Letter

Leaders Should Lead, Not Do Public Relations

April 19, 2005

To the Editor:

Ted Sanders’ essay "Preparing School Leaders—Shared Responsibilites" (Commentary, April 6, 2005) omitted the most glaring problem with public school administrators today: They construe themselves as public relations specialists rather than educational leaders.

I am not really interested in the degrees they have or where they got them. I am interested in someone coming into a school and addressing problems instead of pretending everything is wonderful and spending the bulk of the day making everyone feel good.

Most public school administrators believe in making their lives easier, not in making their schools better places of learning. So we have problems with achievement gaps and poor academic performances from coast to coast.

Can anyone honestly find a public school administrator today who knows his or her state’s standards by grade level in each discipline—or even where to find them? I know of none, and I’ve been a public school teacher for 33 years.

Paul T. Hoss

Marshfield, Mass.

Vol. 24, Issue 32, Page 31

Published in Print: April 20, 2005, as Leaders Should Lead, Not Do Public Relations