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[quote=Anonymous]Thank you for this helpful reply!  I really appreciate it.

Okay, so this is what I'm hearing.  It sounds like some of the big exodus of MS faculty at the end of the 2022-23 school year attrition was natural (ready for retirement or ready for a different role) and some of it was faculty dissatisfaction with the then AP, who was then demoted after the exodus.  That suggests that the exodus was not primarily driven by an MS faculty member not getting the principal job, and that it was also not primarily driven by dissatisfaction with the new principal.

This year's attrition may have different causes.  It sounds like the broad range of abilities in the classroom combined with new teachers who were insufficiently trained, mentored, and supported, led to problems, both in terms of student/parent experience and in terms of overwhelmed teachers.

On the training and support front, everything you say makes sense.  With a lot of new teachers, they need better training and mentoring.  And with a broad range of ability levels in each classroom, they need to figure something out to live up to the goal of helping each child reach his or her full God-given potential.  (In my opinion, this goal is one of the best things about Catholic education vs. public education (in public, they have goals that are more about the entire student population, closing gaps, etc.)

It seems like they should do a few things:    
- proactively invest in teacher training and mentoring
- be prepared to go over budget for a while to address this problem
- be prepared to do much more than just plug attrition gaps with new inexperienced teachers
- hire more aides and teaching assistants
- figure out ways to tailor instruction to the highest and lowest ability students in each grade, even if that means shuffling students around a bit more
- try to recruit a few highly experienced teachers
- recognize that there is a lasting teacher shortage and that there is a need to over-hire in anticipation of continued turnover.  Even if it means going over budget a little, they should try to start the next few years with a little extra teacher slack.  A few extra teachers would find plenty of useful work to do, and then when someone leaves, the transition would be seamless
- hire someone (either full-time or on a consulting basis) who is an expert in teacher training or teaching excellence.  Such a person could do a lot of good--organize a good on-boarding process for new teachers, a mentoring program, professional development, best practice sharing, etc. 
- really aim for excellence and rapid improvement and set sights very high
- at least in the brainstorming stage, don't focus on constraints or make excuses ("we're just a little urban parochial school").  First figure out what would dramatically improve things and then figure out how to prioritize and pay for things

I'm interested to hear that the principal has a background in Independent Catholic Schools.  To me that sounds like a potential asset.  Those schools are often forced to be more competitive with other private schools in terms of academic excellence, teaching quality, how smoothly things run, etc.  Of course he'll have to learn to navigate the parochial system, but presumably the priest and experienced staff members can help him with that.

I actually don't have any issues with the principal.  He seems good to me so far.  I don't have any reason to complain about him or to want him replaced.

I just want some clarity on what people are complaining about on here.  It has seemed vague to me.  Various posters say:
a) no problems
b) turnover problems but teacher shortage is cause
c) principal is to blame
d) priest is to blame
But no-one is providing any details about why they think a) or b) or c) or d) is the answer.

Other posters, please share your perspective!

Anyway, thank you for your great answer.  Very helpful.  [/quote]

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