So CMS is gonna shuffle some principals around and hope things improve at low-performing schools. Good plan. Couple observations.
First, dollars-to-donuts some of the re-assigned end up down at Walton Plaza. That should be the Ed Center’s motto — Holding Pen for the Incompetent. Ask a classroom teacher.
Second, new principals with exactly the same directives and powers from CMS cannot be effective change agents. Principals matter, as do teachers, but they work within a framework that either supports education or hinders it.
And what is the number one complaint from teachers to their principals, especially at low-performing schools, especially at the high school level? Discipline. Namely disruptive students, maybe just one or two, who keep being returned to the classroom to cause trouble and deny other kids an education. Do principals set that policy? No, CMS does.
Some principals do fight the Ed Center for strict discipline more than others, so there is some chance for marginal improvement there. But it is downright delusional to believe that “a culture change” can occur at these schools without sea change in CMS policy.
And speaking of sea — Iceberg right ahead!
