The New York City schools have been gripped by a series of high- level power struggles in recent months. The teachers鈥� union has threatened to strike if it doesn鈥檛 soon get a new contract. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg appears poised to win a controlling share of the board of education. And local leaders have clashed with lawmakers in Albany over a state spending plan for schools.
And yet, the system鈥檚 biggest leadership challenge could be found right in the main offices of its 1,100 schools. About half the city鈥檚 public schools are led by someone with less than three years鈥� experience on the job, and more than 260 principals are eligible to retire at the end of this school year.
New York鈥檚 principals, many school leaders complain, work in a system whose bureaucracy and strict teacher work rules often tie their hands. The upshot is a serious quandary for the nation鈥檚 largest school system just as it faces tough new state-imposed standards for students.
鈥淭here are not a lot of people who want to do this job,鈥� said Janet Patti, an education professor at Hunter College, a part of the City University of New York.
But in the unprecedented turnover in principalships, some see reason for hope. The changing of the guard, they say, offers a rare chance to make improvements in the training, on-the-job support, and working conditions of school-level leaders.
Already, the system has launched new coaching and mentoring programs meant to give its newest principals much-needed survival skills. Administrators may get greater flexibility in running their schools through changes in the teachers鈥� contract, some observers believe, and if Mr. Bloomberg, a Republican, wins control of the system and follows through on his promise to give principals greater autonomy.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a window of opportunity here on how to get it right to sustain great leaders and principals,鈥�' said Jon Schnur, the chief executive officer of New Leaders for New Schools, a nonprofit group based in the city. 鈥淚t could also get lost in a kind of bickering and fighting over other issues.鈥�
The New Rules
The demands on New York City principals are much like those in the rest of the country鈥攐nly more so. Aging baby boomers are driving turnover here as elsewhere, and the city is hardly unique in the extensive skills it now demands of school leaders. But there鈥檚 no denying that the principalship in the 1.1 million-student system brings its own set of unusual challenges.
The 140,000-member United Federation of Teachers is regarded as the most powerful teachers鈥� union local in the country. Its contract lays down rules for everything from how teachers are hired to how principals can collect lesson plans. Principals particularly bemoan 鈥淐ircular Six,鈥� a provision that prohibits giving teachers noninstructional duties, such as monitoring homeroom or the cafeteria, without the approval of 75 percent of a building鈥檚 staff.
Meanwhile, principals鈥� ability to do long-term planning is inhibited by perennially late state budgets, which send the system about half of its funding.
And by all accounts, New York City principals are more accountable than ever. They have traded their once-ironclad tenure for a new evaluation system. When state lawmakers in 1996 gave the city schools chancellor new authority to intervene in the affairs of the system鈥檚 32 community school districts, they essentially made school-level leaders answerable to the system鈥檚 top official.
The new environment comes as students are being required, starting next year, to pass the state鈥檚 battery of regents鈥� exams to graduate from high school.
鈥淢y generation of administrators just can鈥檛 deal鈥� we can鈥檛 cope,鈥� said Jinx Cozzi Perullo, who retired in 1999 after more than 30 years with the system, the last five of which she spent as the principal of the highly regarded Stuyvesant High School. 鈥淚t just became a situation where you felt that you were responsible for everything, without having any ability to effect change.鈥�
鈥楿niversity of the Streets鈥�
Recognizing the new demands, local education officials have tried to help rookie principals survive their first years on the job. Education schools and nonprofit groups here have designed accelerated training programs to prepare small cohorts of prospective principals. The school system itself also has launched efforts to improve their learning curves.
Chancellor Harold O. Levy has initiated what鈥檚 unofficially being called a 鈥渦niversity of the streets鈥� to teach new principals the ins and outs of the position. The system recruited 42 experienced school leaders for a Distinguished Faculty program, in which those principals coach up to 12 new administrators part time, while running their own schools.
The chancellor鈥檚 office also contracted with New Visions for Public Schools, a local nonprofit organization, to select and train 17 recently retired principals to mentor some 70 novice administrators who asked for more intensive support.
Together, the two initiatives offer rookies the chance to observe seasoned principals in action, meet with other new principals, and get immediate counseling on how to meet the job鈥檚 many challenges. The board of education also runs a five-day summer institute for new administrators that focuses on such skills as how to maintain school safety and how to analyze student-performance data.
鈥淒oes this solve all our problems? No,鈥� said Mary Butz, who directs the Principals鈥� Institute, the board鈥檚 office in charge of the leadership programs. 鈥淏ut we do address real issues that principals face on the job. Traditionally, what would happen is a principal would be selected, given the keys, and be told, 鈥楪ood luck.鈥� 鈥�
Janet Heller, a new principal at a Manhattan middle school, says without the help she received this year from retired administrator Leslie Moore, 鈥淚 would have been more stressed, and probably would have left the position.鈥�
Ms. Moore helped her understudy choose textbooks, pick a curriculum for an after-school program, and understand how to handle union grievances. In weekly visits to Ms. Heller鈥檚 school, the retired principal also offered tips on how to interact with staff members and how to run parent conferences. The two also spoke by phone and exchanged e-mails, sometimes in the wee hours of the morning when Ms. Heller had awoken with a list of concerns about the coming day.
鈥淯nfortunately, you don鈥檛 go into the job knowing what it entails,鈥� said Ms. Moore, who found most of the other five administrators she mentored equally hungry for advice. 鈥淥nly when you鈥檙e in there do you say, 鈥極h my God! I have to worry about the budget, about construction, about the school plan, about the kitchen and the custodian.鈥� 鈥�
A Problem of Scale
Many of the city鈥檚 new preservice training programs for administrators similarly stress the practicalities of running a school鈥檚 day-to- day operations.
New Leaders for New Schools offers a principal-preparation program built around a one-year residency, in which trainees work side by side with experienced administrators. At Baruch College, part of the CUNY system, prospective principals run a summer school and are taught by both professors and current school administrators. Hunter College also is about to launch an administrator-preparation program co-taught by its faculty and principals in the city.
Those initiatives pale in comparison with the need, however. New Leaders for New Schools, which runs a similar program in Chicago, is about to graduate its first six candidates, though it plans to scale up to an annual cohort of up to 20 in New York City. Baruch鈥檚 Aspiring Leaders program accepts up to 25 students each year. Hunter officials said they鈥檇 hoped to enroll 30 candidates in their training track this year, but they ended up with 20.
Meanwhile, the city鈥檚 school system has had to fill more than 200 principals鈥� positions in the past eight months alone.
鈥淕iven the magnitude of the challenge we鈥檙e confronted with, we need to do more,鈥� said Robert Hughes, the president of New Visions for Public Schools. 鈥淎 lot of people are doing as much as they can, but it鈥檚 clear that there needs to be a greater investment in leadership in New York City.鈥�
That won鈥檛 be easy, with New York still reeling from the economic aftermath of Sept. 11. The city鈥攚hich holds the school system鈥檚 purse strings鈥攑redicts a deficit of more than $5 billion in the coming fiscal year, out of a $42 billion budget.
Paying for current leadership- development efforts has already been a stretch. The mentoring program that employs retired principals cost $900,000 this school year, about $600,000 of which came from the board of education; New Visions raised the rest from private donors.
Although the board of education intended for the Distinguished Faculty coaching initiative to serve new principals for two full years, some second-year principals will have to fly solo to accommodate next year鈥檚 demand from first-year principals. Said Ms. Butz, the program鈥檚 organizer: 鈥淲e have to move others out to make room for what awaits us.鈥�
Autonomy Sought
Amid the financial concerns, some school leaders and advocates are hoping the issue of principals鈥� autonomy isn鈥檛 overlooked.
鈥淭he reality is that good principals figure out, even within the constraints, ways to make improvements in schools,鈥� Mr. Schnur of New Leaders for New Schools said. 鈥淭he problem is they could make a lot more dramatic improvement with some of the constraints they face, and second, you wouldn鈥檛 burn them out and have them leave.鈥�
Opinions range from bitter opposition to shrugging acceptance when it comes to the work rule that requires staff approval before teachers can be assigned special duties. The Circular Six provision was added to the teachers鈥� contract in 1995. One principal, who would speak only anonymously, said bluntly: 鈥淭he Circular Six must be torn out, ripped up, and thrown out.鈥�
But others point out that the contract鈥檚 鈥渟chool- based option鈥� provision allows schools to waive Circular Six and other personnel rules if 75 percent of the teaching staff agrees. Such schools also can form committees to hire teachers, rather than just take the most senior educators who choose to transfer there.
About a third of the city鈥檚 schools use the alternative hiring process.
Ms. Heller credits her mentor with helping her learn how to work within such rules. 鈥淎nd to do something that 75 percent of the staff doesn鈥檛 want is crazy,鈥� she said.
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