Taking the Bully By The Horns
by Jill Levy, President, CSA

One of the great joys of summer is to have the occasional opportunity to dive into the piles of books set aside for vacation reading. This summer, however, my delight has been tempered by the events of late June. As a result, I have been forced to delve into a topic of research that I find distasteful—workplace bullying.

I refer, of course to June 28, when Chancellor Joel Klein saw fit to publicly humiliate 45 Principals. All of you are by now undoubtedly familiar with what took place. The Department of Education announced the removal of 45 Principals, whose names were published during the following days in the city’s major newspapers. But the tables soon turned on the Chancellor. Many of those on the hit list included those who had retired earlier in the year, were Interim Acting or were still on probation. One Principal retired because she has cancer. It soon became clear to many reporters that they had been used to promote Joel Klein’s agenda.

Mr. Klein tried to present himself as an effective leader who will not put up with poor performance and who swiftly separates the wheat from the chaff. But his publicity stunt backfired. By pumping up the numbers and misrepresenting the truth, he ended up with mud on his shoes.

He still had a chance to show a human side. I sent him a letter asking for an apology. Now a real leader would have had the guts to stand up and admit he made a mistake. Need I say more?

I have been in the school system since 1959. I have seen about 15 Chancellors come and go. I have seen decentralization hailed as a cure as to what ailed the school system and I watched it go out with hardly a whimper of resistance. I have seen layoffs, budget crunches, and desperate times for the city’s schools. I don’t remember a more despicable display of power by any leader of the school system.

As irresponsible as Mr. Klein’s actions were on the face of it, his remarks sent a message throughout the system, which brings me to the topic for the remainder of this column: workplace bullying. By publicly embracing such a policy, Mr. Klein promotes the use of such tactics throughout the system. We cannot stand for that kind of gross behavior. According to my research, workplace bullying is persistent, intrusive behavior exhibited by one or more individuals. It includes humiliating, unwarranted offensive behavior toward an individual or groups of employees. Such malicious attacks on personal or professional performance are typically unpredictable, unfair, irrational and often unseen. Workplace bullying is an abuse of power or position that can cause such anxiety that people gradually lose all belief in themselves, and may suffer physical or mental illness as a result. Bullying has been identified as a more crippling and devastating problem than all the other work-related stresses put together.

The literature is clear about how to handle bullying. And I have said this again and again to my members. Do not be afraid. A bully works through lies and deception. You are not the problem, I tell my members; the bully is.#

Jill Levy is the President of the Council of Supervisors and Administrators which represents the principals, assistant principals, supervisors, and administrators in NYC public schools and day care directors.