School administrators take steps to meet future needs

With the Mississippi Power Foundation grant, Drs. Gary Johnson of Mississippi State and Janet Henderson of the Starkville Public Schools will travel in January to Sundance, Utah, for training in a leadership program led by management expert and best-selling author Stephen R. Covey.

The week-long program is based around Covey's 1989 book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

The foundation, which is the philanthropic arm of Mississippi Power Co., awarded the grant to the Mississippi Association of School Administrators. The grant proposal was prepared by Dr. Ned Lovell, head of Mississippi State's Educational Leadership Department.

When Johnson and Henderson return, Lovell said they will share what they've learned with groups of future school administrators. Johnson is a professor of educational leadership, while Henderson is principal of Overstreet Elementary School.

"Within the next decade, the vast majority of the state's school administrators will be eligible for retirement," Lovell said. "Because it's anticipated that most will end their active school service, it is imperative that replacements be ready."

However, until recently no organized effort to recruit, nourish, and train assistant principals and other aspiring administrators existed in the state. Lovell said addressing this need began last year with the founding by the state administrators association of the Mississippi Administrators Development Network.

"Gary and Janet will be available to provide free training programs to network members for a period of five years," he said. "We estimate some 500 people will eventually be served through this program."

The network "provides a structure to begin meeting the need for professional development programs of entry-level school administrators and others aspiring to these positions," Lovell added.

Johnson, who received his doctorate from West Virginia University, joined the Mississippi State faculty in 1991. Henderson, who received her doctorate from Mississippi State in 1990, has been a Starkville principal since 1987.

"Educators must learn from the private sector and no major corporation totally ignores the continual process of management succession," Lovell said. "Neglecting to confront the issue of administrative retirements without a formal plan for recruiting, selecting, and training replacements is risky and dangerous."