What Successful Principals Do! 169 Tips for Principals

Citation

Bass, L. (2007), "What Successful Principals Do! 169 Tips for Principals", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 45 No. 2, pp. 231-233. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578230710732998

The demanding nature of the position dictates that school principals, especially new ones, find themselves overwhelmed. Before they know it, new principals are caught up in a whirlwind of activities and pressures from all sides. They are often thrust into positions that not even the best schools of educational leadership could have prepared them for. The office or position of “principal” carries with it extreme accountability to the community in which his/her school is located, to the administration of the school district he/she works for, the parents of the students in his/her building, and especially to the students in his/her school. Consequently, principals are in a position to make dozens of weighty decisions and judgments on a daily basis; decisions and judgments that can make or break their reputations and influence the direction of their careers. Because of the significant number and degree of responsibilities that new principals face, they often find themselves in need of mentorship and advice. Unfortunately, advice is not always easy to come by, and not all advice received is sound advice.

According to Fleck (2005), principals will find that not all people who offer advice do so in wisdom, knowledge, or in the best interest of the principal and his/her students. For this reason, Franzy Fleck has as his goal to demystify the role of principal and the many accompanying responsibilities, and to offer every day, practical advice to new principals in his book: What Successful Principals Do! 169 Tips for Principals.

Dr Fleck combines his present and former experiences as an educator, an educational leader, and as a professor to develop this no non‐sense book, which reads like it could just as aptly have been entitled: Chicken Soup for the Principal's Soul, Common Sense Advice for Principals, or The Principalship for Dummies. “What Successful Principals Do” plainly spells out appropriate decorum for a variety of issues and situations that principals will likely encounter. The book comprises short stories, proverbs, and anecdotes, which are organized to offer practical, almost common sense advice to principals on subjects selected by Fleck. These sayings and quotes, which come from note‐worthy, often famous icons, are followed by Fleck's plain spoken advice on the subject at hand.

The book is written so that many of the selections are general enough to be applied to many professional and/or personal situations. An example of such advice is the admonishment to “Turn Cell Phones Off”. In this selection, (p. 7) Fleck quotes Eric Hoffer in saying: “Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.” In his accompanying dialogue, Fleck notes the importance of creating a professional environment in which the use cell phones during work hours is simply not acceptable or appropriate. Fleck also includes advice that is more specific to the principalship, such as the advice given later on to “Schedule Regular Classroom Visits” (p. 92). Fleck quotes Marie Curie in this selection, as she states “I was taught the way of progress is neither swift nor easy”. After this quote, Fleck hammers home the importance of visiting all teachers regularly and supporting them in their professional development.

The book is organized into three sections by what Fleck determines to be important topics to address in: Beginning the School Year; During the School Year; and Ending the School Year. The organization of the book is the primary suggestion that this reviewer would make for improvement to the text. While the content is very strong and filled with useful suggestions for school leaders it would have been helpful if components within the three sections were perhaps presented differently. For example, the selection entitled “Make Regular Classroom Visits” is made in the During the School Year section. A principal reading this book in the way that it is currently organized might wait to read this important advice during the school year, (past the beginning of the year). If this is the case, it may well be too late to make regular visits to teachers. If the visits are indeed going to be regular, one could suggest that these visits are conducted from the beginning until the end of the school year. Furthermore, other sections like “Write Grants, Seek Donations” (p. 163), “Have Written Goals and Update Them Regularly” (p. 165), “Become a ‘Community in Schools Site’” (p. 167), and “Consider Staff Strengths When Assigning Tasks” (p. 171) are all in the Ending the School Year section of the book. All of these selections could have been more appropriately placed in the Beginning the School Year or During the School sections. The book could be improved through a re‐organization into smaller sections according to topics such as school management, staff development, managing relationships, and the school and the community, etc.

Overall, the book is well‐written in reader friendly fashion by an author who seems to be sincerely interested in improving the educational leadership community by helping educational leaders to develop into the very best leaders they can possibly be. Fleck offers sound advice for principals – especially new principals who are just learning to define themselves in their all‐encompassing, multi‐faceted roles. Although this book was written for principals, it is equally suitable as a reference book for almost anyone in an administrative position – especially since it draws from such a wide range of reference points.