---

School Board Journal
March / April

---

Gus -- From the Boiler Room
By DAVID CARR and RICHARD W. SMELTER

---

Nobody asked me, but . . .

The funny thing was, we all noticed that she wasn't all that perfect herself and seemed to be producing less and less every day. Her reports were late, her lesson plans were incomplete, she missed assigned duties and came to work late. She did find plenty of time, though, to sit in the teachers' lounge and hold forth for anyone who'd lend her an ear. Pretty soon, everybody started to go to the Seven-Eleven to eat their lunch, just to avoid the daily litany. My conclusion: If a person would spend half as much time working to improve an organization as they do complaining about it, maybe things would get better . . . including their own work performance.

Nobody asked me, but . . .

. . . have you ever noticed how some supervisors are so sensitive to criticism that they seem to place their job security on a higher plane than the truth? Keck told me about a superintendent he knew of who made an art form out of this type of behavior. Seems that all that was needed were some comments made by local "influential" types and he'd throw anybody to the wolves, even trusted employees of long-standing repute. In that district, decisions were made at the local coffee shop by folks who apparently had nowhere else to go all day and who had nothing better to do than to criticize the teachers and principals. (You know the type their brains can hold a lot of gossip because there's nothing else much in there to begin with.) Anyway, it only took one of these enlightened individuals to call the superintendent to do somebody in, just by implying that the next victim might be the supe if he didn't go along. Guess what? The entire district leveled out to a sublime state of mediocrity due to the lack of moral fiber of the guy in charge.

My conclusion: you might never be able to get a handle on the "rumor mill," but you have an ethical obligation to get a handle on your own cowardice.

Nobody asked me, but . . .

. . . have you ever noticed that the school districts which seem to have the highest standards are those in which:

• criticism is not discouraged, but rumor-mongering is.
  
• the only complaints that are investigated are those with a face and a name connected to them. Anonymous phone calls, letters and the like are dismissed out of hand, as, sooner or later, people living in a democracy have the right to confront their accusers.
  
• there are clearly-marked procedures to follow in order to level a complaint against the schools.
  
• parent participation is encouraged in the schools as a sure way to make certain potential critics have an access to first-hand information, and not second-hand gossip.
  
• principals defend teachers against unjust attacks, superintendents back their principals against unfounded accusations, and school boards support their superintendent when he/she encounters opposition while simply trying to implement the board's directions.
  
• even the most powerful person in the community has to come up with substantiated evidence in leveling charges against school personnel.
  
• . . . in short, districts in which the word "ethical" is not simply a word on a spelling list.

I guess he should know what deserves respect and what doesn't . . . after all, he's the principal.

Gus, the custodian at Eastside Grammar, is the creation of David Carr and Richard W. Smelter.

David Carr teaches school administration at West Georgia College, and Richard W. Smelter is curriculum director for Manteno C.U. District 5 and principal of Manteno Elementary School.