ADVERSE EMPLOYMENT ACTIONS AND PUBLIC SCHOOL ...

Since 1981, there have been no less than 139 court decisions involving adverse employment
actions against school administrators. Those decisions have been on varying legal issues, from
discrimination to inappropriate disciplinary consequences. Unfortunately, the vast majority of
those cases have led to the termination of school administrators (Sacken, 1996). Because of that,
it is of the utmost importance that school administrators understand the legal trends that exist in
court cases that have been litigated involving adverse employment action against school
administrators.
Statement of the Problem
Adverse employment actions are not carried out against highly successful school
administrators. Unfortunately, not every school administrator is highly successful, and research
into the practices of failing school administrators is lacking, to say the least. Due to this void in
research and administrative preparation programs, many school administrators are inadequately
prepared (Zirkel, 2006). That is to say that school administrators are not prepared to recognize
the situations and issues that will most likely lead to adverse employment actions and avoid
ensnaring themselves in a situation of that nature.
Significance of the Problem
The significance of the problem is simple economics. Because the job of a school
administrator is fraught with drawbacks, it is not a position overwhelmed with applicants skilled
to handle the current dynamics of public education (Lortie, 2009; Myung, Loeb, & Horng 2011;
Roza 2003). Furthermore, the state of the American economy has propelled education into a
world of fiscal belt-tightening that has never been seen before (Price, 2010). Therefore,
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