Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership

This case study creates a dilemma that many school districts face. Public education is under-funded. Principals are expected to be the instructional leaders and are held accountable for student achievement. Is it appropriate then for public schools to have local businesses as benefactors when teaching personnel are involved? The conflict between teacher quality and a local benefactor sometimes present ethical dilemmas. To what lengths should educational leaders go in order to secure school donations? As a principal you must be prepared to handle political and ethical situations, but foremost in your decision making must be, “What is best for the students.”

This case study confronts the issues of staff motivation and teacher retention that face administrators in low-paying and/or low-performing small school settings when teacher pay is low and morale is lower, especially in communities having a lower economic base. It will present not only opportunities to try to keep good teachers but also opportunities to motivate and inspire them to a level of success that will turn school performance around and raise student achievement scores. It may be used in an introductory course in critical issues in leadership, especially in the areas of distributed leadership and team building methods.

At Wentworth, rule violations are normally minor in nature and handled at the private school administration‘s discretion. A recent event involving the possession and use of alcohol during an off-campus school overnight activity leads to the development of a zero tolerance substance abuse policy. The zero tolerance policy is tested by one of the school’s top students and her influential parents. This case study examines the possible impact zero tolerance policies can have on behavior management in a niche, private, secondary education institution. Related educational leadership issues include: zero-tolerance education policies; school organizational culture; punitive and restorative mechanisms of social justice; moral and ethical school leader decision-making; and the politics of education.

This case is developed for use in a policy-centered course on systemic improvement in underperforming districts and schools. The narrative details the complexity that arose in the context of one such reform initiative, a framework for analyzing that complexity, and a set of leadership decisions that follow. Course instructors can use the case to: motivate students’ interest in district-driven systemic improvement, examine issues that often complicate such work, review emerging research on school turnaround efforts, and frame further inquiry into actual cases of district-driven systemic improvement.