Principals feeling pressure to get A's putting pressure on parents, teachers to give them

[tonysam]

NYC's Yolanda Ramirez isn't the only principal who is putting pressure on teachers, parents, and others to make them "look good":

Across the city, principals are under investigation for pressuring parents, students or teachers into giving them good reviews on the secret surveys that gauge school satisfaction.

Just a month after the Daily News obtained a recording of a Brooklyn principal threatening teachers for giving her shoddy reviews, another tape has emerged of a principal instructing teachers on the importance of giving high marks.

"If you give us low grades and that attacks our progress report grade, the school's going to close," Principal Mary Prendergast of the High School for Youth and Community Development says in a matter-of-fact tone.

She also notes that she considers the survey to be "stupid, quite frankly," and tells her teacher to "politically be smart."

NY Daily News

"Politically be smart." Translation: If you don't make me look good, I will retaliate, and you will be the loser.

No matter how bad principals are, and most of them are throughout the country, they rarely get into serious trouble for their actions.

From the comments:

This is not the first time Mary (or Marie - she uses both names) Prendergast has been in the news. OVER FOUR YEARS AGO, accusations were made that Marie Prendergast allegedly helped students cheat on Regents exams in her school. The investigation concluded that she had failed in her role as leader of the school. The report was released from the office of Special Commissioner of Investigations, Richard Condon. It's shocking, but despite the investigation's finding, Prendergast kept her job as principal. How could someone found to have failed in her job keep her job? Why do Prendergast's staff members feel they must record her? Something strange is going on here. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Google Marie Prendergast and Regents. You will find a wealth of information that might explain a lot -- and might raise even more questions.

Story about Prendergast is here.

It takes an act of God to get rid of a principal.

[RandomThoughts]

1. People that make threats

Make me laugh :D

Probably because I can not lose, but what is winning, it might be different for different people?

[femmocrat]

2. I wonder what happens to people when they become principals.

Do they all turn into a-holes? We had one who would actually put a plastic knife in your mailbox if you criticized him.

[tonysam]

3. It appears the ego goes all to their heads

and common sense goes out the window.

A former teacher named Rosalyn Schnall has written a book about a survey she took of (mostly) Chicago teachers and their relationships with their principals. There are so many terrible principals out there, far more than there are good ones, it's ominous for anybody considering going into the field of public school teaching. What makes principals worse than the garden variety supervisor is the fact they have complete power over teachers and can destroy their careers without batting an eyelash.

When Teachers Talk: Principal Abuse of Teachers / The Untold Story