Interview Response Summary

Summary of the Interview Responses

Schools’ Demographics & Principals’ Information On July 14th and July 15th, I conducted phone interviews with the principals of two schools. As shown in Table 1, the principal for School A is a male in his eighth year of administrative work, while School B was led by a female with ten years of experiences as a principal. Both of these institutions cater to a challenging student body comprised predominantly of low-income Hispanic students. This paper discusses the answers to six interview questions and concludes with a section where I reflect on these answers. º •

Table 1 School A & School B Comparison Chart * Data obtained from (Federal Low Income Directory, 2017)

** Data obtained from (School Digger,

As the conversation turned towards inquiring about the current ethical dilemma faced by these principals the answers diverged. Principal A discussed his challenges associated with finding and maintaining a teaching staff in a difficult school. He expressed the tension and struggle developing great new teachers that frequently depart to other districts as soon as they obtain enough experience. Principal B’s ethical dilemma revolved around the needs of two student groups. Her school has a behaviorally challenged program comprised of students needing special help. Her struggle is how to balance the behavioral difficulties and academic needs of these challenging students while simultaneously valuing scholastics aspiration of regular education

The fourth question posed to these intellectuals involved exploring the anomie that they have observed throughout their careers. Specifically, both principals were asked for their observations of the changes in ethical dilemmas over their careers as principals. In answering this question, Principal A talked about the challenge of the younger teachers. Coming from a coaching background and entering the administration as an athletic director, this principal values sports and extracurricular activities. In his view, many younger teachers eschew extracurricular supervision opportunities and he feels that this is having a detrimental effect on school morale. Principal B talked about her evolution as a leader. She discussed her early career as being overwhelming in the extent and challenges associated with student discipline. To overcome this challenge, this principal talked about some of the programs she was involved with to help reduce the challenges associated with students