A Look at Contract Negotiations for Principals

In a New York Times article today, there was a report of a tentative agreement between the Bloomberg administration and the union representing New York City school principals and assistant principals. The agreement states that select principals who agree to spend three years in troubled schools will receive bonuses of up to $25,000. The proposed contract also includes a more nuanced rating system for principals, which rates them A through F based on the progress of the school’s students. In addition, the principal workday would be extended to a whopping 7 hours and 15 minutes (not including lunch). Principals in high schools, who could earn the troubled school bonus plus a performance bonus, could end up with a salary of more than $200,000.

Stunned by this 6-digit figure, I wondered how, and if, this compares to incentives being offered to teachers. Now, despite a lot of bad stories and experiences with administrators, I do believe that a good administrator could come into a struggling school and make a big difference. The power they wield over making decisions and influencing teacher and student behavior makes that seem theoretically possible. And maybe an administrator could have a much larger effect on a school as a whole than one teacher could. However, shouldn’t something comparable be done to draw good teachers to struggling schools?

Currently, new, highly-qualified math or science teachers who begin teaching in New York City can earn a housing stipend. New teachers are great, but older, more experienced teachers who have proven success in the classroom should be offered an incentive to move to these schools as well. Currently in Baltimore City offers a $1,000 incentive for a teacher in a non-Title I school to take a voluntary transfer to a Title I school. Other than this program, not much is being done to entice experienced, successful teachers into the schools that really need them.

It seems to me that most teachers in Baltimore City are striving to get to a better place, whether it is a county school or a school with a good reputation like Poly, City or Roland Park. Everyone knows that these schools are “good” places, so people want to go there. What is being done to entice teachers, or even administrators, to work in struggling schools? Money talks. The administrators in New York are happy because they feel like they are finally being recognized. When will the teachers be recognized? Is our job really that much different from theirs? And that brings up another question I have… are administrators, in their 7 hour and 15 minute workday, doing so much work that it merits them getting paid up to 4 times more than the teachers?