Administrators

I have had the worst luck in the world with administrators. I've only taught at 2 schools, thus far, and I seem to have just found the pack of some of the most ill-mannered principals out there. The first school I worked at, the principal put on this great face of empathy, and presenting unity, and the air that he would work with people to find a solution to benefit everybody. Then, when a problem actually came up, he threw me under a bus, quite literally. It was a horrible experience, and nearly drove me out of teaching altogether.

At this second school, I have a few principals that seem to have been bitten by the grouchy pants bug. The principal of the school has very little respect for, and from, anybody on the staff. Possibly because she has, and has done this to me, come into teacher's classes and, in front of students, belittled them and yelled at them. Insulting them personally and professionally. Then putting on this smiling face and saying how much she loves all her staff and how they're the greatest in the world. Totally full of it. Which might explain one of her assistant principals. She seems to have the same, "I must prove that I'm the one in charge", mentality that the main principal does. (I'm doing my best to keep names out of this) Another episode happened with me today. I'm currently with students on a trip to a drama festival. On Monday, while I was running around and trying to get everything set up for my class for the next 3 days, and making sure that all of our final arrangements were done and set and ready to go, I was informed that there was an outside event coming into our space next week and that I needed to run a whole bunch of tests on things. Now, the fun part about this is that I had no previous warning of this event, and it isn't the first, nor will it be the last time, no matter how much I tell them, that they will approve something without checking with me. I managed to fit the time in to check things, but forgot to e-mail the tech guy with the information he wanted. I received a call today, from said asst. principal asking for the info. No worries in and of itself, right? Well, then the phrase, "You need to find a little bit of time for some professionalism" escapes her mouth. I am quite good at repressing my anger, so I just managed to answer all the questions and let him know what was needed without saying anything that I would regret.

But what is the deal with this? Are all administrators this way? This is maybe the second issue all school year that she has had with me, the first one I had taken care of before she game into my room (in front of students) yelling about it and making a big deal about something that, as I consistently reminded her, that I had taken care of. This is definitely an issue that runs through my whole school. Almost none of the administrators seem to be able to solve anything without resorting to public embarrassment or unnecessarily pulling rank. Do they not seem to know that the teachers are adults, too, and probably know it when they make a mistake and are able to own up to it? Are they that insecure in their own positions that they must continually make an example out of people? I had mulled over possibilities of doing administration, but I have to admit that, if this is the type of person that I'm going to become, I want absolutely nothing to do with it. This is just my third year teaching and, thanks to a lot of rather unprofessional actions by supposedly professional individuals, I'm already feeling quite burned out. Here's hoping that summer comes soon.