I am looking for research articles and evidence that links effectiveness of school principals with educational outcomes of students. We are losing our assistant principal to another school in our district (superintendent is eliminating her position at our school) which leaves one principal to oversee 2 elementary buildings (K-2 in one building, 3-5 in second building). The parents and teachers are very unhappy - trying to persuade the school board not to reassign assistant principal as she is the primary administrator in the 3-5 building. If we do not have an assistant principal, the children in both buildings will have a principal present in their building less than half of the school day. We feel this is an ineffective way to run a school, but I am looking for anyone familiar with this situation or familiar with research that would support our concerns.

Wendy

In our school district, an elementary school doesn't get an assistant principal until the student population is over 750 students. So one principal for a whole lot of kids. Before the huge budget cuts facing our district, our school had a VP but only 1/2 time. She was shared with another school. After the last round of cuts, The shared VP position was cut.

Are the schools close together? On the same campus? Is there adequate communication between the buildings (walkie talkies?)? Number of students in each building? Comparison to other campuses?

These are things that should be addressed in any changes. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

Sharon
12 year old b/b/b + 15 year old son

I am a retired middle school principal and here in CA it is rare to find an assistant principal at the elementary level. The public school my triplet grandchildren will attend in the fall has one principal and I didn't give it a second thought. I'm sure it will work out just fine. Change is hard, but once parents see that things are going smoothly, they will relax and adjust. The thing to do at this point is to ask in what ways parents can help fill the gap, rather than complaining. Cutbacks are everywhere these days. We need to step up to the plate as volunteers to help give our kids and grandkids the best possible education.