In spite of occasional difficulties, I am in no way bitter about my experiences with school administrators. No, they did not always meet my child's needs. No, they did not always act in good faith or treat me kindly or with respect.
However, I came into the arena with my expectations already
very firmly in check. I expected that K-12 administrators would behave in many of the same ways that university administrators do-- and so they do.
I expected that what I had learned through my mother (a lifelong primary teacher) of administrative behavior would be the case. And so it is.
In short-- of course they are politicians. So are most managers, no matter the venue.
The good ones, the ones that are there for the right reasons (and not for power or because they aren't competent to be managers elsewhere, or teachers in actual classrooms)-- they seek to serve the LARGEST NUMBER of students with the fewest dollars, and to have a way to SHOW that they have done something concrete or meaningful with that money.
Now, the devil is in the details, however. "We bought iPads for every kindergarten student" is
far more "concrete" to the powers that be than "we staffed two more classrooms in each school, and now kindergarten class sizes are down 10%, which research shows is more effective, particularly for students who are behind or ahead of their peers."
The latter doesn't, er--
sell. Ergo, doing that with the same sum of money will not get MORE MONEY for
next year.This isn't malice-- it's often hard-bitten pragmatism that's grown as an exoskeleton to hide the deep desire to do BETTER, and the hopelessness that the entire system is sometimes rigged against it in every possible way.
They do the best that they can. Sometimes it's not very good.
Just remember-- to you, your child is the ONLY child.
To a teacher, your child is one child in his/her
classroom of children-- important in his/her own way, to be sure-- but still, one of a number of children with equal rights and demands.
To an administrator, your child is likely impersonal-- not really a PERSON, so much as an idea, or a part of an idea, that is-- "students." You as a parent are merely part of an idea of "parents."
The ideal parents are involved, supportive of education, and not looking for special anything beyond what all children have offered to them. The ideal parents have ideal children, who are well-served by typical offerings in typical classrooms, run by typical teachers and surrounded by typical classmates.
THAT is who administrators are trying to serve. The tails of the distribution are problematic. They cost more. Period-- and if you meet their needs, you also have the problem that other parents will want to know why you aren't doing
special anything for THEM and THEIR child...
It really is a bit of a no-win situation for administrators.
That is helpful to remember.
This also doesn't touch upon the administrators who are there for less-than-noble reasons. But I have found that those are the minority-- perhaps 10-15%.
