School Leaders-Ethics and Integrity Matter

Who would you classify as a school leader? The superintendent, the central office or network staff member, the school principal, board members?  Easy argument to cast each of these positions as leaders, eh?!

What about teachers?  When thinking about parents, guardians and students, they certainly see teachers as leaders. So, in essence we are all school leaders in a way.

Yesterday, Steve Davidoff ‘s article on big corporate CEOs running amuck with power and making seriously greedy and outright egregious plays for company stock, cash bonuses, and self-pay transactions to the point of instigating shareholder lawsuits.  One colleague taught me the term drunk with power.  It resonates.

I tried to talk myself out of linking that NY Times article to our work.  After all, these big corporate chiefs are in another financial world than ours it seems.  Not so!

They have followers they can lead with ethics and integrity, and we have followers we can lead with ethics and integrity (or not).  We can learn from the many examples of breaches in public trust when any one of us violates what is appropriate.  We do this from big acts of wrongdoing or passive acts, such as allowing a colleague (or even a supervisor) to go unchecked on something we know about.  From something as discreet as 1 answer being changed on a child’s state testing booklet to something as horrendous as that Maryland school superintendent found guilty years ago of manipulating a million dollar sale to his girlfriend’s company.  The truncation was paid for by the taxpayers he was entrusted to serve.  Big or small-there really is no difference.

Once when I had to confront ethics issues on the part of a school board member, I was reminded by some colleagues teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Education how often disconnected our ethics curricula in school leadership programs are from the realities of the day to day issues and decisions we face.

It is only those leaders who serve every day with a keen sight on what is right and what is wrong who can truly inspire and lead in this work we do for kids.

There are many big corporate executives we can learn from who are doing the right things for the right reasons.  There are far too many who frankly provide the wrong type of modeling for us.  Remember, they all started with us–in a school with teachers, principals, superintendents.  We must model positive behaviors for our future big corporate execs., not just teach them.

And for other adults associated with our work, and when it comes to ethics and integrity we must all see ourselves as leaders.  Otherwise, we fail to  get our parents, students, and other constituents to follow and to support the work we do for kids.

Is this over the top and it seems like I am preaching to the choir?  Or, is this pertinent material for us to be reminded of the enormity of ethics and integrity in our work?

JW

2010 Illinois Superintendents Preparation Academy

Applications have been reviewed and later this week, we will announce the two 2010 (inaugural) cohorts of the Illinois Superintendents Academy. Applicants were considered from many school districts and charter schools from all parts of the great state of Illinois. We are excited to reveal the names, and more excited to learn of so many highly talented and committed educators ready for more significant work to support teachers and students. Look for the names on this blog and on the atlanticresearchpartners.org website. JW