As a teacher, what has been your worst experience with an inept principal?

Question

is your principal a bully, or a micro-manager or just plain stupid?

Answer 1

I had a principal who once had me assigned for "playground duty" at the same time I was teaching a class. When I told him  that he had made a mistake, he said I should work it out.

Answer 2

my teacher now is definitely a bully - no one likes this person

but the worst experience I've had with a principal was when he allowed students to check out of school to go to town for the most stupid reasons - he had no control over the students and was a namby-pamby "leader"

Answer 3

Some years ago I was working at a school that was just outside the city limits of the largest city in our state.  The book mobile visited our school once a week for the community to visit since there was no library nearby.  I took my class to the book mobile.  I was called into the principal's office and told that taking a class to the book mobile was a waste of time.  I was told not to take them again.

Answer 4

an evaluation from a fictional observation that was stated to have occurred on a day that I was absent

Answer 5

Another teacher was orchestrating pupils to steal from me and bragged to the department in my absence about how clever she was being.

I complained to senior management, backed up by colleagues who'd listened to her claims (which pupils had already alerted me to).  We were all disciplined for making false accusations and bullying her!  Several of us left after that.

Answer 6

My principal is all of the above, but especially a bully. The working conditions are so bad. Staff for the most part distrust each other. The principal runs the school like it's a slave plantation. She never lets you forget that she is in charge. You always have to agree with her and kiss her azz, otherwise she'll verbally assault you (it's happened to me and others).

She bullies the other administrators into carrying out her dirty work. If you somehow manage to land on her bad side, she will sock it to you by specifically targeting you and trying to make you seem incompetent. She was threatening us with our jobs this past year if certain children didn't pass state exams (if they failed, she is really the one held liable).

Don't get sick or lose a family member, you're still expected to come to work. There have been times I've experienced this and she was upset that I couldn't come to work. This year, I only missed 1 day out of 180-some days. I also took a few days for a funeral of a close relative that I was entitled to have BY LAW. She threatened to put a letter in my file for "poor attendance." That bereavement leave didn't even count towards absence. If I can't take any time off, then why am I given 10 days each school year in addition to the vacation days?

She also has probed about my personal health (other people have been through the same thing). She enacts so many policies to get revenge on certain teachers but it ends up hurting our school in the end. I don't want to be specific on here. Let's just say our school will be in a bad position in the fall in terms of money and staff.  

Also, somehow new teachers tend to get the most prized positions as if seniority doesn't matter. She personally makes sure of it.

I can write a book about all that goes on in that building.

EDIT- She also has a way of rolling her eyes at you and ignoring you if you say good morning (but that's when she's in a particularly stank mood).

I've seen her yell at staff in front of other staff members and children.

Answer 7

Basketball is really big at the school where I teach, and our team makes it to state every year.  Right before State last year, several of the star players were caught getting into my computer and changing their grades so they would be eligible.  My principal basically put off dealing with the problem until after the tournament, and after all the media coverage died down when they won.  And what did they get?  Two days' detention each.  Yeah, she's pretty much just plain stupid.