<HTML>In response to Judith Cohn's issues with my posting concerning women
principals, I feel compelled to state in as clear terms as I can - that a)
Lisa and I go back a long way and I certainly would never be insulting
(not to mention that I would never willingly insult anyone!) and that b)
the purpose of my posting was only to do what I said at the beginning I
was trying to do - focus the question and not state any conclusions of my
own position. Since I do not work in a co-educational setting, I
certainly do not feel qualified to comment on how to successfully
run such an institution. Too often when dealing with any issue that
mentions the word "women", people fly off the handle and bring in issues
that are not directly relevant. Since I do agree with Stuie Zweiter
(hello and regards!) that the issue of women leadership roles and finding
qualified people for our children's schools is a burning issue (and
therefore I am glad to have been a respondent to Lisa's posting), I would
like to see the discussion turn to the
substantive issues.
Since Lisa did not question whether or not a women should head an all-male
program, I raised that as a non-issue while pointing out that perhaps that
issue is also at the core here. and yes, based on that assumption Judith
Cohn asked the question that, in my opinion, is the issue here.
What makes an "effective" principal? Is it his/her management (CEO)
abilities - or is it the Mora d'atra role as well? Does the answer to that
question perhaps depend on the school and the community that school is
serving? Is there a role-model element involved? If there is a role-model
issue, then how does a co-ed school deal with providing an appropriate
balance of male/female role-models for its clientele which is just that -
co-ed!
So, you see, my sole purpose was to get beyond the powder-keg by
focusing the question on what is the role of a principal, can a man fill
that role for female students, can a woman fill that role for male
students, and how in a co-ed setting can we accomplish it.
Side point in conclusion - so long as we are all educators and are
participating in this list in an effort to have a healthy dialogue and
learn from each other's experiences, I would highly recommend that we a)
assume that everyone writing is writing to the point and not using this
list as a springboard for insults and b) we avoid personal attacks
concerning people's postings. Terms like "insulting" or "misdirection", in
my opinion, are not fair game on a list such as this. If in fact my
response to Lisa's question was misunderstood to be a violation of my own
comments in this paragraph, I apologize.
David Katz, Administrative Director - Michlelet Mevaseret Yerushalayim
[My apologies on this one. This isn't the first time that I have been
taken to task for letting something through that might be perceived as a
personal criticism. Rather than explain my entire thought process on this
one, I'll just try to be more careful in the future. Shalom]</HTML>
