Letters - Letter to the Editor

School Administrator, Feb, 2003

Adjunct Professors

Your coverage of adjunct professors in educational administration (November 2002) presented a balanced view. Adjuncts bring timely and relevant issues to the classroom. Full-time faculty coordinate textbook selection, provide sample syllabi, recommend benchmark projects aligned with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium and state standards, and do joint planning with the part-time faculty.

The successful use of adjuncts in our program is a direct result of opportunity meeting preparation.

SUSAN C. PHILHOWER

Assistant Professor of Educational Administration

Western Illinois University

Macomb, Ill.

Charol Shakeshaft's article, "The Shadowy Downside of Adjuncts" (November 2002), is a typical view from a full-time university professor who emphasizes theory with little regard for the practical skills and knowledge that an aspiring principal or superintendent will need to master to survive and excel on the job.

Shakeshaft's statement that no high school principal would try to staff a school with substitute teachers is correct. But a more appropriate comparison to the university would be a principal who uses part-time teachers or recently retired teachers to fill less than full-time positions. This has proven to be a good source of quality teachers while dealing with fiscal constraints that public schools must live within.

Her suggestion that a panel of fulltime professors judge the credentials of adjunct faculty before they teach a course ought to be reversed. Graduate students would benefit much more if a panel of practicing superintendents evaluated the professors who are instructing the next generation of administrators to ensure some practical expertise is incorporated into each class.

SID DOERHOFF

Superintendent

St. Elizabeth R-IV School District

St. Elizabeth, Mo.

Kate Beem's article on the state of adjuncts in university programs was great. I forwarded it to our faculty for consideration.

With the financial hit that Missouri higher education has received this year, our only choice is to increase the use of adjuncts or slim down programs and/or admissions into graduate programs.

JOHN E. JACOBSON

Associate Dean and Professor of Education

University of Missouri-Kansas City

Kansas City, Mo.

I was somewhat disturbed by your coverage of adjunct professors. Where were the voices expressing concern about the possible demise of educational leadership programs nationwide and how the addition of adjunct faculty may be contributing to this phenomenon?

If most educational administration programs are experiencing what we are at California State University at Los Angeles--dwindling tenured faculty lines, larger class sizes, diminishing program fund allocations--I believe what is at stake may be greater than the question of the adjunct professoriate.

We soon may witness the massive dwindling of quality programs, cannibalized for the sake of other campus programs considered to be more urgent at the moment. Sadly, this scenario is being played out under the auspices of improving program quality through the addition of the adjunct professor.

FRANKLIN CAMPBELL JONES

Associate Professor of Education Leadership

California State University

Los Angeles, Calif.

I was impressed with David Rideout's article ("Learning Together About Leadership," November 2002) as I've been considering how to strengthen the reserve of certified administrators available in our district. Most received their administrative credentials years ago when the emphasis in their graduate programs was on management. I want to work with this pool to update their skills and maximize their leadership capabilities so they can assume principalships as they become available.

While touching on both theory and practice, my design also will include those components that administrators in West Virginia need to be familiar with prior to assuming a prinicipalship.

CARL H. FRIEBEL JR.

Superintendent

Harrison County Schools

Clarksburg, W.Va.

More Spirituality

Having completed my dissertation in May 2001 on the topic of spirituality in the public school superintendency, I found the September issue compelling and inspiring.

My dissertation spoke of spiritual leadership from a variety of perspectives, but it was Parker Palmer's thinking and writing that had the most profound influence on me. He has written extensively about the concept of "whole sight" as it relates to the spiritual dimension of leadership. He defines whole sight as "seeing the world with the mind's eye--a world of fact and reason, but also seeing the world with the eye of the heart ... a world warmed and transformed by the power of love, a vision of community beyond the mind's capacity to see."

The superintendents I studied understood this concept. They did not shove it down their constituencies' throats or force a set of beliefs upon those whom they led. Instead they integrated a dimension of spirituality into their daily leadership.

We need not be religious zealots to understand what is good and just. We know what love is and we understand completely its power. We have seen kindness and we understand completely its healing impact.