There is another lesson to be learned here: Future school leaders need
to be adept in the interpretation and explanation of statistics. In today’s
world, blame and credit ride with test scores. Whenever your district has
any workshops on data analysis, attend them.
Chapter 2 deals with defusing situations. One of the best ways to do this
is to take the blame and apologize. A parent complains that a teacher
was overly critical of her child? Take the blame—“I’m very sorry. I will
work harder to train teachers to be more understanding of children”—and,
then do as you promise. A teacher complains that she can never get sup-
plies from her supervisor? Take the blame—“I’m sorry. I didn’t set aside
enough funding for this,” or “In the future, I’ll make sure supplies are on
hand and that supervisors are directed to distribute them.” The bottom line
is that as the principal, the school building leader, everything that goes
wrong is ultimately your fault. Let’s explore saying you’re sorry further.
Usually, when people come to the principal’s office seeking a solution
to a problem, the various parties involved want to blame someone for the
problem—usually each other. How does a school leader handle these situ-
ations? There are three simple rules:
- Never publicly assign blame to anyone else.
- Always publicly take the blame yourself.
- Don’t be afraid to say, “I’m sorry.”
Let’s look at some situations.
- Mary, an honor student, cuts a physical education class to study for a
test in her advanced placement class the next period. The dean finds
Mary sitting on a staircase studying her notes, checks her program card,
and sees she is cutting. This is a Cutting Sweep Day in which deans
and assistant principals are constantly circulating around the school to
pick up every cutter. Mary is caught in the net. She is brought to the
dean’s office, and her home number is called. Mary tells the dean that
her mother is working, but she does not have the work number. The
dean tells Mary she must stay in the office until a parent is reached.
Mary, now sobbing, says she can’t miss her examination in her ad-
vanced placement class. The dean, following the Cutting Sweep Day
44 Chapter 4