Trade Secrets Of School Administrators Revealed

One of my favorite magic acts is that of Penn and Teller. (Did you know that the silent Teller attended Amherst and taught high school Latin?) Often, part of their act is revealing how classic magic tricks are done, and then they usually add a twist of their own to the illusion, much to the delight and surprise of the audience.

When I stumbled unto this informative web site called A Survival Guide for Iowa School Administrators, I felt a little like I was at a Penn and Teller performance where the tricks are revealed.

The site has a section called "Working With Parents." Check out their recommendation of how an elementary school principal should start the process of dealing with an irate parent.

And here is their "defensible and data-driven" eleven-step hiring process.

While reviewing the section on the "defensible and data-driven" hiring process, I did find some omissions that many real-world school administrators would find highly useful. For example, the site doesn't address how to "rig" the hiring process or effectively deny and/or cover-up the hiring of friends, relatives, and politically loyal cronies.

For the record, I strongly believe that anytime that the best qualified candidate (And sadly, one of the problems with public education is that many times there is only one "real" candidate in the applicant pool.) isn't hired, it does a grave disservice to the school community in general and the students in particular. Our kids deserve the best educators and education that any given district can offer, period. ---------------------------View the latest edition of The Carnival Of Education as well as entry instructions for the next edition right here.

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