WHEN THE LOAD BECOMES TOO HEAVY WHY PRINCIPALS NEED WELLNESS, TOO
BY TIPHANI CHAPLIN
Leading a school is hard. The budget gaps, the shifting policies, navigating CPS politics, crisis after crisis... it’s relentless. Sometimes it feels like the byproduct of a well- run school is an overrun leader. But that should not, and need not, be the case. No principal or assistant principal should be so scheduled that there’s no life outside of the school walls. Saying, “the school is my life” isn’t a flex… in fact, it can be a detriment. Studies consistently show that prolonged stress is strongly linked to serious health challenges. A 2025 study in Archives of Public Health found that principals’ heavy workloads, role conflicts, and lack of organizational support were linked with burnout, anxiety, depression, and cardiovascular risk. And in one Education Week survey, more than 80 percent of secondary principals in high- poverty districts reported frequent job-related stress, and this is especially true for women and leaders of color. For anyone who has sat in this chair, those numbers don’t surprise… they sting. And that sting leaves a mark in every hallway. The University of Chicago reports that about half of elementary principals and more than two-thirds of high school principals leave the position within five years. Even CPS confirms that nearly 60 percent of principals exit the district in that same time frame. Think about that… more than half of our leaders don’t make it past five years. That isn’t weakness… it’s weight. And it points to a larger problem. A problem we cannot ignore if we expect our schools, our students, and our communities to thrive. National studies echo the same warning. The Learning Policy Institute found that principals in high-poverty, urban schools have some of the shortest tenures in the country, averaging just four years in the same building. Illinois data shows resignations are climbing, with burnout and overload cited again and again. And it is not just a Chicago
story… but here, where resources are scarce and stakes are high, the pressure is amplified. The job of a principal is often called never-ending, and in Chicago that is no exaggeration. Most principals arrive before anyone else and are still working long after the building empties out. Their days stretch from before- school activities and morning meetings… to after- school programs, parent events, and late-night games or performances. In between, they juggle the endless paperwork pushed down from central offices, urgent crises that can’t be scheduled, and the steady stream of staff absences that must be covered. They’re parsing academic data, balancing shifting resources, interpreting ever-changing policies… all while still carving out time to observe teaching and learning. Now, with an MOU in place and a collective bargaining agreement soon to follow, there is hope for a more defined workload. But even with new guardrails, we have to admit something hard: much of this pace comes from us. We overwork not only because of the demands, but also because of the joy of the job… the need to prove we can do it… and the deep desire to make a difference. That drive is admirable, but without boundaries it becomes
unsustainable. So when does a
principal have time to plan? To dream a little about what’s next for their school? To answer the flood of emails and requests that never stop coming? To simply be? Enjoying principalship may sound like an indulgence, but it
12 • CPAA MAGAZINE | OCT 2025
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs