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The 74 published an opinion article in which a retired New York public high school teacher offers 10 pointed questions for principal candidates. The questions focus on teacher recruitment and retention, classroom instruction, discipline and whether school leaders share accountability for conditions affecting teaching.
The 74 has published an opinion article proposing 10 potentially uncomfortable questions for school leader candidates, with a former New York public high school teacher urging hiring committees to press applicants on staffing, instruction, discipline and accountability. The list reflects the author’s experience serving on a committee to replace a principal, rather than a reported survey or official policy proposal.
The writer says he taught in New York state public high schools for 30 years and retired at his first opportunity. He describes himself as a critic of some education reforms, particularly policies he says discouraged direct instruction and weakened reasonable discipline standards. He also acknowledges trying to dissuade his daughter and some students from entering teaching, and says he was selected to interview candidates for the principal who had criticized his writing as overly negative.
The proposed questions ask why schools may receive many applicants for principal positions but few for teaching jobs, and whether higher pay or classroom burnout influenced candidates’ move into administration. The writer also asks whether principals would model instructional and classroom-management practices for teachers, or return periodically to teach. Other questions challenge candidates to distinguish visible student activity from actual learning and explain whether they support direct instruction alongside collaborative approaches.
Several questions focus on behavior and schoolwide responsibility. The author asks what role principals should play when serious or repeated disruptions affect safety and learning, whether relationship-building can prevent every behavior problem, and how leaders view restorative practices. The list also questions whether teachers are held accountable for outcomes while administrators cite bureaucratic or financial limits on their ability to address school conditions.
Questions About Leadership and Classrooms
The article puts a hiring issue in practical terms: a principal’s decisions can shape staffing, classroom expectations and discipline, while teachers experience those policies directly. Asking candidates how they would respond to difficult conditions could help interview panels understand whether they see instructional support and student behavior as shared leadership responsibilities, rather than matters left entirely to individual teachers.
The questions also surface disagreements about what effective teaching looks like. The author contrasts student-centered or collaborative approaches with structured, content-focused instruction and argues that engagement alone may not demonstrate learning. Those are the writer’s views, not conclusions established by evidence in the article. The list is best read as a prompt for candidates to explain their reasoning, not as a validated measure of leadership ability.
For readers in schools, the underlying concern is the tension between accountability and authority. Teachers may be judged on performance while facing constraints they say they cannot control. Whether and how that imbalance affects recruitment or retention is not quantified in the piece, but the article argues that hiring conversations should address it candidly.
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A Retired Teacher Joins Hiring Panel
The author frames the list as a personal account, not a formal interview framework. He says he joined the committee during the final month of his teaching career, after the principal he had criticized was leaving the post. His committee colleagues, he writes, may not have expected the questions to reflect his growing frustration with education policy and school conditions.
The article closes by noting that any updated set of questions would need to address other challenges, including chronic absenteeism, digital overload and allegedly inflated passing rates. It also asserts that behavioral problems and national test scores are worsening, but the supplied article text does not provide data or sources to measure those claims. The questions therefore express an educator’s perspective on current pressures, rather than a comprehensive account of conditions across schools.
“Do you ever write anything positive?”
— The author, recalling a principal’s response to his education writing
Claims Without Supporting Data
The article does not give a publication date in the supplied source material, identify the school district or principal search, or report how the interview committee used the questions. It also does not say whether any candidate was asked them or what the candidates answered.
Several broader statements—including that teacher applicants are scarce, behavior problems and test scores are worsening, and passing rates are inflated—are presented by the author without supporting figures or citations in the provided text. The article does not establish how widespread those conditions are, what causes them, or whether the proposed questions would affect hiring or teacher retention.
How Committees Use the Questions
The article does not announce a follow-up report, hiring decision or formal adoption of the proposed questions. Its immediate next step is left to readers: school boards and interview panels may use, adapt or disregard the prompts when evaluating candidates. Any claim about their effect would require further reporting, such as interviews with hiring committees, school leaders and teachers, alongside data on vacancies, discipline and retention.
Key Questions
What is the article about?
It is an opinion article in The 74 proposing 10 challenging questions that school hiring committees could ask principal candidates about staffing, teaching, discipline and accountability.
Who wrote the questions?
The writer identifies himself as a retired New York public high school teacher with 30 years in the classroom. The supplied material does not include his name.
Are the questions an official hiring standard?
No. The author presents them as suggestions readers can use, change or ignore. The article does not report that a district or organization has adopted them.
What topics do the questions cover?
They address teacher recruitment, administrator pay and classroom experience, instructional methods, student behavior, restorative practices and whether school leaders share responsibility for conditions affecting teachers.
Does the article provide evidence for its claims about schools?
The supplied text gives the author’s personal account and opinions but does not include data supporting its broader claims about applicant numbers, behavior, test scores or passing rates.
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