Dress Code, Etc.

By Bruce Conrad Davis

The typical male school principal wears a short sleeve dress shirt. His shirt pocket has a “plastic holster” loaded with pens and even the occasional pencil. He sports a key ring with a key for each lock in the school including the sanitary napkin dispenser. ( Perhaps a psychiatrist would know why a principal needs this seldom used key.)

Gus, a principal for thirty years, was the exception. He needed one school key.The master key. Unlike many male principals he never wore a short sleeve dress shirt. He didn’t own one. He never needed more than one pen. He keep a pen in the interior left pocket of his jacket.

His official work hours were 8 AM to 4:30 PM. Gus arrived at school at 5:30 AM and left at 4:30 PM. By arriving early he could meet with parents before they went to work. On average he went out to lunch twice a year. He believed principals should be on site at lunch time.

Many principals wallow happily in the jargon of the profession. Gus didn’t. Once when meeting with the superintendent to discuss his objectives the superintendent said Gus’s objectives were excellent but not written in the jargon of the business. Gus agreed. The superintendent asked why. Gus replied the jargon was ridiculous and that he didn't use it. The superintendent said he might write Gus up if he didn’t use the jargon. Gus told him to sharpen his pencil and walked out. Nothing happened.

The school district hired Dr. Jack Lundeen to be the Director of Personnel. As a school principal Gus needed to have a lot of interaction with Dr. Lundeen but there was a problem. Lundeen wasn't taking Gus’s phone calls, responding to emails or paper memos. Gus decided Lundeen was a “ding dong.” He started “keeping a book” on Lundeen. He made a note of every response or non-response from Lundeen. Dates and times. After four months of gathering the evidence that Lundeen was unresponsive it was time to lower the boom.

He wrote a memo to the superintendent explaining it was difficult to do his work when the Director of Personnel wouldn’t get back to him.? He enclosed a copy of his documentation. He sent a copies of the memo and documentation to Lundeen.

Normally this would have brought about a fist fight, a screaming scene or a murder. Nothing happened. Lundeen resigned before the end of the school year. He went on to be the assistant superintendent of a school district in northern California. Since he had been a short timer he was given good bye gift of a nice pen and pencil set. He didn’t send a thank you note.

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