MOSKOWITZ – WEEK 5 – TIME MANAGMENT 1

Week 5

Time Management

Principal as Administrator

September 25, 2015

Dr. Thomas J. Rushton

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Abstract

In this paper, I discuss the challenges which time presents to school

administrators and how they can effectively manage their time in order to better the

volume and effectivity of their daily outputs - which in turn, makes them better school

leaders for all the school community stakeholders.

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Time Management

This Thing All Things Devours

Time is the one part of our daily lives that is never in ample supply. This is

especially true for school leaders, who could have a long to do list with not enough time

to satisfy their day-to-day demands. Interestingly, it is because of this reality that many

educational experts believe that “[h]ow principals manage their time is key to improving

instruction in their schools” (Turnbull, 2009). Turnbull in her Evaluation of the School

Administration Manager Project (Turnbull, 2009) reports on a study by the Wallace

Foundation – headed by senior program officer Dr. Jody Spiro - which used a time/task

analysis tool “which allowed principals to keep track of their time as precisely as a

lawyer keeps track of billable hours” (Turnbull, 2009). The outcome of these time/task

analysis showed that principals consistently “find they are spending 70% of their time on

buses, budgets, and behavior and only 30% of their time on instruction” (Turnbull,

2009). These findings are substantial, as most principals surveyed prior to the usage of

the time/task analysis tool believed that they “spend 70% or more of their time on

instruction and 30% on other management issues” (Turnbull, 2009)1. Are school

administrators so out of touch? In addition, if a lack of time is indeed the case, than it

forces a very simple question, how can school administrators refine their management of

time?

1
I find this interesting since aside from plethora of studies that principals must be
involved in overseeing instructional within their schools - in order to secure positive
educational outcomes (Caine, Caine, & McClintic, 2002; Schick, 2007; Sergiovanni &
Starratt, 2007; Ornstein & Hunkins, 2013; Ardmen, 1912) – principals seem to know -
and think - they are doing what is right, even if the reality may not be so.
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Finding the Time

While the findings of the above-mentioned study are alarming, it nevertheless is

not surprising. The typical day of a school principal is loaded as it is, and understandably,

there are days where the lack of time is just over the top (Schick, 2007). For example, the

typical day can have several formal observations scheduled, followed by a few pre-

scheduled meetings, ending with a promised attendance to an 8th grade production.

However, as the first hours of the day progress, a slew of other issues - that need

immediate resolution - can arise within that exact timeframe which inevitably calls for

some great people skills, in addition to some serious time management skills

(Wachspress, 2015). In context, Dr. Derry L Stufft, provides a superb illustration of how

such a morning can progress for the average school leader (Stufft, 2010).

You are the middle school principal with no assistant principal. You had

planned a formal observation today for 9:00 am to observe Mrs. Weak. Parents

have been complaining about her lately. Yesterday, you had met with Mrs. Weak,

talked about the complaints and had told her that you would be in to do a formal

observation today at 9:00 a.m. You go to your office at 8:45 a.m. to check your

email and find that the Superintendent sent an email that says that he will be

coming to see you at 9:00 a.m. Your next email is that the president of the

teachers’ union is coming to see you at 9:00 a.m. to discuss the situation with

Mrs. Weak. There is also a note on your desk stating that the chief of police called

while you were in the halls monitoring the children, and that he was coming in at

9:00 a.m. to talk to you and to a student who may have witnessed a shooting last

night.
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With such an overloaded schedule, as a future school leader, it is hard to not get

overwhelmed just by reading the above transcription.

Timely Practice

While such a case indeed sounds overwhelming, nevertheless the lack of help is

not rare in both public and Jewish schools – in public schools this can be due to a vriety

of reasons, and in Jewish private schools assistant principals are a rare commodity due to

their limited budgets (Schick, 2007). Interestingly this lack of help is confirmed by recent

data as “Sixty-four percent of the principals reported that they were “often to very often”

interrupted during their day to day supervision activities” (Robertson, 2006) . Moreover,

while it can be said that most public school principals will attempt to delegate to their

assistants, that is if there is one, there are times where such a solution is not viable, for

whatever reason. As such, it is advisable that school leaders have a framework for

managing their time – when the situation calls for it – since, as previously mentioned, it is

an integral key to running any institution – especially that of education (Turnbull, 2009).

Priority One, Set Priorities.

Simply put, the first step to time management for school leaders is the ability to

set priorities for their time (Hopkins, 2012). In other words, principals “must set priorities

about what's most important” (Hopkins, 2012) for their own goals of bringing about

schoolwide success. In the current educational environment, student educational success

is what it’s all about. As such, it is only logical that all meetings no matter how important

come second to student’s needs. It is said that when the chief Rabbi of Vilnius,

Lithuania, Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski (1863 – 1940) was once meeting with the local
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town leaders he paused the meeting when a few local students walked in to talk to the

Rabbi about the latest Talmudic discourse they have studied in Yeshiva. As the story

goes, the Rabbi turned to the community leaders and excused himself with the statement

“the education of these boys is the reason we are meeting in the first place” (Cohen,

2010). While I am not suggesting school leaders should cut his meeting short with

superintendents or school board members. Nevertheless, I feel that it would be ok to

cancel meetings before they occur in such cases where educational needs conflict with

other school administrative needs, those involved can simply be informed and would

most probably understand. Moreover, when a meeting cannot be avoided, there is always

the option of letting your body language do the talking for you. For example greeting the

visitor while standing up, tends to keep the visits short (Tanner, Schnittjer, & Atkins,

1991).

Finding ways to cope

Get a good secretary. One of the best well-known secrets in the world of

administration is having an amazingly capable secretary, as “a strong and involved

secretary can be a big help in easing the workload” (Hopkins, 2012). If a secretary is the

only one who can assist the principal with his or her responsibilities, he or she best know

how to delegate to him or her - it can make a substantial difference. When there are many

conflicts in the schedule, a personable and well-trained administrative secretary would

able to get send the message out to the various parties and reschedule for the rest of the

day – or some other time - while at same time the school leader can focus on the most

important task of his day, that is, the prescheduled evaluation.

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Saying no, means live with it. In an excellent journal article, Selective

Abandonment: How and When to Say by Suzette Lovely and Sharine Smith, proclaims

loud and clear, principals need to live with their choices and this includes the

abandonment of certain tasks throughout their day – for the better good (Lovely & Smith,

2004). According to Lovely & Smith, while it may be true that “most administrators

worry that saying no to people will hurt their credibility or cost them stakeholder

support” (Lovely & Smith, 2004), they must realize that this is simply not true. “Without

adding no to their vocabulary, school leaders will continue to feel bombarded and

overloaded” (Lovely & Smith, 2004). Calling up the superintendent or the teacher’s

union officer and saying “I’m sorry, I simply can’t right now” implies that the inability to

assist is purely based upon circumstances beyond your control. “Opening with an

apology avoids confrontation and softens the turndown” (Lovely & Smith, 2004). When

school leaders choose their responses carefully, they are also consciously abandoning

activities that are now detracting from the desire to achieve school wide learning. It is

therefore crucial that school leaders - who want to survive the day-to-day grind - begin

“recognizing that one doesn’t have to say yes to every request is a cathartic experience

for any school leader” (Lovely & Smith, 2004).

Conclusion

The lack of time is a never-ending challenge for all school leaders. It is therefore

important that school administrators and leaders learn to manage their time and find

opportunities to delegate even when there seems like there are none. In addition, learning

to say no at times can be a potent weapon if used in a responsible and respectful way.
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References

Ardmen, M. S. (1912). Kunters Hashgaha veHamaaseh (a collection on the supervision

and action) . Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland: Mordehai Tzadarboym.

Caine, G., Caine, R. N., & McClintic, C. (2002). Guiding the Innate Conctructivist.

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 70-73.

Cohen, S. (2010). A Blueprint for Change . Cedarhurst: Priorty 1.

Hopkins, G. (2012, 12 30). Principals Offer Time Management Tips. Retrieved from

Education World:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin436_a.shtml

Lovely, S., & Smith, S. (2004). Selective Abandonment: How and When to Say No.

Principal Leadership, v5 n3, 35-38 .

Ornstein, A. C., & Hunkins, F. P. (2013). CURRICULUM: Foundations, Principles, and

Issues. 6th Edition. New York: PEARSON.

Robertson, P. J. (2006). How Principals Manage Their Time. The 24 Hour Principal, 12-

16.

Schick, M. (2007). Survey of Day School Principals in the United States. New York: Avi

Chai.

Sergiovanni, T. J., & Starratt, R. J. (2007). Supervision : A Redefinition. Boston:

McGraw-Hill.
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Stufft, D. L. (2010). Decision Making. Retrieved from University of Scranton:

http://learningmodules.bisk.com/app/play.aspx?xml=L1NjcmFudG9uL0VBRE01

MjEudjAyL0VBRE01MjFNNVYxL0RhdGEvbW9kdWxlLnhtbA

Tanner, C. K., Schnittjer, C. J., & Atkins, T. T. (1991). Effects of the Use of Management

Strategies on Stress Levels of High School Principals in the United States.

Educational Administration Quarterly 27no. 2, 203–24.

Turnbull, B. (2009). Evaluation of the School Administration Manager Project. Retrieved

from Educational Research Newsletter and Webinars:

http://www.ernweb.com/educational-research-articles/how-principals-manage-

their-time-is-key-to-improving-instruction-in-their-schools/

Wachspress, M. (2015, July 3). (Y. Moskowitz, Interviewer)