The Role of a Superintendent of Schools

Book Review: A Tale of Two School Principals

      - And the Superintendent Who Wanted to Lead Them

by Dr. Chris Bart & Margot Trevelyan

In the Preface, authors Chris Bart and Margot Trevelyan state the purpose of A Tale of Two School Principals - And the Superintendent Who Wanted to Lead Them:     “… the book describes how four simple yet amazing questions help a school district superintendent become an effective leader.”

The protagonist of this tale is Rachel, a newly appointed assistant superintendent.  Her challenge is to help two principals – John and Stacey – to meet their school district’s expectations regarding parent engagement.  Recent audits indicated that parents at John and Stacey’s schools felt neither welcomed nor valued.  As well, at both their schools, the number of parents attending school events was dropping while the number of student suspensions was rising.

Rachel arranged breakfast meetings with John and Stacey, and through the mentoring of “the wise old man” of her district – another assistant superintendent named Fareed, she focused on 4 questions to lead these 2 under-performing principals.

The First Question

The first question posed is “Do these principals know what to do?” (10)  Ensuring that the principals knew what to do involved communicating effectively with them.  First, a leader needs to make certain that “The message containing what people are expected to do is sent,” and next, “Test for whether it has actually been [received].” (29)  To these purposes, Rachel had John and Stacey commit the district’s Parent Engagement Policy to memory, asking them at each meeting to repeat it.  She also asked them to complete a quiz on the policy.

The superintendent set out to coach her principals on parent engagement

Once a leader is certain that the message is both sent and received, the next step is for the leader to go deeper and ensure that the message is fully understood.  The latter is best done by tapping into “… the creative and intellectual capital of all staff” and asking them to operationalize (“visualize”) the message by coming up with “specific” and “measurable” ways to demonstrate their understanding of it in their day-to-day practice. (39)  Based on Fareed’s advice, Rachel works with John and Stacey to create a PET list (parent Engagement Task list) so that these 2 principals can put their new understanding into practice. 

The PET list includes such actions as:

• 48-Hour Rule – Tell a parent calling with a concern that [the principal] will call him or her back within 48 hours; (56)
•  Listen carefully [and attentively] to Parents - Monitor progress [on this] once a month through an online survey. (51-52)
• Parent-Teacher Meetings: A week before parent-teacher meetings, phone 10 parents who have never met with their child’s teacher and issue a personal invitation to atten

The Second Question

When Superintendent Rachel reports back to Fareed that the 2 principals have made little progress on parent engagement despite knowing what to do, Fareed introduces the second question: “Do they know why they should be doing these things?” (66)   Realizing that John and Stacey don’t fully understand why parent engagement is important, Rachel proceeds to explain to them that, ultimately, they will be out of jobs unless parents have enough confidence in their schools to continue to send their children there, and that such confidence only comes when parents feel welcomed and included in their children’s school.  Furthermore, she argues that, as principals, they are the key people to create a parent-friendly culture in their schools.  Lastly, she volunteers to share with them research “… on why engaging parents is vital to a child’s education and learning.” (74) 

The Third Question

In response to Rachel’s frustration that John made only modest progress and Stacey next to none on completing the parent engagement tasks they had agreed to complete, even after she convinced them of why parent engagement was important, Fareed states the third question: “But do they know how to do it?” (92)  His point is that they might not yet have the competence required to complete the tasks.  Thus, he asks her, “… has John or Stacey ever had professional development in doing the things they have committed to doing?” (97) Fareed then uses a convincing analogy: “Just because someone says they know why the ability to swim is important doesn’t necessarily mean they actually know how to do it.” (98)  Finally, he emphasizes that one of the most important things that a leader can do is “...to help drive out the fear [that staff have] when you ask them to do something new or unfamiliar.” (100)  Heeding the advice of “the wise old man”, Rachel offers to provide training in active and reflective listening for John and Stacey in order to help them “…know how to listen to parents with attention and respect.” (107)

The Fourth Question 

   

With somewhat mixed results (John showing steady improvement but Stacey still demonstrating little commitment), Rachel returns yet again to Fareed, who asks the fourth question: Do they know that they should care about doing [the parent engagement tasks]?” (113)  Fareed then explains that, first, the two principals need to know that “…they are being measured regularly in terms of their responsibilities.” (113)  He adds though that sometimes people need more to motivate them than just the feedback the leader gives them on how well they are performing.  They also often need to know the consequences associated with either performing or not performing.  A particularly effective positive consequence he recommends is personal recognition that is sincerely given when a team member performs well. (116)  Fareed concludes this mentoring session with Rachel by providing the following summary: “…when people know the what, the why, and the how of their job, they will usually do what you ask them to do because you’ve helped them feel both competent and confident in doing it.” (118) 

The Final Lesson

Unfortunately, only John follows through on completing all the tasks the group had identified to increase parent engagement.  Stacey, on the other hand, does not.   Fareed remarks of Stacey that “She just doesn’t get it!” (143)  When Rachel asks him what he means by this, he elaborates, “I mean that Stacey’s personal value system and attitudes appear to be so damaged or corrupted that, despite your best efforts …she is prepared to dig in her heels and defy your best attempts to help her….” (144)  Though Fareed states that a “…great leader always blame herself first” when a team member isn’t succeeding, and works hard to support the team member, ultimately, if the leader provides mentoring on the what, the why, and the how of the job and makes clear the consequences of not performing, and the team member still fails to perform effectively, then the responsibility lies solely with the team member, and the leader should “avoid” him/her and, instead, “find, keep, and motivate” all the cooperative team members she/he can find. (144)  Thus, Rachel offers, and Stacey accepts, an early retirement package.