Retirements and voluntary resignations are among the reasons why Chicago Public Schools could lose a number of principals before the start of the next school year.
Retirements and voluntary resignations are among the reasons why Chicago Public Schools could lose a number of principals before the start of the next school year.
“We expect close to 100 principals to leave by this summer,” said Monique Bond, a spokeswoman for Chicago Public Schools. “Most departures are not firings but principals choosing to retire or voluntarily resign.”
Ron Huberman, chief executive officer of CPS, said at a Monday City Council Finance Committee meeting that 80 principals would be leaving the district this year. That number was increased the next day.
According to Bond, 48 are retiring, 14 voluntarily resigned, two were removed, 14 are leaving for other reasons such as corrective action and contracts for eight principals were not renewed by Local School Councils, who also help hire principals.
At Defender press time Bond said she did not know which schools the principals are from. Principals were required to notify CPS by March 5 if they planned to leave, according to Clarice Berry, president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association.
She added that CPS has over 600 principals for its 21,830 teachers, 675 schools, and 408,000 students.
Replacements for the vacant positions are expected to come from within and outside the school district, Bond told the Defender.
“We are looking at internal and external candidates because excellent leadership is our philosophy. It sets the tone for the school,” she said.
Bond denied that CPS is ousting senior principals to hire more junior ones.
“There is no conspiracy here to force longtime principals out so they can be replaced with someone younger,” she told the Defender. “Many of our best performing schools have senior principals.” Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart said Huberman, who is a non-educator, “does not respect people who have come up through the system.”
After a year at the helm of the nation’s third largest school district, Berry told the Defender that Huberman is still out of touch with school leaders.
“You cannot run the third largest school district without talking to middle management, which includes principals,” she said. “The principals are the school leaders. They’re the ones who hire teachers and staff to work with students and I cannot understand how CPS thinks it can make improvements to the system without including input from principals.”
She also takes offense to Huberman calling the principals’ separation from the school district a firing. “I think Mr. Huberman misspoke at the City Council meeting (Monday) when he suggested that most of the principal departures were terminations. I am very unhappy with his statements,” she said, adding that his comments were bad for morale.
Berry said principals are often the school system’s scapegoat when schools fail.
“I get so sick and tired of principals being thrown under the bus whenever a school is not doing well,” Berry said. “Most principals are doing an excellent job. …They are fed up with everything that’s going on. Many are burned out and so those eligible to retire are doing so.”
Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender.
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