ADMINISTRATOR INTERVIEW
Portales, Public School
June 4, 1992
 
Q.   Can you tell me about an incident that happened to you or
     someone you know in which your work life was influenced or
     shaped by the --
 
A.   Answering the questions about restrictions in private versus
     public school.  My only connection with the private schools
     teaching was with the few years my wife has taught in
     private school.  I think we have fully as much freedom in
     public school as they have in the private school.  This
     happened to be a Christian pre-school and Christian
     elementary schools, both of which had very definite
     guidelines, freedoms, curriculum and procedures; the same
     kinds of pressures -- the schools were run by groups of
     parents or loosely determined boards that were calling the
     shots.  Just like we have in the public school.  In the
     public school we have -- we usually have bigger
     organizations so there may be more levels of bureaucracy
     because there are more people involved.  But that's the --
     you know, we look at levels of bureaucracy and we change our
     organizations periodically to deal with that.  But I think
     education, its nature, working with kids, means we have the
     very keen attention and interest of the parents, and whether
     it's public or private, we need to meet those needs.
 
Q.   If you compared Portales and what you might think Crestwood
     Country Day School is, with respect to different influences
     and constraints, if Portales were the same size as Crestwood
     Country Day, would they be similar?  And how would teacher
     autonomy or principal autonomy be different?  Or would they
     be?
 
A.   I don't know a whole lot about Crestwood Country Day, except I
     don't think they're part of a district where there is
     another school.
 
Q.   Right.  They're totally independent.
 
A.   They're independent, by themselves, and we have to operate
     within the XXX School District, so a dollar increase
     for us goes to the other schools as well, and vice versa.
     In terms of the day-to-day operations and pressures --
     students, parents, teachers, principals -- I would think
     there's very little difference.
 
Q.   Okay.  If Crestwood Country Day School became part of the
     voucher system, would they look more or less look Portales?
 
A.   Or have no change.  Well, the bigger they become, or the
     more closely their dollars per student align with ours, the
     more similar they would become.
 
Q.   So you say it's more a matter of the money that they have to
     spend on each student?
 
A.   Money and size, assuming the vouchers would increase their
     size, I think they would end up with the same organizational
     problems that we have at a larger school.
 
Q.   Are there any constraints or influences that affect the
     public school that maybe I left out?  Or did I hit all the
     groups?
 
     

Those become handouts to
     the school, directly or indirectly, so I think we are going
     to see more of that openness and time spent in a non-
     educational manner just so we can get some more dollars.  In
     that way we are becoming more like the private school, where
     the willingness to fund the institutions determines its
     success.
 
Q.   I'm trying to think if there is anything else.  I think the
     problems that you talked to me about with abiding by
     teachers association contracts determining who you get to
     hire and how firing is handled is not a problem, or is not a
     constraint, to private schools.  Probably students rights
     issues could be.  And they don't have to worry about
     certification either.
 
A.   Right, but their constraints are that in most cases they do
     not pay as well as the public schools, so good people go to
     the public school setting regularly, and I'm sure they don't
     like that either.  They can determine a dress code and all
     of those students wear the same skirts or dress, and in that
     way one status is in effect, they still have to deal with
     behavior issues, they still have to deal with everything
     else.  And I would wager that there's no difference in the
     amount of time that we spend and how our students are
     dressed -- in administering how our students are dressed and
     how theirs are.  But in the end there's no difference in the
     behavior of the administrator or the teacher.
 
Q.   And do you feel that the constraints that are on you
     influence your ability to meet the needs of the students and
     answer to the demands of the parents?  Do they get in the
     way?