Another principal leaves Manual Arts

Antero Garcia, a teacher at Manual Arts High, writes:

It’s gotten to be somewhat of a tradition here at Manual Arts High School. My first Thursday back after a two-month vacation last week, and the principal summoned the faculty for a brief after school meeting. Standing before us, our principal announced that he has been granted a transfer request from the school. Our principal was leaving.

This is my fourth year as a part of the Manual Arts faculty. Once we have hired our new principal, it will be the fourth official principal to run the school. That’s not to mention the interim principals who fill the position while the job search and interviews are conducted, which takes several months.

Last Wednesday, there was a giddy, strange atmosphere at Manual Arts. The campus was abuzz with the news of President-elect Barack Obama’s victory. At the same time, it was our principal’s last day at the school. During our nutritional break, a brief farewell ceremony was conducted. I took the opportunity, before returning to class, to shake our principal’s hand and let him know that I had learned quite a lot from him during his time at our school.

That being said, our principal’s departure was not without mixed feelings. As he explained in his farewell speech, “The process for converting Manual to an i-Design school has been taxing, to say the least, and the vision that I have for our students and school community may not be aligned with that of the new partnership and the groups that are creating the new governance structure.” I know that in the various roles I’ve taken on while our former principal was at Manual Arts –- school site council member, small learning community lead teacher, dedicated classroom teacher –- I have not always felt that my voice was recognized or valued by the principal.

I have no illusions about the unique challenges of leading a school such as Manual Arts. One of the strengths of our staff is that they are not afraid of voicing opinions or challenging ideas. I also recognize that the students and parents rightfully expect their culture and community practices to be recognized. Our school deserves visionary, collaborative and lasting leadership. I hope the fourth time will be the charm.

Comments

[mizzb]

We're on our third principal in seven years, not to mention a couple of interim principals. Collaboration with the staff has not been a high priority in the administrations I've seen. It's heartening to hear that your principal at least had a vision with which stakeholders could agree or disagree. At my school and in my child's schools, I've never seen a principal articulate a vision that could be the basis of discussion. I'm curious, what was his vision?