Dear Mr. Flecha:
After reading your post in the last newsletter referencing the report that 42% of current principals are considering leaving their jobs due to heavy workloads, low pay and lack of autonomy, I have to wonder how AALA is working with the District to improve working conditions for principals. It seems every week I read in your newsletter the same anonymous letters reporting how so many principals are overworked, overwhelmed and mistreated.
These complaints usually land on deaf ears, as things just seem to be getting worse. Now the District is reorganizing to community-based local districts, which will result in more senior administrators and support staff creating more work for principals. When are principals going to stop being the hard labor for the District just so everyone who doesn’t work at a school site can justify their jobs? How is this repurposed idea going to benefit principals, teachers and students at the school site?
If you really want to support principals, work toward giving every school an assistant principal, increased pay and more autonomy, and maybe we’d complain a little less. But DO SOMETHING! What’s most disturbing is that principals have been reduced to writing anonymous complaint letters to AALA (in fear of retaliation from the District) as the only way of being heard. What a sad state of affairs.
Another anonymous letter from a principal
cc: Superintendent Beutner
Dear Another Anonymous Principal:
I want to thank you for your thoughtful insights and feedback; and apologize for the delayed response. The AALA bargaining team, like you, has been working assiduously on proposals to address the very same issues you raise and others.
I hope the side letters the bargaining team negotiated for our certificated and classified members is proof positive I AM DOING SOMETHING!