Sharing Hats
A New York City school discovers the promises—
and the pitfalls—of sharing responsibilities.
Instructional leader, master teacher, content area specialist, staff devel- oper, curriculum expert, commu- nity builder, programmer, head of safety and discipline, parent
liaison, human resource person, budget
maintainer, physical plant manager, and
head cheerleader. These are all hats
many principals today must wear. The
role of the principal has grown so much
that it is virtually impossible for one
person to handle every facet of the position successfully. As a result, many principals have begun to empower teachers
and other staff members to lead within
their schools.
But such delegation has its challenges. At Ryan Middle School, our
efforts at building teacher leadership
have met with great success, but this
success has not been entirely problem-free. We’ve learned that even the best
initiatives require constant and consistent reflection if improvement is to
continue.
Reginald Landeau Jr., Daphne VanDorn,
and Mary Ellen Freeley
learners, and 10 percent are in special
education.
Five years ago, Reginald Landeau Jr.,
fresh out of the first graduating class of
New York City’s Leadership Academy,
became the principal at Ryan, which
was at the time the worst school in the
city’s best district. The dream was to
make Ryan into a top- 10 middle school.
Such improvement would require leadership from the entire staff; not only to
move us in the right direction, but also
to build a solid foundation for the
future.
The Need for Change
Ryan Middle School in Fresh Meadows,
Queens, New York, is a comprehensive
middle school with 1,427 students in
grades 6–8. The school has a multicultural population of black, Asian, white,
and Hispanic students; 48 percent of
the students live below the poverty
level, 12 percent are English language
A Vision for Growth
Building leadership from within takes
purpose, vision, and, most of all, buy-in
from staff. Organizations that succeed in
a time of change seek diversity of
employees, ideas, and experiences while
establishing mechanisms for sorting out,
reconciling, and acting on new patterns
(Fullan, 2001). Collaboration and cooperation of all stakeholders is necessary
to create cultural change in schools.
At Ryan, the first order of
business was to systematically
restructure the school in a
way that would benefit
everyone. The six-member school
cabinet, which
consisted of
Reginald,
