Back in the Spring of 2007 Mickey Hall was the interim Director of Schools, and he cleaned house with multiple transfers or demotions of Principals. He then appointed his own people to replace them, who are now loyal to Hall (some were long time friends with minimal qualifications/experience).
Nothing was legally wrong in what Mickey Hall did, the Director of Schools has that power and does not have to publicly explain himself. Hall knew that a permanent replacement was on the way, and Hall acted while he still had the power – that was a little shady, not to wait and let Davis make his own determination.
The current crop of Principals are now beholden to Hall either because he appointed them as Principals, or he let them stay in their jobs. The Principals know that Mike Davis will not be around long (health is a big factor in my assesment – it will be in the back of all Board Members mind when it is time to renew Davis’ contract), whereas Hall will be around a long time. Eventually Hall will be “Interim” again, or possibly permanent director after a few more years of experience and working to build his power base with the elected officials. Those Principals who dare to cross Hall now will incur his wrath later on.
Until a cleaning of the school system of the new cronyism that is a result of the Hall Principals Machine, our schools will continue to suffer from lack of discipline, poor academics, and a continued lower morale among teachers.
In business, the number one reason given to Management and HR for leaving a job is “money”. The number one reason given to third-party professionals who do surveys that examine job turnover reveal that job dissatisfaction and poor management is the number one reason for people leaving jobs. “Money” is an easy out that does not hurt feelings or burn bridges. Keep that in mind the next time Davis and Hall say we are losing teachers to other districts because of money.
How do they explain this year’s high number of job transfer requests away from schools with new principals which Hall installed last year? I’m sure they will spin it away from themselves. Accepting personal responsibility is not popular at that level.
We are watching.
