new union member. His answer sickens you. “She isn’t a member yet, and she won’t protest her schedule because she wants a job.”You tell the union president that you respectfully disagree with him and that your understanding is that the union president should represent all members, including you and the new teacher. He tells you that you will regret this decision and abruptly leaves your office. Shortly after, you get a phone call from the principal. He wants to meet with you regarding the schedule. Remembering the support the assistant principal pledged to you, a certain level of confidence fills your soul. Much to your surprise, the meeting with the principal includes the union presi dent and principal, but not the assistant principal. You are surprised by this because the assistant principal is the one who puts the master schedule together after receiving the proposed schedules from each of the department chairs. The meeting begins with the principal asking you to explain your rationale for the English Department schedule. His tone and choice of words immediately makes you feel that you are on the defensive. He listens carefully and then indicates to the union president that he needs to take this un— der advisement. He dismisses the union president, but asks you to stay. After a heart-to-heart talk, the principal confidentially tells you that he agrees both with your rationale and with your willingness to stand firmly behind your deci sion. He also tells you that he will support you, but that the union will continue to scru tinize every move you make in the future. As you leave the principal’s office you feel a sense of victory in that you know the proposed schedule is all about what’s right, but you also feel a sense of fear about what might lie ahead. You are hopeful all this will calm down during the summer.classroom schedule, except for the one who filed the grievance last spring. She still “has her nose out of joint.” The second day of school, she comes storming into your office, complaining about what Shareeta left on the chalkboard. She asks you to go into the classroom to see for yourself. As you enter the room, you notice a number of sentences written on the chalkboard. There are cross-outs and edit marks written on the chalkboard. The complaining teacher points out to you that Shareeta has a gram— matically incorrect sentence written on the board. She also questions if Shareeta has a good grasp of grammar and if she is able to teach English. She continues to explain to you that Black people have their own way of writing and speaking, and that way does not contain correct grammar. You ask her not to make such prejudiced state ments and not to draw such generalized conclusions. You assure the complaining teacher that you will find out why a grammatically incorrect sentence was left on the chalkboard. When you talk to Shareeta about it, her explanation is simple. She asked the class to give her a sentence that they could correct as a class project. The sentence was pur posely written as a grammatically incorrect sentence so the class could then copy it and revise it as a written homework assignment. You suggest to Shareeta that it would be a courteous gesture to erase the board for the next teacher who will be using the room. You also begin to wonder if your plan to help the veteran teacher to become more open minded will ever work. When you explain to the complaining teacher the real reason for having a gram— matically incorrect sentence on the board, you are very discouraged by her response. “Do you actually believe that excuse?” she challenged. “If I were caught making such a mistake, I would make up some crazy excuse like that, too!” As a supervisor, what would you do? Develop a bulleted plan of action that aligns with ISLLC Standard 5: An education leader promotes the success of every student by acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner.

Please respond to:

As the principal supervisor, what would you in order to lead to success for your departmental chair and your school?

Develop a billeted plan of action that aligns with ISLLC Standard 5: An leader promotes the success of every student by acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner.

 

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