New Principal vs. Experienced Principal

[GreatGS]

If you were given the choice, would you choose a job where the principal has only one year of experience?

Basically, I like the principal and share many educational perceptions and goals. She tries her best to do the best job that she can and to be fair. What is missing.... experience and the games others can play to self-promote. I see her being pushed around, challenged, and buying into the gossip from teachers who do not like each other.

I'm trying to decide to stay or go...but I hear many others feel the stress.

[mopar]

I would choose to work for someone who shares the same educational philosophy and goals as I do whether they are more experienced or not.

[TeachOn]

If she is swayed by the gossips at all, she'll inevitably fail as a leader. When I was dep't head, I insisted that any issue that might come up - individual supervisory stuff aside - be discussed in an open meeting in which everyone could have a say. If people came to lobby me before or after the meeting, I just wouldn't listen. After a period of adjustment, everyone came to embrace this way of doing things.

[Aliceacc]

"New vs Experienced" isn't what matters in my book.

My current princpal was new to the job when he took the reigns 15 or 18 years ago. He's been wonderful for the school, its student body and its faculty.

The principal before him was also new, and was opening a new school. While he was radically different in terms of approach from our current principal, he was exactly the right person for the job at that time.

I think previous experience as a principal is far, far less important than teaching experience and than sharing the same philosophy of education.

[knitter63]

Having taught with both new and experienced principals, I found no difference between the two. Even though I would love to have a principal who shares all of my educational values, realistically, it does not happen in my district. We can't choose who our principal will be, and there may not be openings at the building of a principal you want to work with.

[dgpiaffeteach]

I currently work for a new principal and don't like it. PM me if you want more details.

[catnfiddle]

My principal had only one year experience at my school when he hired me but had come from another school with a ton of experience. What makes him a great is his ability to adapt, think on his feet, and listen quietly but actively. Some of this may come with his experience, but I think most of it is who he is as a person.

[waterfall]

Originally Posted by mopar

I would choose to work for someone who shares the same educational philosophy and goals as I do whether they are more experienced or not.

Me too, where is that "like" button? Our P is pretty experienced and our AP started the same year I did, so he's in his 2nd year too. I find the AP to be a better administrator even though he lacks the experience of the P. Some teachers prefer the personality of the P- it just depends on the person.

[Aliceacc]

What makes me a little crazy is when I read here that someone is going to teach 3 or 4 years, as he or she gets a degree in administration. Then the plan is to become a principal.

Three or four years is enough to give you a clue about whether or not you'll ever be good at teaching. It certainly is NOT enough time to lead other teachers.

OK, jumping off my soapbox now.

[waterfall]

Originally Posted by catnfiddle

What makes him a great is his ability to adapt, think on his feet, and listen quietly but actively. Some of this may come with his experience, but I think most of it is who he is as a person.

This is how I feel about our AP! The thing with special ed is that MOST admins have no personal experience with it. Our AP is actually willing to recognize that and ask/listen rather than just assuming. I feel like he really listens to the teachers rather than just jumping to his own experience. Our P on the other hand taught for over 15 years in tons of different subjects (elementary, middle school, esl, tons of different grade levels, spanish) and I feel like she just thinks she knows everything there is to know and doesn't take the time to listen to anyone else. The two of us still align philosophically on a lot of things, so she doesn't bother me too much, but her general personality of always jumping in too fast and making snap decisions based on "experience" rather than looking at the specific, current facts at hand is very irritating. I HATE having her at RtI and IEP meetings because of this- every kid is different!