Clearwater Middle School is in the midst of a significant demographic change. The student population is becoming increasingly diverse from a racial, ethnic, and low-socioeconomic perspective. This shift in student population is very challenging for a senior staff of teachers who do not have the teaching experiences or professional training to adapt to this changing student body. Clearwater is also undergoing a conflict in the interpretation of the goals of the school, primarily because the new principal’s organizational objectives are at odds with the general population of senior teachers. Retiring teachers are being replaced by new teachers, community members and students like the changes occurring in the six grade curriculum while some senior teachers are adamantly opposed to the expansion of curriculum changes. Changes contributing to conflicts regarding instructional practices are compounded by the culturally embedded six grade, lack of collegiality, as well as social isolation between groups of teachers. Now, after years of conflict the principal has announced he’s retiring, the new superintendent has reduced Clearwater’s resources, reduced its staffing, and the principal is making changes on his way out that are contributing to teacher anxiety, the already low-morale of his staff, and resistance to further change.
With the arrival of the new principal, the changing student population, retiring teachers, and a new group of replacement teachers, the old organizational culture that anchored the senior staff of Clearwater was systemically replaced by a new organizational culture.
Structural Frame: The principal is managing the school from a structural frame respective without regard to the previously established culture, and he has demonstrated very little or no empathy for the needs of his staff. The principal is motivated by quantitative objectives,