Beyond Clean Bathrooms: Some Thoughts on School Management
When I first started out as a school administrator I read an article in a parenting magazine about choosing the right school for your child. The first piece of advice: go check out the bathrooms. The writer wasn’t claiming that clean bathrooms led directly to quality learning, but that a school that paid such close attention to bathrooms would, no doubt, be very careful when it came to educating children. In a previous blog post I wrote that if a school is serious about setting learning goals, the staff need to have clarity around what they consider to be “good” or “excellent” in those target areas. The next step is to be just as serious about what is “good” or “excellent” when it comes to the school’s organization and management. Just as Disney World creates a Magic Kingdom for visitors by using its behind-the-scenes Utilidor System for cast members, and cruise ships use their Deck 0 utility tunnels (called “I-95”) to ensure a wonderful experience on the upper decks, schools have