ADVERSE EMPLOYMENT ACTIONS AND PUBLIC SCHOOL ...

School Administrators Behaving Badly
Adverse employment actions are any actions that result in the demotion, reassignment, or
termination of a school administrator (principal or assistant principal). School administration is a
managerial occupation that has been evolving for over a century. Catchings-Owens (2000) and
Harris (2011) both explain that administrators grew from head teacher positions to become
managers of schools to transformational leaders. With each evolution of the position it became
more beset with problems such as insufficient funding, immense documentation requirements,
inadequate facilities, and an inordinate amount of expectation (Davis, 1998, Lortie, 2009). The
school administrator’s performance, as related by Harris (2011), also came to be judged on the
shared decision making of those delegated responsibilities by the school administrator due to the
multitudinous areas requiring oversight. With such encumbrances, adverse employment actions
against school administrators are not surprising events. However, scholarly research into the
breadth and depth of behaviors that lead to adverse employment actions is less than adequate.
In 1998, Stephen Davis published an article that focused directly on “Why Principals
Lose Their Jobs.” In his work, Davis explored behaviors identified by superintendents that cause
principal demotion, reassignment, or termination (voluntary or involuntary). The notion of
“voluntary” termination was, as Davis explained, where a school administrator was “coached” to
step down from a position by a superior. Davis asserted that “even the most skilled and
experienced principals run the risk of failing in their jobs as a result of actions, events, or
outcomes over which they may not always have direct control” (p. 59). Due to the middle
management nature of their job type, school administrators are exposed to adverse employment
actions from their superior(s). Those actions are most likely precipitated by the school
administrators’ teachers, parents, and/or students. Therefore, as Davis’ research exposed, school
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