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| Since December 22, 2004 |
The Kiko Award July 2008
So many candidates, so few awards. One potential nominee was Joseph Sullivan, the principal of Gloucester High who made national headlines after telling Time Magazine that girls on his campus make pregnancy pacts to explain the sudden increase in teen pregnancies. Turns out the story was bogus (
). Then there’s the teacher that thought the most effective way to teach students that Christ suffered for their sins was to burn crosses in their arms.
Great stories all, but they didn’t score enough points on the official petty tyrant/nepotism/bully Kiko award rubric.
This issue, the Kiko goes to Bettina Lopez and Noemi Ramirez at Andrew Hill High School. You can read about some of the escapades that led to their nomination in this issue’s related story “Keeping up Appearances: The Semblance of Stability.”
The nominating committee didn’t want to award them the Kiko initially. Quite a few of their mishaps, like letting a substitute inform a new teacher that her schedule’s been changed, while infuriating, can be seen as rookie mistakes.
Firing two competent school counselors the week before school let out in order to make life easier for a mediocre assistant principal is another story. The matter exploded into an embarrassing political mess for the principal and vice-principal involving not only the current superintendent, but former superintendent turned state assemblyman Joe Coto. With angry parents complaining to the superintendent, competent employees seeking work in other districts, an emasculated school site council waking up to the fact that they’ve been bamboozled, and a circulating rumor that the principal wants to solve the crisis through a little nepotism — all taking place in a little over a month — the Kiko committee had no other choice.
With only a couple of years of administrative experience under their belts, it is hard to tell if this repeated behavior defines their “managerial style” or remains ye t another example of a rookie’s “isolated incident.” The Team Unruly members from Mt. Pleasant still hold out hope for Lopez. Some at Hill concede that she does, from time to time, say the right thing, but they know the difference between saying the right thing and doing the right thing.
She also, quite often, says the wrong thing. Word from Unruly readers at Hill confirm that on the staff’s last day Lopez gave a chilling speech along the thematic lines of mistakes were made, get over it, we’re in charge, see you next year. Not the best way to rally a beleaguered staff that’s beginning to long for the days when they had no principal.
The general consensus is Ramirez is overwhelmed. Some believe she might be more effective in an administrative position more suited to her talents. Instructional leadership is not her forte. People don’t want to have conflicts with their boss, but when the department under her command refuses to work with her, you know the problems run far deeper than petty personality conflicts. Which also begs another question: is it fair to the administrator in question to keep them in a position that prevents them from finding growth and success as a professional?
We hear the APA at Hill is doing a great job, however.
This issue’s Kiko recipients can consider this award a catalyst for a fresh start. Which leadership path will they choose? Will they accept the fact that there will always be co-workers they dislike but who get the job done? That’s one of the reasons why Dwight Schrute on “The Office” is so popular—he’s a complete ass, but he outperforms his office mates. Will Hill’s administrative duo learn to rise above petty personal conflicts? Or will they abuse the power of their office to destroy careers in order to hire a relative? Hill’s should take a moment to reflect on those questions. The answers will define their remaining years in education. Maybe receiving this award will recalibrate the moral compass desperately needed to avoid a fall into despotism.
Kiko the compass repairman is always happy to help.
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