Bullying of Teachers Pervasive in Many Schools

[MADem]

4. Anecdotal experience, perhaps not translatable across the board, but what I have observed

is that if the superintendent is good, a leader and a team-builder who rewards cooperative conduct, that shit doesn't happen. If the superintendent is a martinet, all bets are off--let the "games" (backbiting, positioning, threatening, nitpicking, gossiping, ratting out, etc.) begin. This same paradigm applies within individual schools, but even a "good" principal, working for a martinet-superintendent, can only do so much and will sometimes be sacrificed because he or she is showing up the superintendent. The beatings will continue until morale improves!

It's pretty much the same in any other leadership venue--from the military to McDonald's.