Ineffective Administrators & Teachers

During the May 17th public meeting with four of the five candidates for superintendent, the following question was asked: “How will you handle ineffective administrators or teachers who have lost the respect of students, parents, and the community?” In the two minutes allotted for the answer that night each candidate present did his or her best to deal with the question. This is, however, a very important question and I’d like to answer it more fully here.

The old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” applies. I believe that the vast majority of educators enter the field wanting and expecting to do a great job. Unfortunately, not all of them are successful. There are many reasons this is so.

First of all, make no mistake about it; teaching and supervising teachers is a difficult job. Most of us will admit to being pretty sorry for the first year or two. Therefore, it is essential that individual improvement plans be the rule rather than the exception.

Currently, most teacher and administrator evaluations are an end unto themselves. What I mean by that is once an individual has been evaluated a copy of the evaluation is put into that person’s file and that’s usually the end of it. In the best school districts that is the beginning rather than the end. The evaluation is used as more than a measure of performance; it is used as a tool to improve performance.

To insure this, the evaluator sits down with the person that was evaluated a few days after the fact and together they weigh the individual’s strong and weak points and devise a plan to enhance the strengths and correct the weaknesses. The plan needs to be specific with attainable goals for improvement. The plan should include resources the individual can use to achieve the goals. Then, when the individual is evaluated the next time, the evaluator pays special attention to the areas the person has been working on. This process should be repeated year after year.

It should be noted that this evaluation and follow-up process should not be used only with new teachers and administrators. No matter how long someone has been in education, there is always room for improvement. It is easy for seasoned public school veterans to get complacent and fall behind in the latest best classroom practices and innovations. If you’ve ever used the phrase “kids these days” you should realize that instructional practices that worked when we were kids won’t necessarily work today. Proper evaluation and follow-up of all certified personnel is the best way to keep us all up to date and on our toes.

That said, what do you do when teachers and administrators are doing a poor job and have lost the respect necessary to be effective? You begin by finding out what went wrong in the first place. You do this by talking to people (on both sides of the issue) who have first hand knowledge of the situation. You spend time at the particular school and observe the situation for yourself. You study all available written records and documentation pertinent to the situation. In short, you make certain you understand the problem.

The next step is coming up with a plan to solve the problem. It would be foolish to give specific solutions here since the question didn’t cite a specific problem. It is, however, imperative to keep the best interests of the students in mind. Ideally, a plan of action can be devised that can turn the situation around. In a case where the students’ best interests are in immediate jeopardy, reassigning the teacher or administrator to a different position may be necessary. In my view, termination would be a last resort. When the ineffective teacher or administrator’s livelihood and the well-being of his or her family is at stake, that teacher or administrator should be given every opportunity to correct the problem.

In closing, I feel it’s important to go back to where I started my campaign. We can prevent ineffective teaching and administration by hiring the most qualified people available. In the case of teachers, recruitment is the key. In the case of administrators, recruitment and common sense are the key. I’m all for promoting our own teachers to administrative positions when qualified teachers are available. In doing so, however, teaching experience and educational credentials must be the measuring stick. Until we begin promoting our most experienced, most highly qualified teachers to administrative positions, we can’t expect much improvement in our schools.

Until next time, may God bless you and your children.
Bob Mamrak