The document discusses the principal as a stakeholder in the community. It identifies that principals should collaborate with families, businesses, and community members. The concept of an "educative community" is introduced, where the school either facilitates learning for community groups or joins with other agencies as a member of the community. A study found that involvement of all stakeholders is critical to building community, and communication and resources are important factors. Three key components of community development are identified: planning an effective engagement process, including choice work, and reaching beyond usual participants.

1. THE PRINCIPAL AS A STAKEHOLDER IN THE COMMUNITY
I. Introduction
The Florida Principal Leadership Standards state in regards to ‘Community and
Stakeholder Partnerships High Performing Leaders’ that these leaders “…collaborate with
families, business, and community members, respond to diverse community interests and
needs, work effectively within the larger organization and mobilize community resources.”
(Florida Leadership Standards, 2005) The work of Gouthro and Gibson (1996) entitled:
“Ties That Bind: Building School Community states “…The concept of school community
has its roots in the Greek word paideia. Although this word is difficult to define, it is
commonly accepted that the notion of paideia is an evolution towards an educative
community.” Goodlad (1984) is said to have suggested that peideia “evokes generative
thoughts regarding the interplay between the development of mature, enlightened
individuals and maximum cultural development. The community optimally educates. This
is itself a good (p. 349).” (Gouthro and Gibson, 1996)
II. The Educative Community
According to Gouthro and Gibson the role of the school in this “educative
community” can be perceived in two very different ways: (1) the school can be seen to be
dispensing its services beyond the walls of the school, facilitating the learning of many
different community groups within the facility itself” or in other words the school is
‘centric’ to the educative community which in turn is centric to the community’s

2. development; and (2) school may be perceived to join forces with other community
agencies as one member of the educative community.” (1996)
Gouthro and Gibson report a study that was conducted among 120 participants
“from both urban and rural settings” and among whom were 42% administrators
(superintendents, principals, assistant and vice principals), 32% were teachers, 15% were
parents, 10% were trustees and the remaining 1% were university professors.” (1996)
Primary findings in this study include the following: (1) consensus among participants that
involvement of all stakeholders was critical to building school community; (2) participants
expressed the opinion “…that their involvement should be welcomed in the school and, in
particular, by the principal. They wanted their involvement to be meaningful and
supported; (3) teachers “…expressed a desire for increased levels of involvement in
decision making. They wanted to be able to do this quot;safelyquot; and they stated that the sources
of input into decision making should be broadened to include their own voices and the
voices of minority groups within the community…exclusion from critical choices leads to
a pervasive feeling of inefficacy and isolation that erodes the profession. It is related that
collegiality “refers to the existence of high levels of collaboration among teachers and
between teachers and principal and is characterized by mutual respect, shared work values,
cooperation and specific conversations about teaching and learning.” (Gouthro and Gibson,
1996)
Identified to be “…an important aspect of building school community” by parents
was the factor of “communication”. (Gouthro and Gibson, 1996) Also emergent in the
study was the factor of “resources” in that parents and community organizations are more

3. willing and able to provide for the school community in the area of resources but are often
unsure of what is needed and suggest that school administrators ensure that the needs are
well known in the school community.
III. Three Components Identified
Stated as three components community development and bringing about effective
change through school community building are the following three identified components
in the work of Johnson and Friedman (2006) as published in the ‘School Administrator’
journal: (1) Taking time to plan an effective process- “Engagement can include face-to-
face community dialogues, school-based meetings, online strategies, media partnerships
and information campaigns. But these elements cannot be thrown together haphazardly.
Poorly designed, half-hearted engagement reaps poor results and can even backfire,
frustrating and alienating people rather than bringing them together”; (2) Including choice
work – “Giving people alternatives to consider is an effective spur to deliberation and
dialogue. It is also one of the most efficient ways to help people become more
knowledgeable and subtle in their thinking about how to set priorities and use limited
resources” (Johnson and Friedman, 2006); and (3) Reaching beyond the usual suspects –
“Public engagement is most informative and productive if it involves a broad cross-section
of stakeholders and community members, including a good number of regular folks:
parents, taxpayers and community leaders who are not already strongly involved in school
activities. If engagement includes only those people who already attend nearly every
school meeting, little will be learned and little will change.” (Johnson and Friedman, 2006)
Bibliography

4. Florida Principal Leadership Standards – Community and Stakeholder Partnerships – High
Performing Leaders (2005) Online available at:
https://www.floridaschoolleaders.org/fpls.aspx
Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standards (2009) Educational Leadership.
Online available at:
http://www.uni.edu/coe/elcpe/edleadership/professionaldevelopment/isllc_standard
s.shtml
Florida Principal Leadership Standards (2005) SBE Rule 6B-5.0012, Approved April 19,
2005. Online available at: https://www.floridaschoolleaders.org/fpls.aspx
Johnson, Jean and Friedman, Will (2006) The School Administrator. Feb. 2006. American
Association of School Administrators. Online available at:
http://www.aasa.org/publications/saarticledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=5211
Gouthro, Elizabeth and Gibson, Diane (1996) Ties that Bind: Building School Community.
Paper Submitted to the Center for Leadership in Learning April 30, 1996. Online
available at: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~cll/resources/gouthro.html