@ Shelly
I agree with you up to a point. Schools where students are involved are most likely better happier places than the institutions that have given birth to the movie “War on Kids”
I’m a school administrator in a Catholic High School of 800 students. I teach a class a day as well. I think I practice collaborative leadership with our staff. We have a student appeal board for level one discipline infractions a house system that provides ample student engagement but there are certainly limits to what a reasonable person would hand over to the children.
I’m sure you wold agree. I don’t want my meetings with a family struggling with domestic abuse broadcast to the other classrooms. I don’t want staffing discussions discusses with students. (Program selection maybe but not individual staffing) In the end I think we all like the fact that there is someone in charge. We may disagree with a number of their decisions but in the end someone makes the decisions that have to be made.
Don’t get me wrong I’m all for empowering students and teachers and the power of collaboration. But in the end the school leaders job is not about building rosy consensus and making everyone smile. The job is about advancing the mission of the school. The real power any administrator holds is the ability to fire and hire and those two tools alone are the most powerful in shaping school culture. I don’t mean that to sound crass but it is the reality. You need the right people to make meaningful change happen.
Evolutionary Coaching 