“
oan Hilliard could feel the smile on her face as she stepped from
her car. Not the best wheels, but they were hers, a token of four
years spent working in a brokerage firm. Joan had always wanted to
be a teacher, but she had finished college at the wrong time. To her
great disappointment, she couldn’t land a teaching position. She had
still wanted her own classroom but decided that any job was better
than nothing. The brokerage firm paid well, and she felt better for the
experience. She had learned about herself, how to work with other
adults, and what life at work was all about. Above all, she felt more
confident. She had learned to cope in a demanding and stressful adult
environment. That experience ought to help in a classroom of kids.
She was delighted to get a teaching assignment at Pico School.
It looked like a friendly place from the outside. The surrounding
neighborhood was in decline, but Pico boasted green lawns, welltrimmed shrubbery, and large, lattice-paned windows. Built in the
1950s, it had the architectural charm that Joan remembered from
the schools of her childhood. As she walked through the arched
entryway, she noticed the vaguely familiar smells of new wax and
summer mustiness. As she turned down the corridor leading to the
principal’s office, she ran into a tall, broad-shouldered man with
hands on hips, scrutinizing the newly polished sheen on the floor.
This had to be the custodian, admiring his work before hundreds of
students’feet turned it into a mosaic of scuff marks.
As she moved closer, he looked up and smiled as if he had
”
”
Lee G. Bolman (Reframing the Path to School Leadership: A Guide for Teachers and Principals)