Reframing the Path to School Leadership by Lee G. Bolman & Terrence E. Deal

Author:Lee G. Bolman & Terrence E. Deal
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781412978194
Publisher: Corwin Publisher
Published: 2010-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

A task force of three teachers and two parents went to work with enthusiasm. After holding many meetings with different parts of the school community, they came back to the council two months later with a proposal that soon drew broad support. After tweaking some details, the council approved the new policy unanimously, and Jamie supported the decision. The district superintendent and school board signed off, delighted their school council policy seemed to be working. Everyone was optimistic that the whole effort was a giant step forward for the school.

The council did not stop there. One parent had commented pointedly, “Before we get too smug, remember that we’ve been through things like this before with the PTA. We make decisions, but nothing gets done. Someone called it the ‘Pico pile,’ the scrap heap of policies and programs that get approved but never really happen.”

“You’re raising a really important issue,” Jaime commented. “Who has the R for implementing the new policy? Otherwise, it might fall through the cracks or into my lap.”

“That makes sense,” said Joan. “We don’t want all this work to wind up in the Pico scrap heap. Should the council work on implementation, or should we delegate that back to the discipline task force?”

Jaime felt pleased as the council decided to work through the implementation issues. He felt that he had helped move the process forward without taking over. He planned to tell Brenda that evening.

During a long lunch break on a Saturday shopping excursion, Joan recounted the details of the discipline policy process to Margaret, who seemed very pleased.

“I hope you feel as proud as I do about what you’ve accomplished. Maybe it’s your business experience. Even though you’re a rookie teacher, you’re becoming a model of what it means to be a teacher leader.”

Joan beamed with pleasure. “Well, I really owe it all to you.”

“No, you really owe it to yourself. You brought a lot with you, and you learn fast. I think you’re in line for rookie of the year. I just hope our colleagues can learn from your example. We’re going to run into other issues just as tough as the discipline policy. If shared leadership is going to work at Pico, more teachers have to believe they can take some initiative.”

“One reason to do it is that it might help in classrooms as well,” replied Joan. “In working out the confusion in the council, I began to wonder whether I have similar issues in my classroom.”

“Which ones?”

“Well, I may be doing to my class what Jaime was doing to the council—taking on all the responsibility. Maybe I was training my students to be passive learners, always waiting for my next instructions. I did all the work, and all they had to do was sit and watch. Where else do you see a supervisor shoveling while the workers look on, resting on their shovels? It might not be easy, but maybe I can show them the difference between the R and the C in CAIRO.

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