However, if the teacher is respected and liked, the school leader will
be seen as unfair and maybe even capricious. While ensuring competent
instruction is paramount, it is the foolish school leader who ignores pub-
lic opinion. By finding the teacher’s strength and exploiting it, and then
working with the teacher to minimize negative impact on instruction, this
can be avoided.
The observation process is explored in much great detail in Remember-
ing What’s Important: Priorities of School Leadership.
Teachers often have skills needed by a school that are unrelated to teach-
ing. Sometimes taking a teacher out of a classroom to do other duties is
detrimental if she is a master teacher. However, sometimes problematic
teachers have other skills that greatly improve the school for all.
Mr. Pfizer had such a teacher in his middle school. Ms. Cerise was a
computer expert at a time when few people even used computers. She
could keep the newly installed computer classrooms operational. She
could order hardware needed to upgrade and software that would have
the most use. She could write grants to obtain more materials. She would
impress the techies at district meetings so the school could get even more
computer rooms and equipment.
On the downside, her interpersonal skills were not the best. If a student
or staff member asked her a question, the response was usually a techie-
talk lecture. She became upset if her listener didn’t understand what she
was saying.
Given Ms. Cerise’s talents, Mr. Pfizer needed to minimize these
negatives. He officially made Ms. Cerise the computer coordinator of
his school. She was given a program of all computer classes, some with
students learning architectural and design programs needed for elective
courses and others with students who were themselves techies. Some of
these techie students became her monitors and assisted in the maintenance
and upgrading of the computer rooms. When Mr. Pfizer visited other
schools and saw computer rooms not being used because the school was
waiting forever for the district’s contracted repair people, he learned just
how valuable Ms. Cerise was for this position.
Sometimes a school leader needs to take an excellent teacher out of the
classroom because her other talents are even more valuable to the students
and the school. Ms. Magenta had a prior career in the business world. She
Maximize the Positives; Minimize the Negatives 123