Education
In the case of American School in Honduras, the changes in the appointment of the General Director’s position or Headmaster for the past three years will significantly affect the school’s operations. The removal of Mrs. Kitten who taught for 15 years and later on resigned the directorship after several years due to unannounced problems with the School Board is alarming. The fact that the General Director position was vacant for one year and occupied by Mrs. Just as an interim General Director while maintaining her teaching duties, and was transferred to Dr. Tomorrow for 2 and a half years means that there was no continuity in the implementation of programs. In fact, the resignation of Dr. Tomorrow was made after 4 months from the time of the successful reaccreditation visit. It was only during the time that Rev. George took over the headmaster role and currently held the position for the longest time for eighteen months. Although he was qualified to become the Headmaster for having a degree in Psychology and Education, he was not able to create an excellent working relationship that was based on trust, honesty, openness, professional respect, and complementary leadership styles. When Rev. George was appointed General Director, he instituted changes by meddling with the responsibilities of the teachers from Junior High and High School and ordered the implementation of the highest disciplinary action inside the campus. He influenced several decisions from the Board merely on the basis of his opinion or vague conclusions. He did not familiarize himself with the names of students and failed to establish positive rapport with the student body. He did not focus on the importance of professional development, nor does he exemplify the importance of it. He also practiced nepotism when he gave jobs and favors to his relatives by allowing his wife and daughter to both work in the campus. His wife and daughter were not even cooperative with the other staff members. He also made evaluations of teachers based on a single 20-minute visit during the entire year and did not make written evaluations of their performance. In fact, most of the influential parents wrote a letter to the Board of Trustees of the school and demanded that Rev. George, his wife who is a teacher, and his daughter who is the Special Education teacher to resign and appoint Mrs. Just as the General Director. The accreditation organization (ACSI) noticed that after several visits that the board stability is lacking due to the high turnovers among the Board members. The accreditation of the school is at risk since ACSI noticed that the Board stability is absent. Despite the resignation of Rev. George one year ago together with his family and the appointment of Mrs. Just as the interim director, the school faces another misfortune after Mrs. Just’s resignation due to Board gossip, the Board’s act of undermining her authority and the failure to support her decisions.
Wise and Wright (2012) stated that educational leadership plays a strong and positive effect on student achievement, school culture, and other aspects of the educational environment. Recent studies will show that leadership is an important factor to achieve the best quality service among educational institutions. Classroom instruction and leadership are the most effective combination to achieve the shared objectives of the school. As an educational leadership consultant, my advice to the Board is to initiate an action plan that will guide the talents and efforts of the parents, teachers and students to work towards one common objective of the school through their joint efforts. According to Onorato (20130, with society’s focus on the present day school reform movement, there must an enhancement on the aspect of the teacher and leadership performance. As part of the action plan of the school, the leaders and administrators should employ the same managerial tasks being practiced by managers and leaders of businesses in private industry. The tasks that have been identified to improve the performance of the school shall include the management of personnel, controlling of budgets, setting strategic goals and working with external factors namely, the parents, unions and community outreach groups (Oronato, 2013). The main issue in this particular case is the lack of stability within the Board. As part of the major tasks of educational leaders, they must be able to fulfill the bigger role in the present educational environment by improving on the very managing skills implemented by the private industry by application of accountability, performance agenda and leadership proficiency (Oronato, 2013). At present, there is more accountability on the educational sector, educational managers and leaders in order to accomplish the objectives of the school. These managerial tasks will require a leadership framework that will work best for the teachers, students and with the participation of the parents.
Leadership in school is vital to achieve the success for every academic institution and the duties of a school principal that embody leadership responsibilities to enhance its performance shall include the following tasks: 1.) Determining the mission and goals of the school; 2.) Maintaining a good rapport with teachers and staff; 3.) Monitoring the classroom practices of teachers; 4.) Coordinating the curriculum and instruction; and to 5.) Ensure that opportunities of the students to learn and perform must be in accordance
with the standards set by the school (Onorato, 2013). In this particular case, it is highly recommended that the school administrators to institute reforms in order to foster unity and camaraderie among the faculty members and the Board. The high turnover of the Headmaster is a manifestation that the organization lack solidarity among the group members.
Persichiette (2013) stated that the school leaders should increase awareness on federal policy changes; manage resources with as much attention to competent human resources as the efficacy of the technology products; and to be able to communicate repeatedly, and externally with regard to the positive impact of learning that that can be achieved when the people, processes, and products are applied well; and to establish seeds of ideas that are to be nurtured over time within the organizational system. The external communications be embodied within the institutional settings, among the colleagues, co-teachers, students and even the parents.
In resolution of conflicts, Ehrich and English (2012) state that conflict must be resolved using a democratic approach for it is the essential core of a free and open society. In the case of American School Honduras, the school leaders must be able to harmonize the members of the Board, the teachers as well as the students and their parents to resolve their conflicts by conducting dialogues in order to give parties ample opportunities to voice out their thoughts and sentiments. This will be the best way to resolve the conflicts in the most democratic approach.
As part of the leadership recommendations, the major responsibility lies with the school principal since such person is the most important and influential individual in any school. This individual shall be responsible to oversee all the activities that take place within and around the school building. Onorato (2013) maintains that the principal’s leadership will be the one to set tone of the school, the climate for teaching, the level of professionalism, and morale of teachers, and the degree of concern for what students may or may not become. Therefore, it is highly recommended that the school principal to take the active role to institute the reforms that are needed to improve the performance of the students and at the same time, boost the morale of the teachers and other members of the academe. Leadership skills are considered essential for the success of every school and must be instilled among the principals and educational leaders. This can be achieved by teaching the fundamentals of management and by practicing good leadership skills that are necessary to meet the educational reform challenges (Onorata, 2013).
References:
Ehrich, L. C. and English, F. W. (2012). What can Grassroots Leadership Teach us
About School Leadership. Halduskultuur – Administrative Culture, 13 (2),85-108.
McCray, C. R., Beachum, F. D. and Yawn, C. (2012). Educational Salvation: Integrating
Spirituality in Educational Leadership. Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry
and Practice, 16(1), 90-114.
Onorato, M. (2013). Transformational Leadership Style in the Educational Sector: An
Empirical Study of Corporate Managers and Educational Leaders. Academy
of Educational Leadership Journal, 17(1), 33-47.
Persichitte, K.(2013). Leadership for Education Technology Contexts in Tumultuous
Higher Education Seas. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve
Learning, 57 (5), 14-17.
Wise, V. and Wright, T. (2012). Critical Absence in the Field of Educational
Adminsitration: Framing the (Missing) Discourse of Leadership in Early
Childhood Settings. International Journal of Educational
Leadership Preparation, 2(2).
