171Most texts on school leadership tell aspiring school leaders to “think
outside of the box.” Yes, they have to be creative, but often that “box” is
composed of the regulations and procedures of the school district and state
education department. If the school leader thinks outside the box, he may
wind up without a job. This is especially true when you remember another
adage that applies to the world of schools: Life is unfair. No matter how
many successes a school leader has had, if he makes a mistake or does
something stupid (and don’t we all at one time or another?), no one will
help him. In fact, they—the superintendent, the school board, the powers
that be—will throw him to the wolves.
There are some mitigating factors to this, but a school leader must re-
member that if he breaks through the box and his strategy doesn’t work,
he is on his own. It is better for the school leader to conceive of the box as
having flexible sides that he can bend without breaking and so stay within
the safety of all the rules, regulations, and contractual provisions that he
is, after all, charged to enforce.
Several years after becoming principal of his Brooklyn school, Mr. Chen
found this out. The following is a long anecdote, but it deals with a situa-
tion that all school leaders will face at one time or another and points out
the importance of following established procedures in a situation that had
serious repercussions—and almost cost Mr. Chen his job.
Sometimes it is difficult to know what the box is or what is right for
all people. The era of more stringent procedures for reporting allegations
of sexual misconduct was just beginning in the early 1990s. The district
Chapter Thirteen