Should ISR Delete Old Reviews
When a New Director Steps In?
Delete school history? yes
Delete school history? no
text area: Although some problems/plaudits with a particular school may well stem from the practices of the director, many are the result of his/her admin and of board support, decision making, policy, interference in the day to day running of a school, or the lack thereof. Quality schools should not have to prove themselves all over again just because a new director is appointed and schools that have attracted negative reviews can’t just expect to have these reviews replaced by positive ones until they have demonstrated the necessary improvements and these have been documented through more positive reviews.
A teacher’s positive/negative evaluations don’t disappear when they change schools. Why should a directors.
For these reasons ISR should not remove past reviews of a school.
Delete school history? yes
text area: Schools often live and die by their Senior leadership, be it Principal(s), Directors or in whatever guise they appear in. The dates of the reviews are too broad eg 2006-2008, as much can happen within that timeframe.
History is a great teacher, if we choose to learn from its lesson, but from what I believe and read international teachers are interested in the now and what the future holds for them and their new school.
Suggest that reviews are “grand fathered” out after a 2-3 year period max.
Delete school history? no
text area: Difficult – yes a new director is a new opportunity. By the time the director arrives hopefully recruitment will be finished. It is important that new teachers can know something about the history of the place they are arriving to.
Old reviews should be removed within 6 months of the arrival of a new director. Just like the new director, any teachers arriving new at a school that has had problems will have to live with the same problems.
Delete school history? no
text area: A new director will have an impact on the school over time. However the reality of work is that much of your day to day life is affected by the quality of senior and middle management in a school and the system they have in place. Even a very good director will take time to change these things.
However I think ISR should make it very clear that the director has changed and that the situation in the school may be improving……… or not as the case may be.
Delete school history? no
Delete school history? no
text area: It’s helpful for a candidate to see the history of a school when deciding whether to apply there. We’re not stupid – we know a new director will shake things up! But the more information we have, the better. Anyone who chooses or rejects a school based only on ISR reviews is making a big mistake. It is just one tool that we can use in this reflective process. It would be great to see old postings AND new postings after the directorship changes to get a feel for how the school climate changes and how staff members feel about the incoming admin.
Delete school history? no
Delete school history? no
Delete school history? no
text area: There should be some clear system of showing that there has been a change of management / ownership. We can’t just sweep the past under the carpet. Directors might like to consider making new staff explicitly aware of the ISR web site and ask staff to submit their own views to show how things have changed.
Delete school history? no
text area: ISR uses the term “director” when, frequently, in these international schools, the director has minimal impact on the academic side of the school. Here, it is usually the principal and other academic administrators that can markedly influence a potential teaching candidate’s acceptance to teach at the school. Likewise, it is the principal and her/his administration that can have negative impacts on a faculty/staff.
Our director has no awareness of, nor input in our curriculum and instruction.
Delete school history? yes
text area: However, these reviews could be retained in an “archived reviews” section for each school. By doing this, historical information is still available so that candidates may be aware of the past and judge whether or not change has actually taken place.
The presence of a new director does not guarantee that the transition to a better environment, especially in situations where the school is significantly influenced by outside forces beyond his/her control.
Delete school history? no
text area: I believe strongly that previous years foster a culture in a school that remains tangible even when people are replaced. It should be encouraged that an updated review is added to the bank.
Delete school history? no
text area: Although a new director may affect some positive changes, there are aspects that may not be changed or not changed immediately.
Delete school history? no
text area: Absolutely not! It’s not about the director it’s about the school. Directors get shifted just like teachers do. A school will hire a director with a good reputation but not change their way of operating their business. Old reviews also shows a pattern of behavior. I like to be able to see back as many years as possible so I can get a better idea of a school’s pattern of behavior.
It would be better if you linked the director’s name with a school at a particular time so we can look for patterns in directors and principals. This would not only help us to be better informed about a school but also about a director or principal.
Delete school history? no
text area: What I think you should do is to save all the reviews but every time there is a change in a Director, simple “archive” the old reviews. Then provide a link to them at the bottom of the current reviews.
The reasons to keep the old reviews are the following:
-some teachers are interested in seeing the historical changes of a school
-In many reviews, teachers talk about the culture and country variables, which is EXTREMELY valuable information. That information needs to be preserved regardless if other info. isn’t relevant any longer
-also, just because a new Director is hired, doesn’t necessarily mean that the culture of the school has changed. There will still be teachers and members of the school community who will be holdovers.
Delete school history? no
text area: Perhaps it should be noted on the review that there has been a change in the hierarchy of the school then let us make a decision when the review is read ..
Delete school history? no
text area: I had to add to a previous comment I sent. I am surprised by your survey question. I am curious why your are even considering such an idea. It seems you may be bowing to pressure from schools and others that control international schools regarding the issue whether or nor ISR should even exist as has been written in other forums.
Please don’t. You serve as one of the only forums for teachers to get informed about a school. No school will ever tell a prospective teacher the truth about their problems, the fact is they go to great lengths to hide and cover up their problems. The only way the international school community will clean up their act is to have constant pressure on them to do so.
Delete school history? no
text area: A tough question this one!
I mean, it is good for a school to be able to redeem itself (and forget its past) with a new director if they have had a bad one previously. However, what about a school that has now got a bad director, but wants to be seen in a good light still based on the staff who remain? A particularly poor new director may not last long (we hope!), and a school may head back to being very good in a short space of time.
I think a school must live with its past, and if things change with a new director, I would hope that those of us who use the site will always check the latest review, along with earlier ones, to make our judgments.
Delete school history? no
text area: Old reviews should be maintained, especially if the governing body (most likely the board) and the school’s policies remain in place. However, it should be noted on the review that a new director has stepped in, so that people are aware of that director’s impact on the school (positive or negative).
Delete school history? no
Delete school history? no
text area: For one, past reviews, at least for me, tends to give an over-all picture of the history of the school and 2) those former directors tend to end up at other international schools, so by maintaining the past reviews, one can easily view a former director management and leadership style…so please maintain “past” reviews!
Thanks…
Delete school history? yes
Delete school history? no
text area: A new director doesn’t necessarily reflect all that goes on in the school. We need to know all elements. I think a new director should always be included in the info.
Delete school history? yes
text area: Also when a teacher with psychiatric problems moves on.
Delete school history? no
text area: I don’t think the old reviews should be entirely removed. often the entire board of directors is the root of the problem and the school director is just a puppet. HOWEVER, I think that there should be some sort of a line or indicator that a new director is in place. Then people can still benefit from knowledge of past experiences, but also give the new director a fresh chance. I don’t think the old information should be removed, but some sort of demarcation or line should be made or an indicator that a new direct is in place and the reviews that follow are under that director’s tenure. Even just a bold “NEW DIRECTOR FEB 2009” that breaks the reviews would be enough. I think people should have the right to the old history but there is nothing wrong with indicating new blood in place.
Delete school history? no
text area: I think the history of the school should be available. A new director may not always be able to create much change in some circumstances, ie, such as with a school owner who actually has control.
Delete school history? no
text area: No, the new director has to prove him/herself first
Delete school history? no
text area: A new director doesn’t mean a new school. Faculty and school culture lasts much longer than a director. Just by asking this question, I think you all put way too much emphasis on the role of the director.
Delete school history? no
Delete school history? no
text area: The school culture will not necessarily change when a new director arrives, this takes time and anyway schools are made up of many people all who have an impact. So when a new director arrives they may meet resistance to change. The past sets the agenda for the present, so the past is history which is very important. Surely we learn from history. You cannot start with a clean slate. The USA has a new director. He does not have a clean slate with no history! DEFINITELY DO NOT REMOVE HISTORY.
Delete school history? no
text area: Old reviews should remain on ISR as, although School Directors have a great deal of power, ultimately they come and go. The ones who remain on at international schools are the schools’ owners and their powerful friends and family members who work behind the scenes in the school office and in the board rooms. They’re busy (often quietly) ensuring that all goes the way they wish it to with respect to the day to day running of the school. These people, and not directors, ultimately set the atmosphere of a school so old reviews should remain on ISR!
Delete school history? no
text area: By leaving old posts displayed not only does it show transparency but it allows the school to have a benchmark to compare against to see if the new director has been able to make any difference. Preferably the difference should be positive not negative! ISR is helpful to “real” administrators as the list of concerns or challenges the school faces is already listed. Really large sums of money are wasted by new administrators on useless audits (where money could be better spent on improved resources or professional development), when most problems are already easily identified by asking existing teaching and ancillary staff or simply looking at the ISR web site. NO, don’t destroy old history; it often helps to explain a lot of what is currently happening regarding the school’s present culture!
Delete school history? yes
text area: I think that you should keep past reviews until new ones come in on the new director and then delete the reviews for the old director. The school should be given a fresh starts once the new reviews start coming in. Maybe the old ones could placed in a sort of archive section.
Delete school history? no
text area: Considerations:
It was helpful to see a pattern as a school IS controlled by the business dept/owner/board and sometimes the Director is not able to make many deep changes.
I think the school review should remain for at least a year, preferably two or three as background for the school, but could then be removed. As far as the reviews for a director, I think they should remain as that shows what the Director is like.
Delete school history? no
text area: it just needs to be clear what years the director is at a school and what year they left – adding info about principals and changes in principals would also be helpful. sometimes the director doesn’t change, but the principal(s) does – this can have a huge impact on the way a school runs.
Delete school history? no
text area: Perhaps a note of change in leadership could be emphasized, but I find that just as much change occurs when the principal changes.
Delete school history? no
text area: A warning should be posted that a new director is in charge, and old reviews should be deleted after he or she has had time to make an impact – 1 year minimum and preferably 2.
Delete school history? no
text area: An agreed shelf life of say three years might be the answer. However, schools are not just about directors and such issues may be reflected in older articles (problems perhaps, even beyond the control of a school director!). No, please don’t remove older articles, they can help shape our overall understanding of a school or teaching establishment.
Delete school history? no
text area: I think you should probably remove them after the new Director has been there a couple of years. Removing them straight away might hide the fact that directors are changing annually.
Delete school history? no
text area: Background info on the school is very helpful.
Delete school history? no
text area: It is often the whole SMT that are causing the problem, all reports should be left on, if a new director takes over people can make their own judgments
Delete school history? no
Delete school history? yes
text area: Yes, I do think there is considerable change within a school with a new director. I would also like to suggest that the order of entries should be changed. I think that the newest review should be on the top of the page and then the reader should scroll down to review older entries. The way it is now, scrolling down to find the latest review is counterintuitive.
Thanks for asking!
Delete school history? yes
text area: If ISR content has an influence on a school’s ability to recruit, it seems very unfair to retain prejudicial content after a particular administration has changed.
Perhaps it should also be removed when certain ‘malcontents’ on the staff leave… if that were only possible!
Delete school history? no
text area: Each director is a large part of the history and therefore, character of patterns in the school…often times, long after leaving. These patterns continue to “play out” through the faculty, local staff, and students that remain. Keeping the reviews, all of them, can help to form a more accurate picture of the school, in total. Our experiences in each of these international schools has been predicated on many variables. Not just the current situation. More information is always better than less. We, as teachers, are capable of reading this information and using all of it to help understand this place we too, are contributing to the culture of the place where we teach and live.
Delete school history? no
text area: By keeping the old reviews we can see if the problems (if any) are related to the director or not and can see how well the director fared in another school.
Delete school history? yes
Delete school history? yes
Delete school history? no
text area: Removing the old reviews would make it harder for people to research the history of the directors, which is an important function of this site (probably the most important).
It may be a good idea to change the pages so that the most recent reviews appear at the top. I think this would reduce much of the confusion between the new and the old.
Teachers, if significant changes occur, for good or bad, please take a few moments to update the record. The sight isn’t much good to people if the info is out of date.
ISR, thanks for providing a great service.
Delete school history? no
text area: When a new director steps in, there should be a form of a disclaimer posted at the separation point (“All the above comments were posted under the previous director …”)
Delete school history? no
Delete school history? no
text area: I think it’s nice to know the history of the school, so I would leave the old reviews in. However, it would make much more sense to have the newest reviews at the top of the page, and the old reviews listed last. If you are looking for current information on the school it doesn’t make sense to have to scroll to the bottom of the page.
Delete school history? no
text area: But ISR should probably state that a new director has taken over.
Delete school history? no
text area: While a new atmosphere is certainly created by a new leader, many of the fundamental inner-workings of the school will remain the same. For example, although we maintained the same CEO throughout our 4 years at our school, we have changed heads of campus. This new person brought about many negative feelings within the school and greater community simply due to his inability to work and respect people from the local cultures. Although the ‘inner-workings’ are the same, it is important for people to note that there has been a decline in the positive school climate that once existed. Perhaps it would be useful to have a section in bold or another colour to indicate that the comment is for a new director.
Delete school history? no
text area: I takes a while to remove the remnants (both positive and negative) of a previous director. Being able to chart “progress” through all reviews gives one a better picture of where the school is at in its current development.
Delete school history? no
Delete school history? no
text area: sometimes it is the rest of the management or the school climate that is the problem not the actual director..
Delete school history? no
Delete school history? no
Delete school history? yes
text area: I have worked at seven different International Schools in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. It has been my experience that there can be dramatic changes when the School Director, or Headmaster leaves. In order to provide a fair testimonial, I think it is only fair that past reviews be removed when a new Director steps in.
Mary Rennebohm
Universal American School
Dubai, UAE