Q: I’m a high school PE teacher in South Carolina, where schools opened a couple of weeks ago. I don’t even know the names of all of my students yet, and I’m already aggravated about a couple of late-breaking staffing changes. In the 11th hour, two staff members decided to leave. I don’t fault them. One is a new mother who got spooked about her safety and decided to quit to be home with her baby, and the other decided to leave for a district-level position — that was a significant promotion for him, so I get it. I will miss them, but I was excited, too, because that meant their leadership positions would become available, and I’ve been wanting a new challenge for a while. I also want to stay put if I can, at least for the next year or two. I’m comfortable here, and COVID has brought enough change and chaos into my life. One of the two jobs is test coordinator, which technically isn’t a promotion but would supplement my teaching income, and the other is director of athletics, which would give me more responsibility and a sizable salary bump. That’s the job I really wanted.
After waiting a few days for the positions to be posted so I could apply, I learned that the principal had already picked two people I work with, without giving anyone else a chance to throw their hat into the ring. I am disappointed and angry. Is this even legal? Can a principal just appoint people to jobs without advertising the openings? And if it’s technically OK, do you think it’s right? Should I confront him? Is this a reason to leave? I hate that I’m starting the year feeling this frustrated and disillusioned.
A: I’m sorry you didn’t get a chance to apply for those positions and can understand your frustration. You didn’t share the name of your district, so I don’t know whether your school system requires principals to interview interested internal candidates, but you certainly could inquire yourself. I’m guessing, however, that he hasn’t broken any rules. And while there is a lot to be said for transparency and inviting any interested internal candidates to apply, I can how see the principal might have thought this was the right way to proceed — if he already knew which direction he wanted to go, then maybe he reasoned that it was best not to set other people up for disappointment. Also, I can see a lot of value in giving principals leeway when it comes to assembling their teams. That said, I do believe there should be accountability. If the principal has carte blanche to hire whomever he wants, then a supervisor should be careful to review his choices and make sure he hasn’t overstepped any legal or ethical boundaries. For instance, is there any discernible pattern of bias in his hiring decisions? Does he seek out diverse candidates, for example, or does he show favoritism toward people he identifies with? If his record suggests that he does tend to be fair-minded, he should at least recognize that by making these sorts of decisions in secret, he’s likely to hurt morale. When staff don’t feel seen or heard, they tend to become disengaged and less productive.
Where does that leave you? You probably couldn’t switch jobs mid-year even if you wanted to, at least not without consequences, so it’s important to try to get your head in a better place. Do you think you might feel better if you admitted your frustration to the principal and flagged — once again — your desire to take on new challenges? If you decide to go that route, however, I’d wait until the school year is well underway and you’re both feeling more settled. You want to be capable of having a constructive conversation, and right now you’re feeling raw. This could be a hard talk, too. You could even learn that he doesn’t see moving you into a leadership role. While that would be hurtful, it also would be important information to file away as you consider your future plans. On the other hand, you might learn that there’s a far less personal reason behind his behavior. He might have panicked when he found out that two teachers were leaving right before school started. He could have felt tremendous pressure to tie up loose ends quickly, and so he approached staff members who he knew would be amenable and up to the task. That’s probably no less annoying, but it could be reassuring to know that his choices were more about expediency than his opinion of you.
Click here for more Career Confidential
Have a question that you’d like Career Confidential to answer? Email contactphyllisfagell@gmail.com. All names and schools will remain confidential. No identifying information will be included in the published questions and answers.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Phyllis L. Fagell
Phyllis L. Fagell is the school counselor at Landon School in Washington, D.C., a therapist at the Chrysalis Group in Bethesda, Md., and the author of the Career Confidential blog. She is also the author of Middle School Matters and Middle School Superpowers, available at https://amzn.to/3Pw0pcu.
