To fix the problem, reopen channels of communication

Can a school's culture change for the better? It's not easy, but it is possible.

Sometimes it occurs spontaneously through a change in leadership. Sometimes it happens when staff members band together and demand change. In other cases, teachers and administrators can decide to put aside differences and work together for the common good. And sometimes a bad situation cannot be salvaged.

If communication can be improved, the school culture will often change for the better, says Citrus College Faculty Association President Joe Harvey. Things have changed at his college because the new president is willing to listen to teachers in a way that the previous president did not.

"It would be unreasonable to expect him to do everything we want, but we do expect to have respect and to be listened to — and that's happening," says Harvey. "It's not perfect, but it's positive."

It also helps that the faculty and the new president share a similar vision for the campus, says Harvey. "The old president seemed to be focused on money and buildings while the new president is focused on education." Now, he says, there is a shared vision and direction for the school.

In some areas, teachers who desire change are forming leadership teams dedicated to improving school culture, developing a decision-making capacity or keeping communication open between teachers and administration.

United Teachers Los Angeles gave teachers an avenue to discuss such things as school climate, morale, support and leadership by conducting a simple survey among members about whether or not they think their principals are effective leaders.

The instrument measured 25 different traits of good administrators, including their abilities in communication, decision-making, management and interpersonal relations. A list of the top 10 administrators was published in the chapter's newspaper, and a list of the lowest-rated administrators was "communicated to the district."

The survey was intended to be constructive and locate role models for effective leadership. Most teachers reported that their school principals were fair and competent.

"A positive school culture begins with the relationship between the union and the district," says UTLA President John Perez. "Where the union and its members are respected and treated as professionals at the district level, this attitude carries down to the school level."

At the site level, he adds, "respect means that teachers and support service members will be part of the process of making education work for all students. The best site administrators understand that including professional staff in the decision-making process improves the lives of all students."

In San Diego, the entire district has been besieged by low morale ever since Superintendent Alan Bersin developed a school reform plan without input from teachers, parents or community members a decade ago. "Morale was as low as I've ever seen it," says Pat Fulke, a fifth-grade teacher at Sherman Elementary School. "Administrators harassed anyone who spoke out against the plan."

The toxic atmosphere pervaded his school as well. "During the worst times at Sherman, we had several teachers on leave" with stress-related illnesses. Many others were seeking counseling.

Things took a turn for the better at his site — unlike the rest of the district — when sign-carrying parents and community members came to the teachers' defense and mounted a protest over the lack of communication. Site administrators were transferred as a result. Even though the new administration, at first, seemed just like the old one, the new principal has adopted an open-door policy that is giving teachers some hope.

"Many times we disagreed, but I respected him because I could walk in and argue my point," says Fulke, who served as the San Diego Education Association's site rep. "He never closed his door, and you could always find him. So we were able to talk, and we solved quite a few differences."

As communication improved at the school, other things followed. Soon there was recognition for staff for their hard work in raising scores, and teachers were allowed to play a role in instructional planning.

But Fulke, who once thought about leaving, is now glad he stayed. "I considered leaving the district and even leaving teaching, because I was so burned out and tired of all the battles and watching colleagues quit to go to other districts or end up in therapy because of the stress. I thought I had had enough. But last year ended on a positive note."

He says it takes a lot of endurance and fortitude to stay at the same site until things change.

For those who choose to follow suit, Fulke advises looking up the association rep at the site and learning what your rights are. "Know your contract backwards and forwards. Knowledge is power."

In the best of cases, if teachers stand united and things don't change, the district office may be willing to transfer the administrator to another site. Unfortunately, while things may improve at the first school, another site's problems may be just beginning.

In toxic environments, administrators may play "divide and conquer" with staff members and pit various factions against each other. They may seek to divide staff by rewarding "loyal" teachers with plum assignments and punishing "disloyal" teachers with unpleasant assignments, poor evaluations and verbal abuse.

Too often, say chapter leaders, teachers find themselves divided into upper grades versus lower grades, new teachers versus veteran teachers, core subjects versus electives and the like. They're also pitted against one another sometimes in the competition over test scores and class size.

Good leaders don't divide their staff, says CTA Negotiations and Organizational Development consultant Jim Schlotz in Fresno. He urges teachers to remember that they are not powerless in these situations and that together — working within their local association — teachers are much stronger than they are as individuals.

Before tackling the culture of the school, he suggests, teachers may need to take a look at their own "internal subculture." Teachers must keep in mind that that "an injury to one is an injury to all" and not allow themselves to be divided and manipulated. Even those held in good favor must band together and support those who have been mistreated.

There are many ways to deal with a toxic situation, says Tom Madden, a CTA staff consultant who was recently named Assistant Executive Director for Region 2. He advises:

• Talking to others whom you can trust to see if they share your concerns, perhaps scheduling a meeting with them off-campus.
• Contacting the chapter president and your primary contact staff to see what action may be appropriate for the association to take.
• Addressing concerns, through the association, to the district office. For example, rather than saying an administrator is being abusive, the association can point out that professional standards of leadership are not being met.
• Asking the district to hire an outside mediator to work with staff and administration, with the goal of establishing a new set of core values.
• Keeping emotions in check and presenting a professional front.

Once those who think a school's culture needs improving find each other, the next step is to sit down and talk about it. People may not agree on specifics and may have developed antagonistic relationships, but everyone might be able to agree that the climate is painful and that something needs to be done.

"If the group can be moved away from its focus on specific individuals to focusing on a joint problem, then a lot can be accomplished," say Marie-Nathalie Beaudoin and Maureen Taylor, co-authors of

Creating a Positive School Culture: How Principals and Teachers Can Solve Problems Together.

In a bureaucratic culture, principals may be tempted to govern as if they are the parents and teachers are the children. However, authoritarian governance often backfires.

"When principals lead mainly in a hierarchical way, they risk becoming disconnected from the realities of their teachers, making unreasonable decisions and losing the cooperation, trust and respect of staff," say Beaudoin and Taylor. A common mistake principals make is asking everyone for input, and then going ahead and doing what they had planned to do without regard for opinions that were expressed.

Beaudoin says the most important thing is to focus on issues rather than individuals causing problems.

"You may have someone with a very negative attitude who is very sarcastic and abusive," she says. "There needs to be a conversation with that person. I ask them what their intentions are."

For example, a principal may have good intentions, but be handling things negatively. "The bottom line is the negative effect is what really matters, not the intention."

The author has some suggestions as to what administrators and teachers can do to improve a school's culture.

For administrators, she has the following suggestions:

Minimize as much as possible the use of power and hierarchy. "When there is an imbalance of power, there is always a misuse of power," she says. "Minimize that by asking for feedback from teachers, having committees, being genuinely open to what teachers want, and consulting and collaborating with them. Although it may be tempting to make a decision quickly using authority, there are many situations where this results in more time-consuming problems — staff upset — than a conversation with staff would have been. Staff consultation is always cost-effective."

Be patient and willing to listen. "Principals jump too quickly, wanting change," she says. "They spend the whole summer thinking about something and come back and say, 'We are going to implement this now,' and teachers were never able to talk about it first. They are put in a defensive position instead of being intrigued."

Show appreciation. An effort needs to be made to create a context where everyone — principal, staff and students — can express appreciation.

Favor dialogues over monologues. Often, principals hold staff meetings and perform long monologues about minutiae that could be easily handled in a memo, rather than truly engaging in meaningful discussions with teachers. "Meetings should be used to discuss important things where people can connect with each other, instead of spending an hour saying that the computer lab will be closed for a week and here's what people should do instead. Schools that use meeting times to discuss important issues function much better."

When it comes to things teachers can do, she suggests:

Be constructive. There is so little time that teachers have with each other. How are teachers using it? Are they complaining — or asking for input and strategies?

Be accepting of differences. Teachers may appreciate differences in their students, but sometimes struggle to do the same with colleagues. Accept differences of opinion.

Turn a deaf ear to gossip. Since there's so little time to discuss things fully, misunderstandings and misconceptions can easily take hold.

Constantly monitor the school climate. It helps to have an individual or a committee to assess the school climate once in a while and alert the faculty to the need to address issues before they snowball.