explains to the coordinator of student activities that regulations must be
adhered to.- The students in Mr. Lime’s class are absolutely right. Mr. Lime is up
to his old trick of scaring students into transferring out of his class to
reduce his class size. The principal speaks to his immediate supervisor
and advises that the department quickly devise a research paper policy
that sets content and length of papers for each level of instruction. He
reminds Mr. Lime that he will not approve any class transfers and can
change the grades of any student he feels has been subjected to unrea-
sonable expectations. The principal also informs Mr. Lime that he will
be required to be present at any meetings with parents who complain
about their children’s workload in his classes. - The school leader discovers that teachers are not releasing those stu-
dents with poor attendance or failing grades and that they are upset
that such students were even permitted to be in this year’s show. He
temporizes and intervenes to have the students released this year (it is
too late to prepare other students to replace them) but promises to have
the Academic Affairs Committee devise criteria for the future that will
prevent this problem. By the next year, a new school policy makes it
clear that participation in all school activities is a privilege and not a
right and that such participation must be earned. For the annual musical
in particular, strict academic criteria are applied, similar to those used
for participation in varsity sports. (For more on the subject of participa-
tion in extracurricula activities, see chapter 8.) - The principal finds out that the unprofessional activities expected of
secretaries consist of making coffee and cleaning Mr. Coffee machines.
He agrees with the union representative and sends a memo to all offices
explicitly stating that this is not a secretary’s responsibility. - He meets with the parents and explains that the asbestos cited is in the
floor tiles and can only be a problem if tiles are shredded. He shows
them that the tiles around the school are very solid and explains that if
any tile becomes cracked or chipped, it is replaced immediately by the
custodial staff.
Another aspect of this principle involves the way in which school lead-
ers communicate with teachers. Anyone who has ever seen a teacher’s
mailbox knows that everyone in the administration seems to want to add
People Are More Important than Paper 53