"Lean on Me," the movie, is not an example of school management but an entertainment effort for patrons who can afford it. The movie has been touted by media and others as a solution to school violence, followed by "The Substitute" forever sequels. Management is more.
A good manager is a person who knows that all the work to be done is his/hers and that when it is too much, he/she must find and convince others to do it at a profit to him/her. The principal in "Lean on Me" should have had a baseball bat attitude for his subordinates, not the students.His subordinates needed to be inspired to deal directly with the curriculum, students and operational resources of the school.
Two of our esteemed educators, Rosalia Payne and Terrence Joseph, the two district superintendents for our Department of Education, are the authors of a newspaper column that appears once or twice a month. Their thrust has been at parenting. While they have excellent ideas and theories relative to parenting, do they really have academic expertise in the area of parenting? Are they inadvertently being misdirected by "Lean on Me" in that they are giving advice in a field that we do not pay them for? Should they not be giving advice on their strategy for affecting the delivery of education as a product wherein our children will be the well received recipients? Can they tell us where they propose to use the baseball bat of "Lean on Me"in the managing of their staffs?
Our police are just as misguided.When is the last time you heard of a principal or supervisor, captain, lieutenant or sergeant transferred, demoted or chastised for not doing his/her job? When is the last time you heard of a police officer or teacher being congratulated by the bosses, not the public or community groups? When is the last time you heard of the administrators of any of our government agencies seriously giving attention and congratulations to their staff instead of themselves? Is it really okay for a principal, in "Lean on Me" or in real life, to be seen chasing students as opposed to chasing his/her staff with guidance, resources, infrastructure repairs and maintenance? If there is uncontrolled violence in schools beyond the control of the on- site administrators, replace the administrators. If there are increases of crime and continued reported crimes in a zone, replace the captain, lieutenants and sergeants.
Management 101 works when pressure is placed on what one controls or owns: supervisors, subordinates and others. However, teachers and police officers cannot put pressure on what they do not own: parents, students, trespassers or school youth violence.
Krim Ballantine
St. Thomas
