School Choice and the Future of American Democracy

3 | Over the Principal’s Shoulder

3 | Over the Principal’s Shoulder Political scientists ought to learn about politicians by talking to them, watching them and following them around. Some research can be done by bringing politicians—aspiring, active, or retired—to the academic work place. But most of it must be done in the setting in which politicians operate, in their natural habitats. The aim is to see the world as they see it, to adopt their vantage point on politics. For it is precisely this view, from over the politician’s shoulder, that is now missing from political science research. —Richard F. Fenno Jr., Watching Politicians1 “We took eighty kids on an orchestra trip to Europe,” one of the New Jersey public school principals in my study tells me. “The kids were marvelous .” His is a high school in a wealthy suburban district, with a statewide reputation for academic excellence. His school is ‹nanced primarily by local property taxes on single-family homes. His district has one charter school already established in it, although the charter does not currently enroll high school students. He has tenure, with thirteen years of experience, and expresses con‹dence about his relations with his parent community. I gave them [the students] feedback each night. Flexibility and freedom were related to responsibility. [Late in the trip] they asked me, “Can we go to a disco?” There were two discos, one was at our hotel . . . closer, safer, in town. We were shuttling kids in. Then the manager announced that the strip show would be starting in ‹ve minutes. I asked the manager to delay the show for a few minutes, and offered to pay for the inconvenience . The students were gone before the stage show began. The principal tells me that he was never concerned about how this was going to play out back in New Jersey.2 49 It was ‹ne. When we got back I heard from one of the kids, “[Our principal] is the only person ever to pay someone not to strip.” The kids wrote it up in the school paper. For weeks I was meeting people in the supermarket and getting kidded about it. Those kinds of stories , if they’re managed well, go into the basic lore of the school. The lesson conveyed, in his view, not a potential scandal, but the professionalism , awareness, and ›exibility of a public administrator entrusted with a great deal of responsibility. These stories produce, for this principal, a currency that he feels he can use to buy his larger vision for the school, a currency most valuable among a small group of wealthy and involved parents . This kind of story, he tells me, plays well to these customers. The parents who will be the most vocal are the parents who are going to get served. The cost of helping everybody else is the challenge of taking on the top income parents. I invest in them. I educate them. I make sure all of that is taken care of. If you don’t, you can’t get stuff done. For this principal, “stuff” means taking care to see that the needs of the minority of poor kids in his district are also being adequately met. He feels that this is part of what de‹nes him as a professional. The trust he builds with a wealthy and involved subset of the parents in the neighborhood facilitates his ability to help the entire community. I have a summer school program that I raise money for independently . . . . I’ve been the principal in communities where the parents are not involved. The good side is the autonomy. You have more freedom to implement your vision, provided you have the resources. The bad side is the same. You never have the resources. The importance of reputation can’t be underestimated. People will give you the bene‹t of the doubt. That’s what it buys you. This principal consciously connects his ability to take care of all of his students to the stories that emerge from his school and his actions, the information he sends to his parent community about his abilities and the quality of the services he provides. Some of these stories are targeted at the more highly informed and wealthy parents, a group that he views as vital resources to implementing his vision for the school. That principals work to build a trust with the wealthy and involved parents, which they can then 50 School Choice and the Future of...