Who Controls Management at Logan Park High School
The professional leader in schools is the Principal. This person is not only a board member but also the board’s chief advisor and CEO. There is no requirement for the principal to hold any tertiary administrative or management academic units or qualifications. The board consists of for the most part well meaning amateurs either elected by parents or co-opted. Board members can be appointed by the Ministry of Education where a specific need is identified, they call this an intervention and Logan Park High School has been subject to one of these over their financial management. The school is currently repaying a debt to the Ministry of Education. This means that to all intents and purposes our schools can be managed by completely unqualified people advised by an unqualified administrator. A recipe for disaster if all the worst case scenarios come together in one school. This is the situation I believe has occurred at LPHS. In 2 years of correspondence with the school I have never seen the chairperson Margi MacMurdo-Reading’s signature. Just a rubber stamp image of it I considered this rather symbolic. The Board are very secretive and nearly invisible
But the real question here is who’s job is it to be the police. Where there are clear breaches of the Collective Agreement (CA), the Ministry Guidelines or the OSH Act you would expect the Ministry of Education to act promptly but they just write to the Board asking if they are complying. Maybe the Education Review Office (ERO)? They seem to be solely concerned with the guidelines affecting Students.
Really what I am saying here is that the checks and balances for management in schools don’t work. Perhaps if teachers moving into senior management were required to achieve passes in approved management papers at 6 points per year as part of their employment contracts. We could achieve a higher level of competence and Boards would be better advised with less risk of being held personally accountable.
Or just maybe its time boards were given some real support and the government allowed the appointment of a trained and experienced administrator (without teaching qualifications) to one of the senior management positions. Schools are not special they are expensive publicly funded businesses under the tomorrows schools model.
Filed under: Back ground