Jury Is Out On New Guard Of School Principals

With the fate of mayoral control of public schools up to Albany, the NY Times looks at the Department of Education's shift of putting younger principals in charge of schools: "Analysis by The New York Times of the city’s signature report-card system shows that schools run by graduates of the celebrated New York City Leadership Academy — which the mayor created and helped raise more than $80 million for — have not done as well as those led by experienced principals or new principals who came through traditional routes." Additionally, the Times finds that Bloomberg administration's changes of "opening hundreds of new schools and raising salaries have swelled the principals’ payroll 43 percent after adjusting for inflation." Some veteran principals like the changes, which include overseeing smaller student populations—one said that before "You were the figurehead as a principal, but the actual power was in the superintendent’s office"—but another noted her exhaustion, “You’re a teacher, you’re Judge Judy, you’re a mother, you’re a father, you’re a pastor, you’re a therapist, you’re a nurse, you’re a social worker. You’re a curriculum planner, you’re a data gatherer, you’re a budget scheduler, you’re a vision spreader.”