Paul Shaviv draws on decades of experience to avoid, if possible, and grapple with, if necessary, ethical challenges.

Paul Shaviv headed Jewish schools for more than two decades, and is the author of The Jewish High School: a complete management guide. He is now running a management consultancy practice specializing in independent schools – www.paulshavivconsulting.com.

For school Principals, decision-making challenges are part of their day-to-day school life. They come in many and varied shapes and sizes. Every Principal would agree, I would hope, that school decisions should always be ethical, and always in accordance with the school’s Jewish and general values.

But life is not always that simple…

Schools involve people, and people – students, parents, teachers, Board members, community personalities – all have unpredictable emotions, exhibit unpredictable behaviors and perform unpredictable actions. They often also have unpredictable views of ethics, especially when considering their own behavior or that of their children.

The Principal has to navigate, and sometimes negotiate, all of these situations, resisting pulls in many different directions. S/he will sometimes achieve a unanimously-acclaimed “good” decision, but must get close enough in a majority of cases to preserve a reputation for integrity, equity, “fair” process, wisdom, toughness (when needed) and kindness (when needed).

Part of the problem is the issue of definition. What exactly is an “ethical challenge?” There are no clear definitions. Although some situations are very clear (“I will donate $X,000 to the school if you give my daughter a pass in this course” – only possible response: “No thanks!”), there are many and extensive grey areas. Defining something as a moral or ethical issue immediately gives it a certain elevation, and a certain drama – but drama is not good!

Professionalizing process

Before discussing some common situations that Principals face I’d like to note that in some cases good management and the exercise of professional judgement by the Principal and his/her Administrative team can ensure that difficult situations do not reach the level of ethical challenges, avoiding unnecessary fractiousness.

Take, for example, the decision to exclude a child from school, for either disciplinary or academic reasons. Principals may face a barrage of objections from parents, local rabbis, and even Board members (who should know better) along the lines of,”What right do you have to deny this child a Jewish education?” or “Do you know what this decision will do to the family?” (The school’s view of the situation may be more concerned with the welfare of other students or the educational need of the student under review.) A well-managed school will avoid, deflect or neutralize many of these objections.

There are steps that the school can take which minimize conflict and challenge. Some of them include:

• A comprehensive and well-drafted set of “essential school documents,” including a school handbook, a staff handbook, staff contracts, and a Parent Handbook. These should set out the expectations that the school has of students, staff and parents, and also the services and processes that the school is offering in return. It also defines a “Code of Conduct,” including consequences, and, in cases of expulsion, an appeal process. In each case, somewhere in your Admissions process is a line which says “Attendance at the school acknowledges acceptance of the terms and conditions set out in the School/Staff/Parent Handbook…” Such documents cut down considerably the challenges to decisions. If you can simply show that your decision is in accordance with the agreed and published school procedures, it neutralizes many real or manufactured objections.
• Scrupulously implementing “fair process” in the administration of discipline or other steps that may have significant consequences for students or staff. The principles of “fair process” are easily accessible, but include (briefly) meticulous record-keeping, allowing all parties to state their case, equity in consequences, and, if appropriate, an appeal process.
• Every Principal should have an interest in, and reasonable knowledge of, local school law – there are books, newsletters and courses available. It helps enormously in establishing the credibility of your decision if you have an external point of reference.

Mr. X, I was partially guided in this by a recent court ruling in a very similar case. There, the judge found that similar behavior towards a teacher by a parent justified the parent being excluded from school premises. While the circumstances were not exactly the same, I think you should be aware that in law aggression against teachers is treated very, very seriously.

The great advantage of these safeguards is that they may change the status of your decisions from ethical to professional. In the absence of a School Behavior Code, which specifies (for example) that if Jonny or Rivkah are found with drugs in school they will be excluded, you are faced with an almighty argument when that happens.

Real dilemmas for a Principal

There are some areas where the Principal does face very real ethical dilemmas, to the point where s/he may have to consider their position. Three examples are a) where the Principal is expected to participate, approve or turn a blind eye to illegal or corrupt practices within the school, b) where the President or the Board “instructs” a Principal to implement a clearly unethical action, or c) where the Jewish ethos of the school may conflict with operational, legal, or curriculum decisions.

Private schools can be inbred institutions, especially where they lack strong governance protocols. Often, small groups of highly dedicated individuals have spent years – perhaps decades – building up and running the school, engendering a dangerous sense of ownership (with the attendant inappropriate practices). A Principal (often a new Principal) may discover something that is plainly wrong – an employee has a “sweetheart deal,” unaccountable payments are being made to an individual who does not seem to be supplying any service to the school, or certain donations are surrounded by mystery.

The Principal must be very careful in all of these instances. Crossing the “powers that be” can carry a heavy cost – non-renewal of contract, or termination. Yet to collude is a real ethical challenge. It is very difficult to give general advice here, but a Principal who is unfortunate enough to be in this situation should a) proceed with extreme caution, and b) seek independent legal and/or professional advice. (If your school is affiliated with a professional association of independent schools, turning to it may be a good place to start. Asking local community advice may be hazardous, as “networks” may be more complex than you realize…). You may choose to move on if you feel your situation is untenable, or, especially, if by virtue of your position you are legally implicated. In the realpolitik, these situations are unfortunately more common than you may believe. You may be advised that the Principal is legally insulated from the problematic behavior, and you may choose to live with it. As Shakespeare said, discretion can be the better part of valor. Note that in a battle with the board or the school leadership, you are unlikely to win.

In the second case, a Principal faces an equally difficult situation. An example might be if an allegation of sexual abuse is made by a student (or their family), and the board instructs the Principal to expel the alleged victim. (Such cases, unfortunately, do happen.) Alternatively, the board may instruct the Principal not to report an allegation against a member of staff. Again, the Principal should immediately take legal advice, but in such cases must seriously consider resignation as his/her integrity is hopelessly (and, in the second case, possibly legally) compromised.

A third area involves clashes between the Jewish values of the school and school operations. Take, for example, the case of an Orthodox school, where there can be a range of situations, involving both individual students and overall school decisions, where you face ethical (or halakhic) challenges of conscience. One particularly sensitive contemporary issue is sex education in general, and handling discussions regarding sexual identity and gender issues. Here, the conscientious Principal, whose first duty is to the welfare of his/her students, has a more complex dilemma than the synagogue rabbi. Again, the Principal should develop clear policies on these issues, best done in the context of a wider consultative exercise. S/he should ensure that the administration be supportive, that the board (or an appropriate board committee) endorses the Principal, that staff members dealing with these issues understand the school’s policies, and that the policies are a matter of public record in the school handbook or curriculum guide. A governing factor here will be the community or school ethos. These may not be comfortable decisions, but the Principal has to be at ease with his/her conscience.

A complicating factor in some jurisdictions may be legal requirements that all schools teach certain topics, incorporating certain views. (A somewhat similar dilemma, for some schools, is the requirement in some places for schools to teach “World Religions.”)

Budget dilemmas

“Cutting the cake” is a delicate but very practical issue. It demands judicious, fair and highly professional decision-making, and need not become an ethical issue. You are responsible for running a school which must offer a reasonable range of activities and courses, catering to a diverse student body, with many calls on (probably stretched) resources, but the decision should be a team effort. Make your judicious and professional decisions, listening carefully to your constituents, and stick by your judgments. Note that an overriding ethical consideration is never to recklessly endanger the stability of your institution by exceeding the approved budget. A linked dilemma is that of tuition assistance. But the Principal should not be involved in tuition assistance decisions (except perhaps in very extreme cases), which should be administered by an “arms-length” committee. The board has to decide policy regarding tuition assistance, and – again, except in extreme cases – neither the Principal nor any other administrators or teaching staff should even know which families are “full fee payers” and which are receiving assistance.

School Principals should be ethical exemplars in their schools and in their communities. A strong school can affect the moral tone of an entire community, and a school and a Principal who have a reputation for integrity in the conduct of their affairs have a very, very precious asset. The converse is, unfortunately, also true: if a Principal shows bias, students and parents will remember it for decades afterwards. (“Old X ran a good school, but everyone knew that s/he always favored the children of the rich parents.”) A strong ethical sense, which may include the ethical strength to sometimes take unpopular decisions, is an integral part of the skill-set of that very, very difficult profession of school Principal.