Reply to DC Schools & Their Horrible Leaders

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]To be serious for a second, I think it's structural. Principals at the best public schools have to respond to (i) downtown, (ii) teachers, and (iii) parents, which creates a sort of checks-and-balances effect. (For good privates, it's more like the board of directors, alumni, and parents -- but quality long-term teachers wield influence via parents and alumni.)

Charters aren't accountable to downtown, their teachers aren't unionized, and parents too tend to be far less organized -- principals therefore find themselves accountable to no one. Of course there are some good leaders, just like a government without checks and balances may produce a benevolent despot, but it's an environment where petty  tyrants can thrive.

Similarly, in the less successful DCPS schools, you have a history of near-total alignment between downtown and the teachers, and parental non-involvement, so -- like in a one-party democracy -- you have far fewer effective checks and balances. Again, that doesn't necessarily preclude good leadership, but it creates an environment where bad leadership can go unchallenged.

Like some PPs have said, there's been more tension between downtown and the teacher's union since Rhee, and some IB parent communities have been becoming more active. Just from a structural point of view, that should help -- but it doesn't happen overnight, if only because no one can build a Janney-style PTA overnight -- and most involved parents at up-and-coming schools have back-up plans (even if they keep quiet about them). [/quote]

+ 1,000 [/quote]

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