In the Zone This Month: February 2007
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Theme: Collaborating with Communities
February is Black History Month. Having just celebrated the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. the editor has been inspired once again by the legacy left by this remarkable leader. The Principal’s Office has drawn an excerpt from one of his writings, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” as the theme that relates to both the Ohio Principal Standards and the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standard 4 (ISLLC, 1996). The standards respectively state:
Ohio: Principals engage parents and community members in the educational process and create an environment where community resources support student learning, achievement and well being.
- Principals use community resources to improve student learning
- Principals involve parents and community members in improving student learning
- Principals connect the school with the community
- Principals establish expectations for the use of culturally responsive practices which value and acknowledge diversity
Standard 4. A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by collaborating with families and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.
Dr. King wrote, “Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
The standards speak directly to the “interrelatedness of communities” and the “network of mutuality.” School leaders “connect the school with the community” and “establish the expectations for the use of culturally responsive practices.” The issue of race continues to be at the heart of many issues in our schools as this edition of The Principal’s Office delineates. Yet, I remember an article from several years ago titled, “These children are our children.” The premise of this title resonated with me just as that of Dr. King’s “whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
The theme is carried out this month in The Principal’s Office in the Political Landscape with a look at the pending Supreme Court case decision on the constitutionality of using race as a tool in assigning students to public schools in two cases. An update about Bill Cosby who has been at the center of controversy as he has encouraged families, particularly African American families, to take greater responsibility for their children is included. In The Principal’s Perspective: Stories from the Field, one principal shares a story about how she got the support of one unruly parent. In the Sticky Issues segment, a principal writes about how a parent issue at the school nearly exploded into an outright racial confrontation between white staff members and African American staff members. With parent conferences coming up again, student-led conferencing is the topic discussed in the Develop Your Staff segment. The Failure of Integration by Sheryll Cashin is the featured book selection in Professional Readings. As always, The Principal’s Office invites you to communicate with us and tell us your thoughts in the Communication Corner. he question under consideration for next month is “What ethical issues have you faced as a building administrator specifically ethics in the testing situation? “
Contributors of the Month
Principal’s Office Editorial Staff
