Principals Wanted: Must Be Innovative, Sensitive, Tough

Here's a solution for young college graduates worried about finding a job in today's tight market: apply for a secondary school principalship in one of the big or medium-sized cities or in university towns. Chances are you won't have a lot of company. In a time of reading, 'riting, revojution and student unrest; some school districts are having real problems finding an adequate supply of qualified applicants for junior and senior high principalships. This summer in the Ann Arbor School District, for example, there was a total of only 24 applications for principalship vacancies at Tappan and Slauson Junior High Schools. And only four of the I 24 came from within the school district. "How do you find someone who's innovative, creative, and sensitive to kids, but with enough toughness to withstand the battering on these ' times of change? That's a rare person," admits Ann Arbor School Supt. W. Scott Westerman Jr. And Ann Arbor is not unique. Throughout Michigan and the United States, some cities and university towns (the latter supposedly are more susceptible to protests and violence which filter down to the junior and senior highs) have to look long and hard for new principáis. Douglas Hunt of the National Association of Secondard School Principáis in Washington, D.C., says that, nationally, "there's no question the turnover of principáis has become more rapid in recent years." In a survey taken three years ago, for example, 50 per cent of the pricnipals interviewed had been at their school four years or less. y- - - - - ' 7 ' I r " About 89 percent of the nation's secondary school principáis are men, some 11 percent are women. ín Michigan, "a lot of principáis have simply dropped out of the picture," according to Dr. Elbert Van Aken, associate director of the University's Placement Bureau. "They have either retired, gone back to teaching or moved into another job area entirely.'" "It's been very obvious this year. Less and less young people seem to want to go into it," Van Aken, added. Interestingly enough , however, this is definitely not the case everywhere, especially in smaller towns or rural áreas not so beset with drug, discipline and racial problems. Ted Southerland of the U-M's Bureau of School Services, for example, says many Michigan áreas have no problems finding principáis. There are lots of applicants for the "isolated areas" ín norther Michigan, according to Van Aken. Charlevoix, for instance, h a d 80 applicants for a recent principalship opening. And closer to home. Howell had 75 persons vying for a vacancy earlier this year. Scarlett Junior High Principal Joseph A. Vachon calis being a secondary principal "a very demanding and almost impossible job. If a person wants a lot of challenge, this.isit." Roland J. Lehker, former principal at Slauson Junior High who resigned in July to take a national administrative post with the National Assoeation of Secondary School Principáis in Washington, D.C., says the demands of a secondary principalship are "so great that it's difficult to look at it as a longterm career objective." He stressed that he enjoyed the challenges of the job, but candidly admitted that the pressure "make something like that (his new Washington, D.C., job) that much more attractive." Gene D. Maybee, 60, veteran principal of Tappan Junior High for 20 years, resigned in June. "My nerves are all tied up," he commented. "I want to live a few more years." Maybee believes principalships today are perhaps for young men only, and cali being a secondary principa in the 1970's "an unbelievabli kind of experience." Maybee feels things on thi junior high level "may ge worse before they get bet ter," but if a person comes into the job with a "low boil ing point" and a "sufficientlj high tolerance for a lack oj success," he thinks thej might sur vive. Pioneer High School Principal Theodore R. Rokicki says the hours are long (60 hours per week in the building are commonplace), the pressures great on the principal and his family: "No matter how much time you put into it, you do get weary, yoü do wear down." Rokicki added that "even principáis need a few victories. If after five to seven years you have no ' victories and see no changes, perhaps someone else should take a try at the job." Both Rokicki and Huron High Principal Paul K. Meyers also mentioned there is some physical danger in being a secondary school principal today, eonsidering the types of protest whieh are commonplace. But you can't be overly concerned about it, they say. What is the job of a secondary school principal today? Theoretically, it's to be the educational leader of the school - improving the learning atmosphere, introducing new and better ways to teach and challenge kids. But more and more often these days, the principáis find themselves constantly putting down crises and putting out "fires." "The principal is supposed to be the educational leader," Meyers commented. "But you run into the day-to-day operation of the school which is pretty much on a crisis basis." Another big problem which principáis say make the job so demanding is the pressure groups which make the principal the man in the middle. There are radical parents, students and teachers, and just as many conservatives with opposing views. "You've practically got to )e a PR (public relations aerson today if you're a prin;ipal," Maybe says. "You're the middleman and are pressured from all sides." Pioneer Principal Rokicki put it this way: "The principal is exposed to everyone who thinks he has a different idea, and they think the principal can do everything and make changes at the snap of a finger." Maybee said his biggest problem was not enough parental support for what the schools are doing. "Some of the more radical parents think everything we do is wrong. The large mass of parents do give us support and feel we are doing a good job. But they are afraid to stand up and be counted." School Supt. Westerman blames overcrowding and other complications of size for many of the crises - discipline and otherwise - in Ann Arbor's secondary school today. But he also blames the "mood and atmosphere" of today's society in turmoil which inevitably filters down to the schools. Westerman and the other local principáis definitely feel that additional assistant principáis at the secondary schools will help run the schools more smoothly, and in this vein, a second assistant principal at each of the junior highs has been hired for this fall. (In Flint, each junior high has a principal, plus six assistant principáis.) But Westerman also thinks an environment in the schools must be cultivated which "puts a higher premium on personal relationships." He also thinks that a line of communication must be developed with parents so "we can join hands in the development and enforcement of pupil policies." i With all of the problems of a secondary school principal, why do people take such jobs today, or stay in them? All of the principáis interviewed by The News cited the "excitement" and "challenges'' of working with youth today. Forsythe Junior High Principal William R. Rude says the junior high age "has got to be the most exciting age there is." Slauson Principal Roland J. Lehker agreed: "Life is just developing for kids at this age." Pioneer High Principal Rokicki says he sees the major advantages of the job as "an opportunity for a person to make changes in education." Scarlett Junior High Principal Vachon said he took the principalship there in 1968 because he feels he can "contribute maximally" in that position. "I feel I am doing my bit to improve the educational system in Ann Arbor," Vachon added. School Supt. Westerman said he thinks the opportunities for leadership in working with youth as a principal are "amazing." He conceded that the greater activism and commitment of youth to social issues today often causes problems,but he added: "Part of our problem is learning to deal with this as a positive forcé." But for those men and ' women who "have the appetite for the challenges, principalships are a rare opportunity," in Westerman's view. Eare opportunity or not, there is no doubt it is harder today in certain áreas to find qualified people for secondary principalships. Most of the Ann Arbor principáis interviewed by The News said they would do it all over again - but they thought long and hard before they said it. And they often qualified their statements, such as the response of Forsythe principal Rude when asked if he would recommend the job to up and coming younger people: "I'd recommend it if the person is someone who can gear himself to spend a lot of time dealing with change and k uncertainty and - the way A things have been going -M confrontation."