Worst Principal Ever

I’m a teacher, a good one and have been for 23 years. I teach art to high school kids in a struggling district. For the most part, the kids are awesome, with a few knuckleheads to make life interesting and then the very few who will be locked up sooner rather than later. I digress … This rant is about the asshole who calls himself a principal who has no principles. He doesn’t give a sit about anything except looking good, being surrounded by the girls with their boobs exploding out of their tops, and doing the minimal amount of work possible. His goal is to be a superintendent. How’s he going to get that gig? By fudging numbers, getting 100% of seniors graduating, (even though they didn’t pass several required classes), and lying. He throws teachers under the bus so he looks good, doesn’t enforce the rules for certain kids, never attends any after school functions, and bullshits his way through each day. The unruly kids now know that they can do whatever the fuck they want because there are no consequences. See, if they get a detention and they don’t serve it, they get suspended. If they are out of school too many days, they, supposedly, won’t get course credit. BUT WAIT!!! They have to graduate. They cannot drop out. So, they get the " bud, don’t do it again" refrain. Over and over and over. The school is going downhill so fast it’s amazing and he doesn’t give a rats ass.
I’ve put my head on the chopping block once this year, got a stern talking to and now he doesn’t make direct eye contact. It’s so freakin’ ridiculous. He’ll stand at a 90 degree angle from me, look at me sideways, and answer me with as few words as he can.
The kids are the ones suffering as those teachers that realize he doesn’t give shit, don’t give a shit either. No one is policing what they are dojng or not doing.

Thanks, I feel better

Principals get to surround themselves with girls with their boobs spilling out? I got into the wrong profession.

I went through student teaching. How about this guy? (fyi- this was in a Catholic school)

  • Never had a good word for anybody…ever

  • Extremely critical of all teachers and students.

  • Frequently said that teachers were ‘overpaid prima donnas’ and should be paid slightly more than minimum wage. Then, wait for it…said minimum wage. Then would chuckle. Teachers in this school started at $11,800 a year (in 1988). I know this because of my last point below.

  • Said during a Teacher meeting that he was going to heaven because he was a Principal in a Catholic school but teachers there didn’t have that guarantee. He was not joking. It became obvious he was serious because how he then reacted to the laughter of people that thought he was joking.

  • Pressured my supervising teacher into giving his daughter an A. She stuck to her guns for about a week but then her normal enthusiasm went away. I asked her if she gave in and she said yes. She gave notice of quitting a week later.

  • The biology teacher was accused of having sex with a student. Student picked the wrong day - biology teacher was out of state that day. Prinicpal still lead the charge of getting him fired and succeeded. He said he didn’t want anyone accused of having sex with a student as a teacher in his school.

  • Principal tracked me down over the summer. Actually intercepted me downtown and angrily demanded why I hadn’t applied for my supervising teachers position. I had actually looked at it out of curiosity - they wanted a newly graduated teacher for $11,800. Working part time and summers in college netted me about that! However, no way in hell I would work for this guy no matter what.

The above is true, not embellished in any way. This guy was a loon.

OH! I forgot about ‘the list’!

You see, he wanted as many students to graduate with a 4.0 as possible. What was done is that students were on their own for 7-9 grade. However, if they carried a 4.0 that whole time then they were put on ‘the list’. We didn’t get to see this list, but it existed.

So, if a student was on the list and you didn’t give him/her and A for any reason, it was assumed that YOU were the problem. This provoked a complete ‘audit’ of your teaching - a fire drill designed to harass you. This was your warning. If it happened again, you would find your contract not renewed.

Because of the severity of not giving an A to the wrong student, all the teachers informally kept track of all the students in grades 7-9 to determine who would be on the list when moving into grade 10. This list was kept secret among the teachers.

I found out about the list because my supervising teacher was going over the grades I was going to give and she said ‘You need to change that B to an A. She is on the list’.

How long has he been the principal there?

Principals aren’t dictators. They have to report to somebody too. Tibagirl, have you reported him to the school board or superintendant? What do parents think of him?

I have a hard time believing that this guy still has a job if everything in your post was accurate.

In addition to a terrible principal, out new superintendent is a pin head. Not one original, creative idea in this miniscule spot. I’m sure he’s intimidated by the guy. ( He works out daily so has great, big muscles… Oooooo … Barf)
I have spoken to some people that are taxpayers and they are aware, but if he is stroking the board members, they are the people who count. I am not alone is my contempt for him, but at present, I am powerless. If I were able to retire, I would, and I’d give the board an earfull.

Have you ever had a relationship with this guy?

Don’t know if you realize this or not, Tibagirl, but your posts about this principal sound less like they’re coming from a veteren teacher concerned about the future of her school and students and more like the jealous rantings of a jilted high school girlfriend.

Things like this:
“He doesn’t give a sit (sic) about anything except looking good, being surrounded by the girls with their boobs exploding out of their tops”

and this:

“He works out daily so has great, big muscles… Oooooo … Barf”

Don’t make you sound like the most reasonable person on the subject.

Those quotes were about two different people. The first one was about the principal, the second about the superintendent.

Your projection of your own issues onto the OP doesn’t make you sound like the most reasonable person on the subject.

Actually, I think she’s saying the reason the superintendent is intimidated is that the principal works out daily and has great big muscles. I think. Though you’d figure somebody who’s been a good teacher for 23 years should know how to communicate more clearly.

I, too, suspect that Tibagirl either is not who she claims, or has some agenda beyond blowing off steam about her boss.

“Looking good, being surrounded by the girls with their boobs exploding out of their tops, and doing the minimal amount of work possible” sure sound like some rock-solid principles to me.

Hang on for a sec and I’ll look up “Tibagirl” on Google.

Hmm. Did you mean: tubgirl? Yeah, I guess that might be it… let’s just take a quick OH MY DEAR GOD!!!

Yeah, that ain’t just steam she’s blowing off.

Well, she said she’s an art teacher, maybe writing isn’t her number one specialty. None of it sounded suspicious to me. Maybe I have some bias against principals I’m not aware of.

ETA: I mean I’m not aware of the bias, not bias against principals of whom I am not aware. An unconscious bias against principals, that’s what I should have said.

It’s hard to tell because of the giant WALL O’ TEXT. Nonetheless, it does sound like the rantings of an angry highschool girl.

Worst principal ever? Not hardly. I won’t discuss on a messageboard principals I’ve known as an adult, because that’s pretty freakin’ unprofessional and is exactly the sort of unguarded Internet usage that gets you fired, but there are some real doozies out there.

Or then there’s the dude that was principal of my elementary school when I was in third grade, who resigned immediately “for family reasons.” I forgot about him until a couple of years ago, when I asked my mom if “for family reasons” meant what I thought it meant. Yep: caught with child porn.

Just as there are crappy teachers out there, there are crappy administrators out there. I’m extremely lucky with my current principal, who knows how to keep a school organized and running smoothly while also being a morale-booster.

Was it at the end of a term? How does that work? I can see how you could inflate subjective scores on papers or presentation projects or whatever, but when all the grades have already been handed out and recorded in the book/computer isn’t that kinda hard to change? Or does it just not matter since no one but the teacher ever looks at that stuff?

And the beginning of a great porn script. PLEASE tell me the girls wear short plaid uniform skirts!

Hmmmm… I read her name as tea bag girl. Anybody got any spare change for the ferryman?:wink:

Why did I check to see if this was a link?

That was my first thought too. I also don’t understand why people think teachers are smarter than the general populace. They range in intelligence the same as any college educated group. I have met several who couldn’t outthink a squirrel with a hangover. Sadly, those are the teachers who will hide behind their title when confronted with their stupidity.