the only appeal would be to the superintendent. Problems that should have
been resolved at the school level are now at the district level, something
no principal wants.
So the ladders of response are sieves that resolve most matters before
they reach the principal. As a school leader, you can evaluate the effective-
ness of your staff by the problems you see. An assistant principal or depart-
ment chair is the principal’s first administrative buffer to issues regarding
teachers—the first rung in the ladder of response. Ms. Niles-Perry, as a
department chair in a Los Angeles grade 7–12 school, found that 90 percent
of parent complaints involved two teachers in her department of twenty.
One was a poor teacher. At that time, the procedures for removing a
tenured incompetent teacher involved a lengthy two- to three-year process
involving mounds of paperwork and a myriad of hearings. When parents
complained about this teacher, the assistant principal could truthfully reply
that she was pursuing the course of action defined by district regulations.
If the parent was not satisfied and went to the principal or superintendent,
they would support what had been said.
The other teacher was anything but incompetent. He planned and ex-
ecuted lessons well. Student papers were carefully read and contained
appropriate responses and corrections. There was never an issue with
classroom management. But the teacher was too rigid. If he said that an
assignment was to be done in a certain way, any deviation from the format
led to a poor grade. If an oral presentation had to follow a format within
a time frame, no creative changes were acceptable. Critiques were public
and sometimes brutally honest.
Three years after the fact, when graduates came to visit the school,
many would say that now that they were in college, they appreciated what
they learned in Mr. Puce’s class. He had taught them how to write, how to
make oral presentations, and how to accept criticism. They didn’t like him
when they were in his class, but now they appreciated his uncompromis-
ing devotion to having students strive for excellence (Ms. Niles-Perry’s
paraphrase, not their exact words).
At first, when a student or parent complained about Mr. Puce, Ms.
Niles-Perry transferred the student, putting the problem down to a person-
ality conflict. This was a disservice to both the student and the teacher.
Then she began to explain to complaining students that Mr. Puce’s
class was one of the easiest to pass in the school: All they had to do was
Don’t Exacerbate; Defuse 23