Eight years ago, Carleen Doucet was making her regular visits to schools in the Lafayette Parish district of Louisiana, where she works as the system's crisis intervention specialist, when she noticed a disturbing trend: More students with severe emotional disabilities were enrolled in the district than ever before. Few teachers and other school…

Business and industry leaders do not flinch at the idea of placing top talent in struggling departments and divisions. This is not always the case in public education. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools made a bold statement to its community in its strategic plan by identifying two key reform levers--(1) an effective principal leading each school;…

The risks are high when it comes to hiring a new principal. A principal is accountable for the safety, well-being and achievement of all the children in a school, as well as for representing the school to the community. With increasing demands on building administrators, the hiring of principals certainly may be considered high stakes. For several…

For generations of educators who grew up on the printed word (as compared to the electronic one), books remain an enjoyable activity that can contribute to knowledge building for professional educators with wide-ranging responsibilities. Yet they have broader value beyond personal consumption. In many school districts throughout the country, books…

Retired school administrator describes five types of school personnel that make an administrator's job difficult: Bushwackers, termites, CIA moles, rumor-mill addicts, and sartorial slobs. For example, termites are staff members who purposely volunteer for committees so they can sabotage the group's efforts from within. (PKP)

Describes early-buyout severance plans for school employees. (PKP)

Most states mandate evaluation of all certified employees, but most school systems lack a prescribed evaluation process for counselors, nurses, librarians, media specialists, and school psychologists. The Professional Support Personnel Evaluation Model defines a prescriptive, yet flexible seven-step process based on identifying system needs and…

Superintendent offers several practical suggestions for dealing more effectively with negative school personnel and situations: Visualize success, know the realities, appreciate humor, surround negative people with positive staff members, be an absolute role model, understand psychology, reframe negative into positive energy, and use your…

Offers three questions that administrators should ask themselves before adopting an administrative rule aimed at reducing the detrimental effect of negative employees: What is the purpose? Will this actually accomplish the purpose? How will our most positive and productive staff members feel about it? Describes two scenarios wherein the three…

Explains legal principles of defamation suits and how, in cases involving school personnel, determination of injury depends on whether an employee is a "public official" or a "private person." Defenses available to a school employee are discussed. (MLF)

The old adage that "they won't care until they know we care" is pretty accurate in education. This is true of the staff as well as the students, their parents and the community. The highest-achieving classrooms are ones where the students trust, respect and care about their teacher because that teacher trusts, respects, cares about and expects…

With the continued explosive growth of personalized websites, more and more public school administrators can expect to face situations in which inappropriate materials have been posted by a teacher, staff member or student. While failing to recognize employees' rights of free speech can result in legal liability, administrators also must be…

Schools are considering team evaluation, or 360-degree feedback, because student achievement is not improving with single evaluators, and employees get too-similar ratings. Iowa State University's School Improvement Model ensures that teachers and principals listen to their customers, not only to their supervisors. In a sidebar, a Massachusetts…

Presents seven Machiavellian personnel evaluation blunders that strip workers of their dignity and demoralize them. Performance evaluators err when playing "Trivial Pursuit," the "Shell Game,""I Preceptor,""Gotcha,""I Spy," the "Procrustean Bed," and "Open-Ended Story-Time"…

Collier's lesson in universal educational experiences versus culture, illustrates the eye-opening experience of a few dozen U.S. school leaders who each year travel abroad on organized educational study missions. They are doing so in an effort to build bridges, share the perspective of the United States' educational system, learn about global…