University Hill Elementary School in Boulder, Colo., has a new principal this year. Make that three new principals. Jeannie Jacobson, Jean Westby, and JoAnn Trujillo Hays (left to right)--``the three Js,’' as they’re affectionately called-- are teachers who have taken over the leadership of the alternative elementary school. The arrangement is a legacy of the school’s former principal, Naomi Grothjan, who had worked hard to involve her staff in school decisionmaking. Grothjan died of cancer last March. The local school board approved the unusual power-sharing plan, and the state board of education gave its blessing, as well. The three teachers will guide the school for two or three years, after which other teachers will replace them on the ``triexecutive council,’' or leadership team, as they prefer to call it. Westby says that students, parents, and teachers are enthusiastic about the experiment. ``The teachers are very happy,’' she says. ``They see that it’s new, it’s good, and it’s working.’'
A version of this article appeared in the November 01, 1990 edition of Teacher Magazine as Sharing The Power
