The Concord School District is displaying its adoption of Parkinson’s law of bureaucratic administration with its proposal to add a layer of assistant principals to elementary schools while enrollment continues to decline.
British writer C. Northcote Parkinson presents several historic examples of this phenomenon, such as the number of dockyard workers and admiralty officials growing as the number of ships and sailors decreased, and the staff of the colonial office continuing to rise until it was abolished due to the paucity of significant colonies to administer.
It’s not that these new assistant principals will do nothing. Parkinson says that work expands to fill the available time, so they will require reports and hold meetings and write memos thus taking up the time of others.
At a time when the private sector is cutting layers of management to become more efficient, the school district is going in the wrong direction by adding a layer.
Exactly how will that benefit learning? Why are more administrators needed for smaller enrollment? Let’s give the taxpayers a break for a change and just say no.
ROY SCHWEIKER
Concord